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Warszawa / Warsaw to Kraków / Krakow / Cracow by train
How to travel by train from Warsaw by Krakow by taking the faster and more comfortable EIP services
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Routes
From Warszawa Centralna to Kraków Główny
Journey Summary
2hr 18 min - 2hr 32min (EIP and EIC trains)
Daily
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 30 dys ahead of the travel date
As will be seen when looking up journeys on PKP, the train service between Warszawa and Krakow is split between:
1 - these EIP (Pendolino) trains (the most frequent service on the route)
2 – these EIC trains
3 – other slower TLK and IC trains
On this route, when booking in advance it's worth comparing the prices between the EIP and EIC trains, particularly if an EIC train wil be departing at around a time that suits you.
Tickets for the EIC trains are usually cheaper than the EIP trains and the difference in journey time can be as little as 10 mins.
However, on this route those alternative IC and TLK services will be cheapest of all, particularly when the cheapest tickets for the EIP and EIC trains have sold out.
We recommend taking a look at our guide to booking tickets on the PKP InterCity website
Our general information for Polish train tickets is available here.
Using Rail Passes:
Rail pass users will need to make reservations before boarding these trains - but taking the EIC trains, or those IC and TLK trains, will be cheaper, as explained here.
Book the reservations at a station when you arrive in Poland.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| PKP | * |
On this journey
Travelling On
Good to Know
*Due to works on the line until June 8th the train service between Warszawa and Krakow is subject to alteration.
All services can be suspended at weekends, particularly on Saturdays.
These EIP and EIC trains both use Poland's higher speed line, but the EIP trains are generally around 10 mins faster.
Departing from Warszawa/Warsaw:
These trains cross the city from east to west - so they call first at Warszawa Wschodnia station, which is on the eastern side of the city centre.
If you will be commencing a journey in the vicinity of the old town, you can take tram line/route 13 from the 'Stare Miasto' stop direct to Wschodnia station.
They then call at Warszawa Centralna - the main station in the city, which is why we've used it for the orange station info button, which can be clicked above
After departing from Warszawa Centralna these trains will then call at Warszawa Zachodnia.
So check the location of the starting point of your journey, to see which of these three stations will suit you best.
Final Destination: Krakow or Zakopane or Rzeszow
The alternative trains:
As per usual when taking a long distance express train route in Poland, there are slower, but cheaper TLK trains available when making a train journey from Warsaw to Krakow.
As will be seen when clicking that link, there are also IC services available - this is PKP InterCity's main route and it's evidently keen to offer travellers as wider as choice as possible, for taking the train from Warsaw to Krakow.
*Due to works on the line until June 8th the train service between Warszawa and Krakow is subject to alteration.
All services can be suspended at weekends, particularly on Saturdays.
These EIP and EIC trains both use Poland's higher speed line, but the EIP trains are generally around 10 mins faster.
Departing from Warszawa/Warsaw:
These trains cross the city from east to west - so they call first at Warszawa Wschodnia station, which is on the eastern side of the city centre.
If you will be commencing a journey in the vicinity of the old town, you can take tram line/route 13 from the 'Stare Miasto' stop direct to Wschodnia station.
They then call at Warszawa Centralna - the main station in the city, which is why we've used it for the orange station info button, which can be clicked above
After departing from Warszawa Centralna these trains will then call at Warszawa Zachodnia.
So check the location of the starting point of your journey, to see which of these three stations will suit you best.
Final Destination: Krakow or Zakopane or Rzeszow
The alternative trains:
As per usual when taking a long distance express train route in Poland, there are slower, but cheaper TLK trains available when making a train journey from Warsaw to Krakow.
As will be seen when clicking that link, there are also IC services available - this is PKP InterCity's main route and it's evidently keen to offer travellers as wider as choice as possible, for taking the train from Warsaw to Krakow.
From Warszawa Centralna to Kraków Główny
Journey Summary
2hr 47min - 3hr 50min (IC and TLK trains)
Daily
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 30 days ahead of the travel date
As will be seen when looking up journeys on PKP, the train service between Warszawa and Krakow is split between faster EIP and EIC trains and these IC and TLK services.
These IC and TLK trains are slower but cheaper, if you will be booking only a couple of days ahead, then it's likely that the ticket price for these trains will be around 50% less than for those EIP and EIC services.
Though pay particular attention to the journey times when looking up these journeys by the IC and TLK services - most of them will havel similar travel times, but there are also IC services which take more than 4hr 15mins to complete the journey.
Presumably those IC services take a much slower route - and we have excluded them from total number of departures, which we have included above.
We recommend taking a look at our guide to booking tickets on the PKP InterCity website
Using Rail Passes:
Rail pass users will need to make reservations before boarding these IC and TLK trains, OR the faster, EIP and EIC services, but if you have a rail pass the best option is usually to target those EIC services, as explained here.
Book the reservations at a station when you arrive in Poland.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| PKP | * |
On this journey
Travelling On
Good to Know
*There are additional IC train services from Warszaw to Krakow, but they are definitely best avoided as they have journey times of more than 4hr 15mins - hence they haven't been included in this total.
Though take care when looking up a Warszaw to Krakow train journey because, as can be seen, some of these IC and TLK services are much faster than others.
Also due to works on the line until June 8th the train service between Warszawa and Krakow is subject to alteration.
All services can be suspended at weekends, particularly on Saturdays.
Departing from Warzaw/Warszawa:
These trains cross the city from east to west - so they call first at Warszawa Wschodnia station, which is on the eastern side of the city centre.
If you will be commencing a journey in the vicinity of the old town, you can take tram line/route 13 from the 'Stare Miasto' stop direct to Wschodnia station.
They then call at Warszawa Centralna - the main station in the city, which is why we've used it for the orange station info button, which can be clicked above
After departing from Warszawa Centralna these trains will then call at Warszawa Zachodnia.
So check the location of the starting point of your journey, to see which of these three stations will suit you best.
Final Destination: Krakow or Zakopane
The alternative faster trains:
As per usual when taking a long-distance express train route in Poland, these slower IC and TLK services provide a cheaper alternative to the faster EIP and EIC services, when making a train journey from Warsaw to Krakow.
*There are additional IC train services from Warszaw to Krakow, but they are definitely best avoided as they have journey times of more than 4hr 15mins - hence they haven't been included in this total.
Though take care when looking up a Warszaw to Krakow train journey because, as can be seen, some of these IC and TLK services are much faster than others.
Also due to works on the line until June 8th the train service between Warszawa and Krakow is subject to alteration.
All services can be suspended at weekends, particularly on Saturdays.
Departing from Warzaw/Warszawa:
These trains cross the city from east to west - so they call first at Warszawa Wschodnia station, which is on the eastern side of the city centre.
If you will be commencing a journey in the vicinity of the old town, you can take tram line/route 13 from the 'Stare Miasto' stop direct to Wschodnia station.
They then call at Warszawa Centralna - the main station in the city, which is why we've used it for the orange station info button, which can be clicked above
After departing from Warszawa Centralna these trains will then call at Warszawa Zachodnia.
So check the location of the starting point of your journey, to see which of these three stations will suit you best.
Final Destination: Krakow or Zakopane
The alternative faster trains:
As per usual when taking a long-distance express train route in Poland, these slower IC and TLK services provide a cheaper alternative to the faster EIP and EIC services, when making a train journey from Warsaw to Krakow.
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