Poland is a great country to explore by train, with a great rail network connecting attractive destinations and places of historical interest. Originally, we had hoped to undertake a Polish ‘explorer trip’ by train to visit several locations around the country, including Gdansk and Wroclaw. However, time limitations meant that we had to scale back our itinerary to a double city break in Poland. This was fun to plan and a trip that I would recommend. Here’s the lowdown…
Poland is a beautiful country filled with forests, castles, picture-postcard pretty towns and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Whilst some of its history is dark and turbulent, it has played a part in shaping this country which is on the rise. There are seasonal attractions such as Easter and Winter markets, and delicious hearty Polish dishes to sample, washed down with a splash of local vodka.
There are lots of great cities and towns to choose from when planning a double city break in Poland. We chose the old capital city of Krakow, and contrasted it with the modern capital city, Warsaw.
Alternative combinations could have been Gdansk and Warsaw, or Wroclaw and Krakow. And that’s just the tip of the ice-berg. So, have a look at the options in Poland and pick two places not too far away from each other by train. Easy!
Poland has much to offer to everyone and you easily can carve out an itinerary to suit whoever you are visiting with. We were travelling with two of our children – aged 26 and 18 at the time – which meant that they were old enough to be interested in the history of the country, participate in working tours and sample its vodka!
With more time to explore, a trip to Poland would make the perfect country to explore by train, which might appeal to Empty Nesters or retirees.
This blog is about planning a double city break to Poland, visiting Warsaw and Krakow, and travelling by train between them.
Taking the train was super easy between these two cities and takes about 3 hours, give or take a bit depending on the train you catch. During this time, you are transported through forests of endless trees which are pretty to watch whizzing past from your train compartment.
You could easily apply the planning principles to a different combination of Polish cities, such as Gdansk and Warsaw, or Wroclaw and Krakow.
We flew to Warsaw and spent 3 nights in the capital, before taking the train to Krakow for 3 nights on our city break in Poland – 6 nights in total. We found this to be a good length of time for back-to-back city breaks.
However, if we’d visited a single city, then I would probably have booked 4-5 nights to allow more time to get under the skin of the city, and beyond the most obvious sights.
Poland is a year-round destination and offers different elements at different times of the year, for example:
The perfect time for café culture in the city market squares and for exploring the rivers and outdoor swimming locations.
You can catch the beautiful ‘Golden Polish Autumn’ with stunning foliage colours, with the bonus of fewer sightseeing crowds.
Christmas and Winter markets take place in cities and towns across Poland from late November to early January.
Cool weather for sightseeing plus Easter parades and seasonal markets during March and April (depending on when Easter falls).
We visited in the last few days of March and first few days of April when the Easter markets were set up in Krakow. Krakow did feel busy at this time, whilst Warsaw didn’t feel as crowded.
If you have 3 nights in Warsaw and also in Krakow then, taking travel time into account, you should have at least 2 full days in each city for sightseeing, plus extra time on your arrival or departure days.
For ideas about how to plan your time in Warsaw, check out my blog, Warsaw City Break: Follow the ebb and flow of history.
For ideas about how to plan your time in Krakow, check out my blog, Weekend in Krakow: Ideas for the perfect city break.
Depending on your priorities, you might decided to trade some of your time in the city to take a tour beyond the city boundries, such as to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial or the Wieliczka Salt Mines from Krakow. Try not to overschedule such tours which might mean missing out on key sights in the city.
There are excellent flight options from the UK to various airports in Poland. We were able to purchase cheap one-way tickets with Ryanair from a regional airport to Warsaw Chopin Airport, returning from Krakow Airport. As with all budget airlines, the ticket prices advertised are the baseline and increase once you add extra or larger baggage, or priority boarding to your booking.
Note – from regional airports, flights might not leave each day. We wanted to travel on specific days and worked our itinerary around the days when flights were operational from our chosen regional airport. This largely influenced making Warsaw the first stop on our double city break in Poland.
Hire a car – to move between Warsaw and Krakow you can hire a car and drive, which takes just over 3 hours. To do this you will incur the cost of the car hire, fuel, and potentially an additional one-way hire fee.
Take the train – alternatively, you can book train tickets and let someone else do the heavy lifting. As mentioned above, on the train journey you can relax and watch the forest trees fly back for just under 3 hours – easy!
Polish Trains – tickets can be purchased in advance on the Polish Trains website. As an idea of price, it cost £55.00 for a single, one-way adult ticket from Warsaw to Krakow (2026 prices). This gave us a seat in a compartment for 6 people, with free coffee and snacks during the journey. Cheaper seat tickets were available.
Note – discounts on Polish Trains are only available to those with a Polish ID card.
Warsaw is a very spread-out city, about 14 kms from side to side, so some research is required when deciding where to base yourself on a city break in Poland. We chose to stay in the InterContinental Warszawa by IHG for three reasons:
The InterContinental Hotel is smart and has around 30 floors; some rooms have impressive views over the Palace of Culture & Science which is difficult to ignore from the hotel as it’s right outside.
There are lots of options to suit all budgets on Booking.com in Krakow. If you can, book somewhere near the center of the city, so that you are close to all the action at Market Square or the Royal Castle. You can then maximise your time on a short city break, although everything in Krakow is quite close; it is much more compact than Warsaw.
We stayed at the Hotel Saski Krakow, Curio Collection by Hilton, which is centrally located, just behind the main Market Square (Rynek Glowny). Whilst it isn’t cheap, you can get good deals on Booking.com or use Hilton Honors Points (reward points) for your stay. We thought it was worth the money, with comfortable rooms and very helpful staff.
In high season, or at popular seasonal times of the year (when the Christmas and Easter markets are on), consider booking restaurants and activities in advance, especially in busier Krakow, so that you don’t miss out on your preferred options.
I always recommend checking the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advice in the UK, or equivalent body for your country of residence, when planning your trip. At the time of our trip to Poland, there were no areas of concern for a city break in Poland to either Warsaw or Krakow; only warnings about travel near to the Ukraine border.
Poland follows Schengen Area rules, so for those travelling on a full British citizen passport from the UK:
Passports – should have a date of issue less than 10 years before the day you arrive in Poland, so double check this and renew your passport in advance if required.
Check your passport expiry date which should be at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave Poland.
Visas – you can travel without a visa to Poland in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
Again, double check the above on the FCDO website before you make your travel plans to Poland, as it can change from time to time.
Make sure that you travel to Poland with full travel insurance to cover for any issues whilst travelling, including health issues. That said, to access medical treatment (state healthcare) in Poland, you need a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) or a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which you should obtain in advance of your city break in Poland.
Polish is the main language of Poland, although English is widely spoken, particularly in the main cities of the country.
The national currency of Poland is the Polish Zloty (PLN).
Note – Euros are not a national currency, so make sure you travel with PLN. Cards such as Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted.
Top Priority – if you’re undertaking a city break, or indeed a double city break in Poland, then your number one item to get right is your footwear – comfortable shoes should be top of your list.
Don’t be tempted to break new trainers in on your city break in Poland or you risk lots of blisters. Also, there are a lot of cobbled streets in the Old Towns so sensible shoes help to avoid tripping and slipping. Other ideas include:
Summer – hats, sunglasses, suncream.
Winter – coats, hats, gloves and scarves are required as it will be cold, and potentially snowy.
Rain – put a raincoat or umbrella in your suitcase, just in case.
Casual – dress for comfort on your city break.
Suitcase – something easy to handle on the train between Warsaw and Krakow.
As is typical of northern European cities, it’s best to prepare for all weathers on a city break in Poland.
In closing
We thoroughly enjoyed our double city break in Poland, which gave us a good introduction to Poland on our first visit. Seeing two locations back-to-back highlighted the different vibes of the cities.
This introduction, only made us want to undertake our original plan of exploring the country by train even more.
Poland, we will be back for more pierogies!
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
