New daily train links Warsaw & Vilnius for €25

You don't need to endure a bus!  Until 2013 a comfortable daily train linked Warsaw with Vilnius with a change of trains at Sestokai on the Polish/Lithuanian border, where Polish standard gauge met Lithuanian 5' track gauge.  This was cancelled in 2013 while the Rail Baltica project dug up the tracks, but in June 2016 a cross-border Bialystok-Kaunas train started running over the new standard gauge Rail Baltica line.  In 2022 you could once more travel by train between Warsaw & Vilnius, but only at weekends.  Starting 11 December 2022, a daily train service now links Krakow & Warsaw with Kaunas & Vilnius as shown below, with integrated ticketing and cheap fares.  Longer-term, the Rail Baltica project will ultimately provide a 200km/h standard gauge railway linking Warsaw, Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia.

Train times 2024

 Krakow & Warsaw ► Vilnius   

 

 

 Vilnius ► Warsaw & Krakow

 Polish Intercity train, 1st & 2nd class

daily

 Lithuanian train, 2nd class only

daily

 Krakow Glowny depart:

04:14

 Vilnius depart:

12:30

 Warsaw Centralna depart:

07:45

 Kaunas depart:

13:38

 Mockava (Lithuania) arrive:

14:41

 Mockava (Lithuania) arrive:

14:57

 Easy change onto a Lithuanian train

daily

 Easy change onto a Polish Intercity train

daily

 Mockava depart:

15:10

 Mockava (Lithuania) depart:

15:25

 Kaunas arrive:

16:28

 Warsaw Centralna arrive:

20:15

 Vilnius arrive:

17:34

 Krakow Glowny arrive:

23:32

Remember that Lithuanian time is 1 hour ahead of Polish time.  This service does not pass through any part of Belarus!

Check Polish train times for your date of travel at www.intercity.pl.  Check Mockava-Kaunas & Kaunas-Vilnius times at ltglink.lt.

A regular train service links Kaunas & Vilnius in 1h30, check times at ltglink.lt.

On other pages:  Vilnius-Riga  Riga-Tallinn

 How much does it cost?

 Warsaw-Vilnius

€25

 Warsaw-Kaunas   

€20

 Krakow-Vilnius   

€30

 Krakow-Kaunas   

€25

How to buy tickets

What's the Polish train like?

The Polish train between Krakow, Warsaw & Mockava is a modern air-conditioned Intercity (IC) train called the Hancza, with 1st & 2nd class seats, reservation compulsory.  The train will be shown on the departure boards at Krakow & Warsaw as going to Mockava.

The Hancza has a restaurant car, treat yourself to a a cooked breakfast & lunch going east, dinner with wine or beer heading west.

The 2nd class cars are a mix of cars with open-plan seating and cars with classic 6-seat compartments.  The 1st class car is a classic compartment car with side corridor and 6-seat compartments.  Luggage goes on the racks above your seat, or on the floor. 

There are power sockets at all seats, but no WiFi in the direct Krakow-Warsaw-Mockava cars.  If you need WiFi, simply walk back along the train to the 2 or 3 extra cars attached to the rear of the train between Krakow, Warsaw & Bialystok as these cars should have WiFi.

Tip:  You can check the train formation, check car numbers & see which have WiFi, which are open-plan & which compartment-type using www.vagonweb.cz.  Change cs to English upper left, then click Train formations, scroll to Poland, click IC and look for IC13000/1 Hancza.

2nd class compartment on the train from Warsaw   2nd class saloon on the train from Warsaw

2nd class 6-seat compartment.

 

2nd class open-plan seating

Restaurant car on the Krakow-Warsaw-Mockava train   Restaurant car on the Krakow-Warsaw-Mockava train

Restaurant car on the Warsaw to Mockava train.  I recommend the tasty zurek soup and the kotlet schabowy (schnitzel).  Courtesy of Simon Andersen.

Switching trains at Mockava

It's easy!  In the photo below, that's the Polish train on the right, you step off, walk across the platform to the waiting Lithuanian train on the left.  The photo actually shows a southbound switch from Vilnius to Warsaw, but it works the same both ways.  Photo courtesy of Martin Kop.

Warsaw to Vilnius by train:  Interchange at Mockava

What's the Lithuanian train like?

The Lithuanian train between Mockava & Vilnius is a modern air-conditioned Pesa 730 train, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesa_730M.  It's air-conditioned with comfortable seating, drop-down tables, toilets, large luggage racks, free WiFi, wheelchair space and accessible toilet, see virtual tour at traukinyje.lt/pesa730ml.  Hot & cold drinks (including latte or cappuccino bean to cup coffee), snacks and sandwiches can ordered from a menu and brought to your seat by the train staff working out of a small catering compartment.  You sit where you like in 2nd class, but 1st class seats are assigned.

Pesa 730 traiin to Vilnius

Pesa 730 train.  Courtesy of Julien Lebel.

1st class on the Vilnius to Riga traiin   Menu on the Vilnius to Riga train

1st class.  Courtesy of Discoverbyrail.com.

 

Menu.  Courtesy of Discoverbyrail.com.

Vilnius to Riga traiin   2nd class on the Vilnius to Riga train

Pesa 730 train.  Courtesy of Eli Litvak.

 

2nd class.  Courtesy of Eli Litvak.

Route map

Warsaw to Vilnius train route map

 

Click for larger map

Green = scenic routes.

Reproduced from the European Rail Map with kind permission of the European Rail Timetable people.

I recommend buying a copy of the European Rail Map for your travels, www.europeanrailtimetable.eu with shipping worldwide.  More details.

Right: Crossing the Poland-Lithuania border. Courtesy Martin Kop.

  The train crosses the Poland/Lithuania border
Vilnius railway station

Vilnius station.  Photo courtesy of Yuk Wah Chu

Recommended hotels in Vilnius


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