Previously, if you wanted to get a train between the biggest cities in Poland and Lithuania, it was all a bit complicated. While a rail service has been running between the Polish city of Białystok and the Lithuanian city of Kaunas for a few years, there was no a direct train from the likes of Warsaw and Kraków to Lithuania.
Until now, that is. A new route has launched that sees Kraków and Warsaw linked up with Kaunas and the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius. In other words, travelling across northern Europe by train is now easier than ever!
The new route leaves Kraków at 4:01am and stops at Warsaw (7:35am) and Kaunas (4:26pm) before arriving in Vilnius at 5:34pm. The train has integrated ticketing but isn’t quite one, long direct route. Passengers will still have to change trains at Mockava, just on the Lithuanian side of the border.
Better yet, the new route is really quite affordable. Tickets for the entire 12-and-a-half-hour Krakow-Vilnius journey start from just 142 zloty (£26, $32). It’s run by Polish long-distance rail provider PKP Intercity and you can book tickets here.
Of course, as any Euro rail enthusiast will no doubt already know, the new Kraków-Vilnius line is just a stop-gap until the magnificent Rail Baltica project is finally completed by the end of the decade. Rail Baltica will see high-speed trains whizz all the way from Poland right up to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and, potentially, even Finland. Exciting times for Baltic rail fans!
Did you see that a new night train to Venice and Croatia has just launched?
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