Country info: Poland (Polska)

Rail companies: PKP (Polskie Koleje Państwowe).

For timetables and fares use www.rozklad.pkp.pl and www.intercity.pl

How to Buy train Tickets in Poland? We have a Step by Step Guide

Railway network map 

Currency : 1 Euro = app. 4.1 Polish zloty

Train travel in Poland: info, offers, tips and many more...

Domestic Routes:

Domestic routes in Poland served by six major categories of trains – Commuter/Suburban, Local/Regional, TLK, Express, ExpressInterCity and EuroCity/Euronight trains. Commuter trains mainly operated by separate companies, while Regional and Long-distance trains are split between PKP PR (Przewozy Regionalne, operating Regio/InterRegio/RegioExpress) and PKP InterCity (operating TLK/D/Ex/EIC and all the international trains) companies.

• Commuter/Suburban (SKM, WKD, Arriva etc.) - commuter trains and S-bahn serving major Polish cities, no seat reservation required.  
• Regio(Local) (marked REG on PKP website) – no seat reservation required, operated by PKP Przewozy Regionalne
• InterRegio/RegioExpress (marked as IR/RE on PKP website) – no seat reservation required, but you need a special tariff ticket (slightly higher comparing to standard Regio), operated by PKP Przewozy Regionalne
• TLK (Tanie Linie Kolejowe, marked as TLK on PKP website) - seat reservation possible (5 PLN), but not required (except 1^st class travel and a few trains in 2^nd class: 'Gałczyński', 'Kaszub', 'Kossak', 'Monciak-Krupówki', 'Neptun', 'Norwid', 'Pobrzeże'), operated by PKP InterCity
• Express (marked as Ex on PKP website) - seat reservation required (12,5 PLN), operated by PKP InterCity
  
• Express InterCity (marked as EIC on PKP website) – seat reservation required (16 PLN), operated by PKP InterCity
• EuroCity/Euronight/Internationa fast (marked as EC/EN/D on PKP website) – international trains, seat reservation required for any domestic routes with EC/EN trains (12,5 PLN in case of EC Warsaw-Berlin or 6,1 PLN in case of all other international EC originating from Polish stations)
  

Polish Railway has special additional payment for purchasing tickets on board - 10 PLN (in trains operated by PKP InterCity) or 5 PLN (in trains operated by PKP Przewozy Regionalne)

Couchette reservations on domestic journeys:

• 6 berth - 61 PLN (or 50,5 PLN for passengers <25 and >60 years old)
• 4 berth - 71 PLN

Sleeper reservation on domestic journeys:

• 3 bed (Tourist) - 81 PLN
• 2 bed (Double) - 141,5 PLN
• Single - 273 PLN

PKP offers couple interesting budget possibilities for domestic travel:

1.  For a budget travel try avoiding expensive Express InterCity, Express and EuroCity trains, while instead it's almost always possible to use cheaper trains InterRegio, TLK or Regio, which not necessarily much slower. Just an example from one of the most popular route Warsaw-Krakow: ticket for Express InterCity costs 123 PLN or 119,5 PLN for Express trains, while ticket for the same route using InterRegio train costs only 47 PLN or 56 PLN with TLK. While in terms of travel time InterRegio/TLK trains are slower only for app. 15-30 min. (depending on connection). As result, passenger basically out of nothing can pay almost three times less by simply choosing the right type of train.
2. Both PKP InterCity and PKP Regionalne in case of any domestic connections using a regressive type of tariff, thus meaning 'bigger distance-->cheaper price per km' you pay. In some cases it might be a 'win' situation for a passenger, particularly because the difference between the ticket for let's say 200-300 km and the one for 500-600 km isn't essential. Let's look at one example as an illustration: you want to travel from Krakow to Warsaw and then to Szczecin with fast Ex/EIC trains and the whole journey is planned to be done in <2 days (validity period for long-distance ticket), then instead of two separate tickets Krakow-Warsaw (119,5-123 PLN) and Warsaw-Szczecin (131 PLN) you simply buy one through ticket Krakow-Warsaw-Szczecin for 132 PLN, while afterward just two separate reservations for each leg (either 12,5 in case of Ex train or 16 PLN in case of EIC). As result, using the regressive nature of the tariff you save out of nothing almost 50%. The only thing to remember is that ticket issued for use on PKP InterCity trains (TLK/Ex/EIC/EC) isn't valid on PKP Regionalne trains (RE/IR/R), thus it's important to avoid 'break' of tariff, in order to do so when doing this 'trick' with 'regressiveness' try to use train of one operator company (either PKP InterCity or PKP Regionalne).
3. Last minute ticket - special promo fare (from 13 PLN) for the Ex and EIC train tickets purchased less than 30 min. before train departure (subject to availability). Available only on certain connections.
   
4. Super Bilet - a limited number of discounted tickets for direct trips using Express (Ex) and Express InterCity (EIC) trains, can be purchased either online or at the station (30-3 days in advance), tickets start from 29 PLN.
5. Bilet Rewelacyjny - special reduced (up to 30%) fare ticket for TLK trains on routes Wrocław - Przemyśl, Szczecin - Świnoujście, Kraków - Zakopane, Poznan - Jelenia Góra, Rzeszów – Zamość, Wrocław – Szklarska Poręba Górna and Warszawa - Kraków/Kraków - Warszawa. Rewelacyjny tickets can also be bought online from PKP InterCity website.
6. Bilet Rodzinny - special offer for small groups and families from 2 to 5 passengers (including at least one child <16) - 33% off for every passenger in a group for tickets on TLK, Ex, EIC or EC trains.
7. Tania Kuszetka - offer for the overnight TLK trains passengers have a chance to purchase discounted 6 berth couchette reservations, it cost only 25,5 PLN (instead of standard fare 61 PLN).
8. IC-Karnet - ticket allowing unlimited travels during 3 consecutive days on any PKP InterCity trains (TLK, Ex, EIC and EC) with free seat reservation (need to obtain separately either online (only for IC-Karnet tickts bought online) or at the station. Valid for couchette/sleepers (reservation required). Cost is 260 PLN.
9. Bilet Turystyczny – weekend pass, valid for all the OSO (Osobowy) and REGIO trains from Friday 7pm till Monday 6am. Price – 35 PLN. Including OSO (Osobowy), REGIO, interREGIOand REGIOexpress - 65 PLN. Valid till German stations:  Löcknitz, Tantow, Küstrin-Kietz, Frankfurt (Oder), Görlitz, Forst, as well as till Czech stations: Cesky Tesin, Lichkov, Petrovice u Karviné, Bohumín, Mikulovice, Jindrichov.
10. Bilet Podroznika - weekend pass, valid for all the TLK  trains from Friday 7pm till Monday 6am. No seat reservation required, not valid for couchette/sleepers. Price – 69 PLN (2nd class)/ 99 PLN (1st class).
    
11. Bilet Weekendowy - weekend pass, valid for all the Express InterCity, EuroCity, Express and TLK trains from Friday 7pm till Monday 6am. Price – 149 PLN (2^nd class) or 239 PLN (1^st class). NB: remember that passengers require to have compulsory seat reservation on Ex, EIC and any sleeper carriages.
    
    
    

International Routes:

a) Regular discounts

• 40% off the regular TCV price for return tickets in connection Poland-Czech republic; Poland-Slovakia and for routes Warszawa-Budapest-Warszawa; Kraków-Budapest-Kraków; Katowice-Budapest-Katowice; Gdynia-Budapest-Gdynia.
• 50% off regular East-West tariff price on Polish part and 55% off on Lithuanian part for Warsaw-Vilnius daytime connecting trains (valid one way and return).
  
• 30% off regular East-West tariff price on Polish part and 40% off on Ukrainian part for Wroclav-Krakow-Lviv overnight train #35/36 (valid one way and return). Additional discount of 20% offered for passengers >60 years old.
  
• 30% off the regular TCV price for return tickets in connection Poland-Bulgaria; Poland-Serbia; Poland-Romania; Poland-Hungary (besides Budapest).

You can as well take advantage of special Multilataral Agreement between East European railway companies. It allows you to get 30% (or 40% for youth<26 years old and 50% for groups more than 6 passengers) discount from regular TCV tariff fare on any return ticket purchased for connections between countries participants of the tariff Agreement. Those are Czech Republic (CD), Hungary (MAV), Romania (CFR), Poland (PKP), Slovakia (ZSSK), Bulgaria (BZD), Serbia (ZS) and FYR Macedonia (MZ).  

But be careful and consider possible bilateral agreements between certain countries as well (those might be the better option for you). In case of Poland it's cheaper to purchase tickets to Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary with a help of other discounts (MOST tariff for Czech Republic, special discount Poland-Slovakia and  SpaSrchiene Warsaw/Krakow-Budapest)

b) Special offers (SpaSrchiene)

Offers with limited number of tickets (purchase in advance required):  

• SparDay / SparNight Warsaw/Krakow – Vienna (seats from 29 EUR, couchette from 39 EUR, sleeper - 59 EUR);
• SparDay / SparNight Warsaw-Bratislava/Budapest (seats from 29 EUR, couchette from 39 EUR, sleeper from 54 EUR); SparNight Krakow-Bratislava/Budapest (seats from  couchette from 39 EUR, sleeper from 45 EUR);
• SparDay Warsawa-Prague (seats for daytime EC 110/111 from 19 EUR);
• SparNight offer for train “Jan Kiepura” from Warsaw to Amsterdam via western German cities (seats from 29 EUR, couchette from 49 EUR, sleeper from 69 EUR);
• SparDay offer for train EuroCity “Wawel” from Krakow to Hamburg via Berlin (seats from 29 EUR till Berlin or from 39 EUR for further stations); Wroclaw-Hamburg (seats from 29 EUR);
  
• Berlin-Warsaw special – for "Berlin-Warszawa-Express" (from 29 EUR), same offer for Poznan-Berlin route (from 19 EUR)
  

Offers with unlimited number of tickets :

Special offer valid for overnight PKP bus Warsaw-Vilnius. As of now one way ticket costs 22 EUR till Vilnius from Warsaw and 19 EUR till Kaunas.

Bilet Turystyczny + CD: similar to Bilet Turystyczny offer for domestic PKP connections, but including bordering regions of Czech Republic as well (map of those here). Only REGIO trains - 45 PLN, REGIO, interREGIOand REGIOexpress - 75 PLN.

Special crossborder tariffs PKP-DB on multiple directions (DB<120km) for 4 day return tickets. For example, Kostrzyn-Berlin (10.8 EUR); Szczecin-Berlin (10 EUR); Gorzowa Wlkp.-Berlin (11 EUR) etc.

Special crossborder tariffs for connections to Slovakia (Zwardon-Skalite, Leluchow-Plavec - 2 EUR), Ukraine (Krościenko – Hirov - 1.4 euro, Sanok – Hirov - 3.3 euro) (mentioned PKP-UZ connection terminated until further notice) and Belarus (Teresol-Brest, Czeremcha – Wysokolitowsk and Kuźnica Białostocka – Grodno - 2 EUR one way and 4 EUR return ticket).

c) Citystars

• Poland-Germany (called "Sparpreis 25 Niemcy"). For instance, Warsaw-Cologne via Berlin, Hannover (one person – 941 PLN, every other up to 4 pays 470 PLN)
• Poland-Austria (called “Austria Specjal”): Fares below are all for the 2nd class (1st class available as well), children<12 years old go for free, every 2nd, 3rd, 4th person pays 50%. OEBB<100km+PKP<100km - 77 EUR; OEBB<100km+PKP>100km<300km - 93 EUR; OEBB<100km+PKP>300km - 111 EUR; OEBB>100<400km+PKP<100 - 109 EUR; OEBB>100<400km+PKP>100km<300km - 125 EUR; OEBB>100<400km+ PKP>300km - 143 EUR; OEBB>400km+PKP<100km - 157 EUR; OEBB>400km+PKP>100km<300km - 173 EUR; OEBB>400km+PKP>300km - 191 EUR.  
• Poland–Denmark – one person 191 euro (two- 286.5 euro etc.) – without use of ICE trains in Germany and 211/316.5 euro respectively with use of ICE trains
• Poland – Romania – for instance max. distance Gdynia-Bucuresti for two – 980 PLN.

How to Buy Your Tickets:

It is possible to purchase national and ceratina international tickets for trains operated by PKP InterCity online  - www.bilet.intercity.pl

Step by Step Guide on How to Purchase Tickets via PKP Online Ticket Shop - europetrainsguide.com/Advice/How-to-Buy-Train-Tickets/Poland-PKP.html

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