The Polish network of roads and railways differs from region to region. Better check with a local before choosing the best mode of getting from point A to point B: plane, train or car.
By Plane
If you are flying in from abroad, you are most likely to arrive at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport, since it is the largest air hub in Poland. It handled nearly 8.7 million passengers in 2010 or 42 % of traffic in Poland, 90% of which was international. Currently, it handles regular flights to circa 90 destinations worldwide, with London and Frankfurt ranking as the most popular. Recently new direct connections were opened to places like Beirut, Tbilisi, Hanoi and Yerevan. Eating up more and more of Warsaw’s share in the market are regional airports that have experienced an unprecedented growth in recent years, serving more and more international destinations.
Kraków and Gdańsk are competing for second place after Warsaw. Most domestic traffic goes through Warsaw anyway – with nearly a million passengers a year. Regular services operate to Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań, Rzeszów, Szczecin and Wrocław. The most popular of them are Gdańsk and Wrocław, which makes sense since the 50 minute flight, even with the commute to and from the airport and a wait beats the train ride by half. For Szczecin and Rzeszów it makes even more sense. Although flying around the country has democratised recently, a domestic flight is still a great opportunity to meet Polish MPs and other important (but not wealthy enough to fly by private jet) figures.
By Train
Most of the fast connections operated by Intercity go via Warsaw, which makes its main station, Warsaw Centralna, the busiest hub in Poland, serving over 20 million passengers each year. It takes under 3 hours to get from Warsaw to Kraków, Katowice and Poznań, which makes taking a train to these destinations more sensible than flying. EuroCity trains from Warsaw to Berlin and from Katowice to Vienna make sense too, at 5 and a half hours, since they are comfortable and considerably cheaper than the plane. Intercity was wise enough not to dispose of dining cars when it came to savings. Their WARS restaurants on wheels are a real treasure, with comfortable seating and a menu that consists of meals freshly prepared on board. The schnitzel (kotlet schabowy) remains a firm favourite among the regulars.
The train system is one big construction site nowadays, which is logical if you consider how long the railways have suffered from lack of investment and basic maintenance. In this state of a perpetual revolution, the trains speed up and slow down, the rolling stock varies in quality, and the tariff is far from comprehensive, but this is about to improve soon. Some key projects will be finalised in 2011 and 2012, including the renovation of hitherto neglected grand stations in Warsaw, Gdynia, Katowice, Poznań and Wrocław and the modernisation of the Warsaw-Gdynia line.
By Car
Petrol in Poland is one of the cheapest in the EU: 5.09 zł or €1.25 per litre (as of March 2011). The network of motorways is better developed in the east-west direction – the A4 takes you from the German border (in Görlitz/Zgorzelec) to Wrocław, Katowice and Kraków and further east, in the direction of Ukraine. The A2 has almost reached the German border in Świecko / Frankfurt an der Oder at the western end, spans western Poland all the way to Łódź, and is set to reach Warsaw in 2012. The north-south A1 – linking the Tricity area (including the ferry terminal in Gdynia that connects Poland and Scandinavia) with the Czech border via Toruń, Łódź and Katowice is in various stages of construction or modernisation.
Other than that the network of motorways and expressways – despite major ongoing investments – is, frankly speaking, underdeveloped and some of the large cities, like Poznań and Wrocław or Wrocław and Łódź are linked via perpetually congested two-lane roads, so on some of these routes it is advised to consult a local and choose a train or a plane instead. Coach services operate around the country, filling in for trains in the east and in the north where the network is sparse. Even though they are no longer operated by the state monopoly PKS, this acronym is almost a synonym for a coach station (dworzec autobusowy) around the country.
