Next year May 17 to June 12, we are planning a visit to Poland. Due to a schedule/route change, we are now flying into Prague instead of Krakow. On our dates there are no direct flights Prague to Krakow, so we have two options, fly into Warsaw or take the train to Krakow.
Has anyone had recent experience with train PRG to KRK? Would you recommend? Any price estimate and best way to book?
Posted by
Massachusetts, USA
1603 posts
We took the train from Prague to Krakow in 2003. I know that was a long time ago, so I'm not sure if the routing is still the same. We had to change trains in Katowice. It was a short connection. I think the entire train trip took us about 8 hours. We left Prague in the morning, and we arrived in Krakow in the early evening.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
See my reply about RyanAir and rail options on your parallel thread.
Posted by
Ind., United States
317 posts
We made the route in reverse in 2017. Many don't appreciate train travel, but we do enjoy it. On this trip we left Krakow in the evening, slept well in our sleeper car, and arrived well rested and ready for breakfast at (if I remember correctly) about 6:30 am. We left our luggage at our hotel before check in and meeting our tour mates. We then headed out to scout out the city as we looked for and found a wonderful breakfast. I cannot remember just what our sleeper compartment cost, but do remember it was much less than spending the night in a hotel and we were treated to being rocked to sleep.
Posted by
Inlet Beach, FL
130 posts
We have read that it's better to take the bus from Prague to Krakow. That's what we are doing on 12/24, taking FLIXBUS. I'll post when we return. We generally always use trains, but when we read this---well, gotta go with what Rick Steves folks recommend and others. So we're doing it!
Posted by
Irving
2948 posts
There is a direct, overnight train from Prague to Krakow taking eight hours. You can sleep in a couchette and get a decent nights sleep. Check www.bahn.com.
Posted by
Washington DC
27111 posts
Many people will not get a decent night's sleep in a couchette (or in a sleeper) on the Prague to Krakow train. Doing so will require sleeping through the following stops (eight of them after midnight), each of which involves braking, station noise, and acceleration:
Kolin(CZ) 10:58 PM
Pardubice hl.n. 11:25 PM
Ceska Trebova 12:04 AM
Olomouc hl.n. 01:07 AM
Ostrava-Svinov 02:15 AM
Ostrava hl.n. 02:25 AM
Bohumin 03:18 AM
Zebrzydowice 03:39 AM
Czechowice-Dziedzice 04:07 AM
Oswiecim 04:49 AM
Krakow Glowny 06:25 AM
That doesn't look remotely restful to me.
In addition, arriving at 6:25 AM leaves a lot of hours to kill before any sightseeing venues are open, I imagine.
Posted by
Ind., United States
317 posts
I was surprised to see that there were so many stops on the train between Krakow and Prague! I guess it boils down to whether you are a light sleeper or not. I didn't wake once during our night trip and felt great when we arrived in Prague.