Anyone been to Malbork Castle (Poland)

I visited Malbork Castle some years ago, but travelled there by car, so i can only pass on a limited bit of information. It definitely was worth the trip ... it is a very imposing structure, very picturesque, and there were lots of interesting things to see inside as well. Terrific sense of history. If my memory is accurate, I believe Malbork was no more than 45 min - 1 hr from Gdansk. I know there is a train station in the town, and I don't think it is too far from the castle. You may want to check out the website www.malbork.pl for more info on tours, hours open, etc. the website is in Polish, but there is a translation icon down at the bottom, which will give you English. there are 30 or more pages of tourism information in a pdf to read, which should give you more details. Also, try checking intercity.pl or pkp.pl if you speak Polish ..... these will give you rail information, but i think both sites are in Polish only. Hope this helps.

Brad,

My information might not be totally recent, but I was there in July 2003, took the train from Gdansk central station (Danzig) to Malbork (Marienburg), from the station walked to the castle...it isn't that far...maybe 20-25 mins. Absolutely fantastic and well worth it as a day trip. On the premises there are one or two restaurants. I can't remember if we had to transfer trains from Gdansk to Malbork...it's about 50 mins, lovely countryside that was once West Prussia.

I did not take a tour once there; all in all very doable by train

Thanks for the replies. The information is helpful.

The castle is a major historical sight and I wouldn't want to miss it while I'm in the area.

I suspect I'm going to have to start studying Polish (at least enough to buy train tickets and food).

Brad,

If I had transfered trains from Gdansk (Danzig) to Malbork (Marienburg), it would have been at Tczew, (Dirschau an der Weichsel). Tczew is a little town on the Vistula and main stop between Gdansk and Malbork...all very interesting.

At the Gdansk main train station there was an international ticket counter, which means the employee is supposed to speak English but we gave her a note showing her that we wanted to go to Malbork, round trip, just to be sure.

At the restaurant on the Malbork castle premises, the waiter spoke English and the menu was in English and German translation.

That's good. I can do English or German but have never tried Polish.