Transport & getting around in Poland

There might be times when you will get bored with the city you live in and you will do almost anything to go for a trip somewhere else – it might be just a few kilometeres outside the city but it also might be a place in a different part of Poland. No matter what your destination will be you have to make a decision how to get there. You can choose from three main means of transport that will get you anywhere you want – trains, coaches and airplanes.

Rail

If you want to travel by train the good news is that this mean of transport is very developed and it can get you to most places you would think of (at least that’s what we heard…). The main railway operator in Poland is the Polish State Railways (Polskie Koleje Państwowe – PKP) but the thing is – it’s not the only one. The railway operators market is divided into a few companies that dictate their own ticket prices, and they vary with the standard of trains and the time of travel. If you look for the fastest way to get from your city to the other big city in Poland you probably want to travel with Intercity, but if your destination is smaller city or you just want to save money you definitely want to travel with the PKP Przewozy Regionalne.

Whatever the operator is you can book your tickets online, buy them on the railway station or even buy them in the train. The last method is perfect when there are no sales points at the railway station or if you’re just late for your train or you oftet forget things. What’s important is that right after you enter the train you should locate the conductors and buy the tickets directly from them. Their headquater is usually in the first carriage. Oh, and one more thing – arm yourself with cash as there’s usually no possibility of paying by card.

The ticket prices and the routes can be found on the website of that main railway operator we have told you about, while the online booking can be done on here.

Bus

The major Polish enterprise dealing with inter-city transport using coaches is PKS – Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacji Samochodowej (it can be translated as Car Communication Enterprise). It’s more or less the same as the rail so if you read the part above this one you should now have an idea of how it works. There are some differences though which you have to know.

Right here there are only two ways of getting the ticket – tat he bus station and from the coach driver (again, make sure you have enough cash as the coach driver usually doesn’t have any card terminal).

If it comes down to finding the routes and the information about the ticket prices – you should look for such information on the regional websites of PKS. For example, if you want to travel from Poznań, just go to the Poznań PKS website. We have listed the PKS websites of the main Polish cities below to make your life easier: Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Katowice, Kielce, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Olsztyn, Opole, Poznań, Rzeszów, Szczecin, Warszawa, Wrocław, Zielona Góra.

Unfortunately, not all of them are in English.

The other option is to travel with the coaches provided by private companies.

Planes

Definitely the fastest and most comfortable way of traveling between the major Polish cities but also probably the most expensive. The major Polish air carrier is Polish Airlines (Polskie Linie Lotnicze – LOT). As well as international flights, you can also take a quick domestic flight.
If you want to book a flight between the Polish cities just go to LOT website or EUROLOT website

If you want to get familiar with the airport procedures, locations and the times of arrivals and departures, simply go to the airport website. The list awaits you below:
Gdańsk (Rębiechowo) – Lech Wałęsa Airport
Katowice (Pyrzowice) – International Airport
Krakow (Balice) – John Paul II International Airport
Łódź – Władysław Reymont Airport
Poznań (Ławica) – Poznań Airport
Szczecin (Goleniów) – NSZZ Solidarność Szczecin Goleniów
Warsaw (Okęcie) – Frederic Chopin Airport
Wrocław (Strachowice) – Wrocław Airport

And that’s basically it. Bon Voyage! Udanej Podróży! Have a great trip!

If you think we forgot about some crucial information or some information should be included in this section – just let us know on