Krakow to Wroclaw

Hello All,

I’m considering this for early in the New Year by train. Is it cheaper to book online in advance? Can anyone offer any tips / advice for this particular journey? Is there a ‘better’ train to get? Can you sit in the buffet car for Long periods? Any advice appreciated, thank you.

I did this journey in February on a PKP Intercity train. Booked online in advance (bit you could only book at 28 days out IIRC) and paid equivalent of about 10 euros on a print at home ticket.

Train was very busy but reserved seat so no problem. Good legroom in airline seat.

Journey was at an average of about 75/80mph which was a lot quicker than my other experiences in Poland!

You could opt for the rustbelt route (used to be the main line!) via Katowice, local trains only as far as K, instead of the through IC trains which are considerably faster.
AFAIK the tradition of spending hours in the buffet over a drink hasn't died out. in CZ the cars now have polite reminders on the tables that other people might want a turn, not sure it makes a difference....

I travelled from Krakow to Rzeszow a couple of years ago. Bought the ticket at the station. I paid to go first class and it wasn’t a lot extra. Got an old fashioned compartment. Quite comfortable. Not every train has 1st class though, so you need to check.


The buffet car was quite busy and people didn’t move a lot. They sold beer, vodka and soft drinks but no wine. So if you are a wine drinker take your own with you.

I did this journey (Krakow-Wroclaw) with my missus 2 years ago as we had a trip over there for my birthday. We went on the (not that direct) PKP IC loco hauled service which runs via Czestochowa and Opole. I booked the tickets in advance and printed at home, it was about £16 each for 1st class with reserved seats. The first half of the journey was fairly slow and the track was awful, must be one of the bounciest rides I've experienced, although the second half of the journey was much better (and faster). I think the whole journey was about 3 1/2 hours.
1st class was fairly comfortable, standard european coach with compartments and 6 seats in each. We ended up sharing a compartment with 2 very friendly Polish ladies as that's where our reserved seats were but most of the other compartments were empty. Standard class was very busy with very few spare seats, and I walked the entire length of the train at one point to get some drinks from the buffet only to find it was closed!
An enjoyable journey as it was my first experience of Poland, if I went back (on my own) I'd do the same journey over a couple of days and stop off at some of the busy freight spots and the depots on route.
My advice would be book in advance, 1st class and reserved seats, and stock up with supplies from one of the many shops at Krakow station before you leave.

Good advice everyone, thank you.

Consider taking the ...coach=bus for us. used to be Polskibus, now its running as FLIXbus still in the old red Polskibus livery-tied to Stagecoach. About hourly, quicker and a lot cheaper as trains. From 1 PLN/trip-but thats very rare. In both cities bus+train are adjacent
Reason: as cited, this old rustbelt line, via earth undermined by heavy mining as deadslow and has also very few trains.
If you rather mean either Krakow airport, or perhaps even katowice-ditto- then take bus or (from KRK-train) first.
IF you aim to save money and if speed is not the main objective and also plan to do more train trips- the 3 in 60 days RegioKarnet from PR (only slow trains!!) is just 75 PLN. On weekends PKP-IC offers weekend or vikend+ tickets (for just IC/TLK or all its trains). On their trains all seats are in theory reserved, though often the Polski themselves are still flabbergasted by that.
If the language proves to be too difficult (somehow PKP seems to hire only exclusive Polski-speaking ladies for selling) then in Krakow (a bit hidden) are ticketmachines from PR that also can do the /en/ (plus 4 other foreigns) and can show all trains/connections and their prices. But advance online for PKP will work out cheaper if thats wanted.

Regarding wine and buffet cars etc, be aware that in Poland it isn't legal to consume alcohol on the railways ANYWHERE unless it is in the WARS dining car