Is train travel recommended for tourists in Poland

Polonius3:

Does this mean the reports about people being treated to drugged vodka (in the old American gangster films a tampered-with drink was called a Micky Finn!) or gassed to sleep are gross exaggeration by the tabloid press? Are the open-coach Inter-City trains safer than the compartmentalised regular ones?

Guest	Jun 6, 08, 10:19 / #
We are senior citizens planning a return trip to Poland this September - renting a car for travel is an option but we don't read Polish - my question, is train travel easy to do? Could we take a train to Prague or Germany? Is it recommended for two oldster females?

VaFunkooloThreads: 7 Posts: 823 Joined: Mar 24, 08	Jun 6, 08, 10:32 / #
Train travel is fairly straight foward in Poland and some might even argue that its better than the UK's attempt at a functioning rail system. It's reasonably priced, reasonably clean and in my experience, punctual.

LondonChickThreads: 43 Posts: 1,261 Joined: Nov 19, 07	Jun 6, 08, 10:48 / #
First time I visited Poland, I did a lot of travel into Budapest and Prague - a young (ish) girl travelling alone, and didn't encounter any problems. There were lots of older ladies travelling on the over-night trains. This is a really useful site for international train travel: seat61.com

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 [Moderator]	Jun 6, 08, 10:56 / #
Guest: Could we take a train to Prague or Germany? I often take the train from Wroclaw to Berlin. Depending on the timetable it can go via Poznan. The carriages on this service are modern and safe. No compartments. For parts of the journey there may be either Polish or German police/border police. On occasion they do spot checks, which in my opinion should make you feel safer.

inkrakow	Jun 6, 08, 13:50 / #
Yes, it's highly recommended as the quickest and cheapest way of getting between the major cities. The road network is poor and Polish driving isn't the best. There's a comfortable overnight train from Krakow to Prague, and lots of trains to Germany, so you won't have a problem getting there.

szkotja2007Threads: 38 Posts: 2,544 Joined: Dec 29, 06	Jun 6, 08, 16:40 / #
In my experience they are better than in UK. Cheap, comfortable, reclining seats ( hey, you actually get a seat )and a buffet carriage that doesn't need a mortgage. If you smoke its a bonus, if you dont, be careful where you sit ! Great way to meet people.

esekThreads: 5 Posts: 269 Joined: Jun 3, 08	Jun 6, 08, 17:24 / #
szkotja2007: comfortable omg, if our trains are comfortable then I don't want to see these in UK :D IMHO our trains are in bad condition, they're old, veeeeery slow and toilets.. I wouldn't use them ... Thanks god I don't have to travel by train very often....:)

randompalThreads: 7 Posts: 431 Joined: Jul 10, 07	Jun 6, 08, 17:50 / #
esek: IMHO our trains are in bad condition, they're old, veeeeery slow and toilets.. I wouldn't use them ... Thanks god I don't have to travel by train very often....:) they are better than the roads in Poland, if you drove a car you would know that to be the truth of the land. trains are more comfortable than buses/coaches, the INTERCITY trains are in good shape and up to standard - you will be fine.

EurolaThreads: 6 Posts: 2,647 Joined: Dec 2, 06	Jun 6, 08, 23:38 / #
I took intercity when in Poland a couple of weeks ago - the famous Gosiewski train and a stop in Gosiewo (not the real name of the town). :) I found it very clean, open (no compartments) - thus safe. It stood to its name TLK (tanie linie kolejowe - cheap rail lines). I heard that people get robbed more on trains with compartments. The robbers spray something to make the passengers sleep, and then, well... rob them.

PLATThreads: 1 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 7, 08	Jun 7, 08, 07:26 / #
There is not much thieving and bad behaviour on Polish railway system , because the tickets for the underclass in Poland are very expensive, even on those sh)T orange trains that are slow and dirty. Oh and you do not need a car while you're in the town's and cities because Public transport is excellent in all of them in Poland. and it is also cheap.

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07	Jun 7, 08, 07:44 / #
Do they sell this special sleeping gas at railway stations?

Polonius3Threads: 1,005 Posts: 4,833 Joined: Apr 11, 08	Jun 7, 08, 08:18 / #
Does this mean the reports about people being treated to drugged vodka (in the old American gangster films a tampered-with drink was called a Micky Finn!) or gassed to sleep are gross exaggeration by the tabloid press? Are the open-coach Inter-City trains safer than the compartmentalised regular ones?

honeym	Jun 7, 08, 08:29 / #
Polish trains are safe. i'm after my travel I give them my recomendation

ukpolskaThreads: 51 Posts: 2,236 Joined: Oct 23, 06 MEMBER	Jun 7, 08, 08:41 / #
Polonius3: Does this mean the reports about people being treated to drugged vodka (in the old American gangster films a tampered-with drink was called a Micky Finn!) or gassed to sleep are gross exaggeration by the tabloid press? Are the open-coach Inter-City trains safer than the compartmentalised regular ones? News is news, and this may have happened many years ago, but if it was it was one isolated incident, which was made popular by people such as Michal who will no doubt come on here and give us his negative pearls of wisdom, based on observations 20 years ago in Poland. All I can say is that I have lived here for eight years now and never had any problems, and just to be safe, treat as if you were in your own country, you wouldn't put yourself in dangerous situations there would you, so don't do the same here and you will be perfectly ok.