Travel By Train Around Poland Using a Rail Pass
A rail pass is one of the most convenient ways to explore Poland, giving you unlimited train travel throughout the country and the flexibility to board a train whenever and wherever you wish.
If you’re planning to cover a lot of ground by train, the Interrail One Country Pass is the most suitable rail pass for exploring Poland. It provides unlimited train travel throughout the country and is available to foreign visitors looking to discover Poland by rail.
ONE country pass POLAND
As its name suggests, the One Country Pass Poland is valid only for unlimited train travel within Poland. If you’re including Poland as part of a wider rail trip around Europe and plan to visit several other countries by train as well, the Global Interrail Pass is likely to be a better option. For more information about the Global Interrail Pass, see our main Interrail page.
Below you can find the main rail pass options for Poland. Reduced rail passes are available for travellers aged 60 and over, as well as for those aged 12 to 27, while children between 4 and 11 can travel free of charge when accompanied by an adult holding a valid pass. To purchase a pass, find the Interrail One Country Pass Poland you’re interested in and click ‘buy pass’. You can then choose your class of travel, select any applicable discounts and proceed to complete the booking.
The Interrail One Country Pass Poland is exclusively available to foreign travellers, meaning that residents of Poland are not eligible to use it.
Interrail one country pass POLAND:
HOW DOES THE ONE COUNTRY PASS POLAND WORK?
Within its validity period, the Interrail One Country Pass Poland allows unlimited travel on all trains operated by Polish State Railways (PKP), Poland’s national railway company. PKP operates the majority of long-distance train services across the country, meaning that your pass can take you to virtually every corner of Poland, from Gdańsk to Kraków and from Wrocław to Szczecin and Białystok.
Your One Country Pass Poland is also accepted by many local and regional train operators, including Polregio, Arriva, Koleje Dolnośląskie, Koleje Małopolskie, Koleje Śląskie, Koleje Wielkopolskie and SKM w Trójmieście. In addition, it is valid on long-distance trains operated by the private company RegioJet.
The number of days on which you can travel depends on the type of rail pass you choose, with passes offering a set number of travel days within a specified period. For instance, a “4 days in a month” pass gives you four days of unlimited train travel in Poland, which you can use at any point during a one-month validity period. This period starts when you activate the pass, normally on your first day of travel, and does not necessarily need to correspond to a calendar month. You are therefore free to spread your four travel days across a month, as long as all of them fall within the validity period.
The main benefit of an Interrail Pass is the freedom it gives you to travel flexibly. Rather than purchasing separate tickets for every journey, you can board any train included in your pass. This makes it much easier to travel spontaneously, giving you the option to decide when and where to travel without having to plan your entire itinerary around specific trains in advance.
Overall, a rail pass can be a convenient and cost-effective way to travel around Poland, especially if you want to see as much of the country as possible within a relatively short time.
reservations
On Polish high-speed EIP (Express Intercity Premium) trains, seat reservations are compulsory. Interrail passholders must pay both a supplement and a reservation fee, which costs 43 PLN (around €10). If you want to travel on a domestic night train, you will also need to pay a supplement for a sleeper or couchette berth.
On other long-distance trains, such as EIC, IC and TLK services, it depends on the route whether a seat reservation is compulsory. However, the reservation fee is so low – just 3 złoty (around €0.70) – that it only adds a small extra cost to your journey. Even when a reservation is optional, it is still highly recommended, particularly for long journeys and when travelling during peak periods, such as national holidays or busy travel days like Fridays and Sundays.
On regional and commuter trains there is no reserved seating at all, so you can just take any available seat.
Read our article on Interrail and Eurail reservations to learn more about this topic!
For Polish trains, you can either make a seat reservation at any staffed railway station in the country or book one online through the PKP Intercity or Czech Railways website. When booking online, make sure you select ‘Purchase reservations only’ rather than a full-price ticket.
OTHER POLISH RAIL PASSES
If you’re only planning to explore a particular region of Poland, it may be worth checking whether a regional rail pass is available. Such passes can also be used alongside an Interrail One Country Pass Poland. You can then use the regional pass for shorter journeys within a voivodeship, while saving the travel days on your One Country Pass for longer InterCity journeys, where it offers the greatest value.
For example, Lower Silesia has the Dolnośląski Bilet Weekendowy (Lower Silesian Weekend Ticket), which allows unlimited travel from 18:00 on Friday until 06:00 on Monday within the boundaries of the voivodeship and even in some neighbouring areas. Although these regional rail passes are only valid on local and regional trains rather than long-distance PKP services, they can offer excellent value.
Enjoy the great sights of Poland by train
Whether you’re exploring major cities such as Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk, Poznań or Wrocław, heading into the mountains around Zakopane, visiting Baltic Coast resorts like Sopot, or venturing further afield to the Masurian Lakes or Białowieża Forest, a Polish rail pass can be one of the most convenient ways to get around the country.