Zakopane Transportation

To and back Krakow-Zakopane way I made with bus service. Buses are quite comfortable and not expensive to use whem at all (about 11 zloty one way). I catched them in Krakow bus station - very frequent schedule. Zakopane has its own bus station as well, but there are one street, where buses stand just like that, not at bus station (maybe because of different bus companies).

On my bus trip back to Krakow I met one nun. We found what we are from Baltic states - she was from Latvia, but being in Zakopane Catholic monastery. On the bus trip she wrote me a wish in Latvian language on religious thematic postcard, was quite fun trying to talk in Latvian as well:)

Because of the mountainous terrain between Krakow and Zakopane, trains are extremely slow; despite the relatively short distance, the trip will take between 4 and 6 hours. Still, if you have your heart set on riding the rails, there are several daily direct trains to Zakopane. On the other hand, if you want to go directly from Warsaw to Zakopane, there is one daily overnight train, which can be a practical option.

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To get from Krakow to Zakopane via public transportation, you have the choice of the train or bus. Counterintuitively, the bus is actually faster; the train can take 4-6 hours. However, note that construction on the main road between Krakow and Zakopane can cause significant delays; while the scheduled travel time is 2 hours, allow for at least 3 hours to get to your destination.

Even among the buses, you have a number of choices. In addition to the public bus, there are several private buses, all departing and arriving at the same bus stations on either end. All buses cost the same (Zl 18 per person one-way); the only difference is the private buses are a bit more comfortable. However, if you can catch the "express" public bus, it can save you roughly 20 minutes travel time. My advice is to show up at the bus station and grab the first bus departing for your desired destination. You can buy your ticket in the station (or ticket office for the private buses), or pay cash to the driver before departure.

A very good way of travelling around Zakopane is using minibuses or buses. Minibuses go almost everywhere for a reasonable price and can stop almost everything (not only at bus stops) . Their first stop is in front of the main bus station in Zakopane. A very good thing about them is that if you are in a bigger group you can ask the driver to pick you up.

The best way to get to Zakopane (from Krakow for instance) is by bus as it takes less time than by train. There are a few bus companies but I would recommend SZWAGROPOL - a bit cheaper than PKS , reliable and quite fast.

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For quick access to the Tatras, taking the cable car at Kuznice, 3km south of Zakopane, is a good option. It might be worth reserving tickets the day before if possible, otherwise you'll probably have to queue. As soon as we arrived in Zakopane, we tried reserving tickets at the tourist office for the following day but they were all sold out.

We arrived at Kuznice the next morning at about 9a, and had to queue for 30 minutes for the cable car. It cost us 20 Zl (about 7.50 Euro) each for a single trip. The scenery was stunning on the first half of the journey. We could see Zakopane behind us, beautiful fir trees below us and the peaks of the Tatras in the distance.

Halfway up we left our car and joined another for the ascent to the summit. Most of this journey was through the clouds unfortunately. While we could no longer appreciate the view it was still quite fun to be travelling through the clouds - though rather worrying for our planned hiking. We could only see the about 5 metres of cable car lines behind us and nothing in front of us. Everything else was white. Even the ground below us was hidden. So much for fantastic views from the top.

There's a restaurant, shop and other facilities in the cable car station at the top of Kasprowy Wierch.

There are regular connections from Zakopane to other towns in the region and to further afield. After Zakopane, our next destination was Tatranska Lomnica in the Slovakian High Tatras. We left all our planning until the last minute when we arrived at the bus station. Our first idea was to get a bus to Lysa Polana, the border crossing, and then catch a bus on the Slovakian side.

However, the nice girl at the tourist information in the bus station in Zakopane advised us to wait an hour and catch the bus to Poprad which stopped at Tatranska Lomnica. There are only two of these buses a day (at 7.10 and 13:05) so we were lucky we had timed it right. I was glad we skipped Lysa Polana as it didn't look like the nicest place, especially in the heavy rain, and we would probably have had to wait a while for an onward connection.

There are 3 bus companies which travel between Krakow and Zakopane, and each one makes several journeys a day. All leave from the bus station in Krakow, a few minutes walk north of the train station.

We travelled with Trans Frej as they had the next scheduled bus when we got to the station. It cost us 15 Zloty each and the bus was nowhere near full so we had a two seater each. The joureny took just under two hours and there was some nice scenery along the way especially as we got closer to Zakopane in the Podhale region.

The bus station in Zakopane is at the eastern end of ul Kosciuszki, near the train station and about 5 minutes walk from the centre of town.