Krakow Airport, which the airport itself writes as Kraków Airport, is in Balice, around 11 kilometres west of the city centre. The railway station is right next to the terminal, behind the multi-storey car park, and the train runs to the main station, Kraków Główny, in 17 minutes. That makes the train the obvious way to get from Krakow Airport to the city centre for the vast majority of travellers.
The city bus is cheaper but slower, and a fixed-fare taxi or an Uber can be worth it if there are several of you or if you land in the middle of the night. The right choice depends on where you’re staying and when you land. Here are all the options with fares and journey times, where to get off, and how to travel straight on to Wieliczka, Zakopane and Auschwitz. For the rough conversions I’ve used about £0.19 and $0.26 per zloty.
Contents
At a glance
- Train (SKA1): 20 zloty (about £3.90/$5.10), 17 minutes to Kraków Główny, runs every half hour for most of the day, with a few departures at night.
- Bus 300: 6 zloty (about £1.20/$1.50), around 45 minutes to the centre, runs during the day to Jubilat and Rondo Grunwaldzkie, but not to the main station.
- Night bus 902: 6 zloty (about £1.20/$1.50), runs at night to Dworzec Główny Wschód by the main station.
- Taxi: 89 to 129 zloty (about £17 to £25, or $23 to $33) to most addresses in the centre, around 25 minutes, fixed zone fare around the clock.
- Uber and Bolt: Typically 50 to 70 zloty (about £9.70 to £13.50, or $13 to $18), and the app shows the price before you book.
Finding your transport at the airport
The arrivals hall is on level 0 of the passenger terminal, and it has a ticket machine for the city buses. A screen at the information desk in the hall shows the next bus departures. Bus and train tickets are only sold in zloty, but the machines take cards, so you don’t need to change money first.
The railway station is right next to the terminal, behind the multi-storey car park, and a covered footbridge leads from the terminal to the platform. The train operator Koleje Małopolskie has a ticket office on the platform, which is open every day from 08:10 to 19:45, and there’s a ticket machine on every train.
The city buses leave from the stop close to the terminal, where there’s also a ticket machine that takes both cash and cards. Long-distance coaches use the middle shelter, number 2, in front of the terminal by the footbridge. Kraków Airport Taxi is the airport’s own company and the only official taxi, and at the terminal you’ll find a taxi rank as well as zones for private cars and for cars booked through an app. If you book an Uber or Bolt, the app shows you where to meet your driver. You’ll find all the options on the airport’s transport page.
1. Train to Kraków Główny and the Old Town
The train is line SKA1, run by Koleje Małopolskie, and it’s the fastest way into the city. It runs from Kraków Lotnisko/Airport station to the main station, Kraków Główny, in 17 minutes, and you can take the first train that leaves, because the trains from here all go to Kraków Główny. From there, it continues through the city via Kraków Grzegórzki, Kraków Zabłocie and Kraków Płaszów to Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia, which it reaches 44 minutes after leaving the airport. So you can simply stay on board if you’re staying in Kazimierz or Podgórze, or if you want to go straight out to the salt mine.
For most of the day, the train runs every half hour. The first morning train leaves the airport just after 04:00, and from around 06:00 to 22:00 there are two departures an hour. Late in the evening, the trains are about an hour apart, and the last ones run after midnight and terminate at Kraków Główny. The times of the night trains change with the timetable, so check them with Koleje Małopolskie if you’re landing late.
The trains have air conditioning, power sockets and Wi-Fi. Luggage that fits above or under your seat doesn’t cost extra, while larger items cost 3 zloty (about £0.60/$0.80) according to the operator’s fare table. The train suits almost everyone who’s staying in the centre. The catch is the ticket, because you need a dedicated train ticket, and the city’s combined 70-minute ticket for trains and city transport isn’t valid to or from the airport station. If you don’t have a ticket when you board, buy one from the machine on the train or speak to the staff straight away.
Fares and tickets
A single ticket between the airport and any station with Kraków in its name costs 20 zloty (about £3.90/$5.10), so the fare is the same to Kraków Główny, Kraków Grzegórzki and Kraków Zabłocie. To Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia, it costs 24 zloty (about £4.60/$6.10). The ticket is valid for three hours and not just for one particular departure. There’s also a return ticket for 40 zloty (about £7.70/$10), but it’s no cheaper than two singles and is only valid on the same day. The fares are listed on the airport’s train page.
Children under 4 travel free, but they need a free ticket, and you have to be able to prove the child’s age. Young children from the age of 4 who haven’t yet started pre-school get a 37% discount and pay 12.60 zloty (about £2.40/$3.20) when you can show their age. The discount for schoolchildren requires a Polish school ID card, so expect to pay the full fare for older children.
At weekends and on public holidays, there’s a family ticket called Małopolski bilet dla rodziny, which costs 80 zloty (about £15.50/$20.50) between the airport and the stations in Krakow. It covers two to six people, with no more than two adults and at least one child under 16, and it’s valid all day until midnight.
How to buy your ticket
The easiest option is the ticket machine on the train. It takes both cash and cards, and you don’t pay extra for buying your ticket on board. You can also buy it at the ticket office on the platform at the airport or from the train staff, who take both cash and cards.
If you’d like to have the ticket ready on your phone, it’s sold in apps such as KOLEO and Jakdojade and in the iMKA app, where a single ticket for the airport train costs 19 zloty (about £3.70/$4.90). All the places to buy tickets are listed by Koleje Małopolskie.
Where to get off
Kraków Główny: The main station is around a ten-minute walk from the Rynek Główny square, so this is where to get off if you’re staying in the Old Town, which is called Stare Miasto in Polish. The station concourse is beneath the tracks, with exits towards Pawia street and the Galeria Krakowska shopping centre. The MDA bus station is right next door, and trams and city buses stop close by if you’re travelling on.
Kraków Grzegórzki: The stop after the main station is on Grzegórzecka street, just over five minutes’ walk from Kazimierz. Get off here if you’re staying in the Jewish quarter. There’s a lift down from the platforms, and trams and buses stop right by the station.
Kraków Zabłocie: The next stop is in the Zabłocie district, close to the River Vistula, Oskar Schindler’s factory and the MOCAK art museum. It’s the stop for you if you’re staying in Podgórze, and the journey from the airport takes 25 minutes.
Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia: The end of the line in Wieliczka, where the salt mine is. The journey from the airport takes 44 minutes with no changes.
2. Bus 300 and night bus 902 to the city centre
The city buses are the cheapest way into the city, and the airport puts the journey to the centre at around 45 minutes. During the day, route 300 is the one you need. It runs between Kraków Airport and its terminus, Os. Podwawelskie, on the other side of the Vistula opposite Wawel, and the stops along the way include Cracovia Błonia, Jubilat, Konopnickiej and Rondo Grunwaldzkie. The bus doesn’t pass the main station, so it’s mainly useful if you’re staying west of the Old Town, near Wawel or south of the river.
The route through western Krakow has been changed several times, so check the stops in the MPK timetable before you board. Route 209 also calls at the airport, but it links the Salwator tram terminus with the villages west of the airport and is rarely the best choice.
From around 23:00, night bus 902 takes over. It runs between Kraków Airport and Dworzec Główny Wschód, which is the stop on the east side of the main station, and it’s the cheap alternative to a taxi at night. Check the departure time in the timetable before you walk out to the stop.
Fares and tickets
A single-journey ticket costs 6 zloty (about £1.20/$1.50) and is the same as the 30-minute ticket. It’s enough if you stay on the same bus all the way. If you need to change to a tram or another bus, a 60-minute ticket for 8 zloty (about £1.50/$2) or a 90-minute ticket for 9 zloty (about £1.70/$2.30) is the safe choice. They’re all valid in zones I, II and III, which means the whole network.
If you’ll be using buses and trams for several days, there are tickets for 24, 48 and 72 hours. The 24-hour ticket costs 20 zloty (about £3.90/$5.10) for zone I and 25 zloty (about £4.80/$6.40) for all three zones, and the 48-hour and 72-hour tickets cost 40 zloty (about £7.70/$10) and 55 zloty (about £10.50/$14). If you want your day ticket to cover the airport bus as well, choose the version for all three zones. The fares are listed by the transport authority ZTP.
Children travel free up to and including 30 September of the year they turn 7, and you need to be able to state or show the child’s age. After that, and until they turn 16, they travel half price with a document showing a photo and date of birth. Foreign students up to the age of 26 get the same discount with a valid ISIC card, and if you’re over 70, you travel free with photo ID.
How to buy and validate your ticket
You can buy your ticket from the machine in the arrivals hall on level 0, from the machine at the bus stop, which takes cash and cards, or from the machine on the bus, where you should expect to pay by card. A paper ticket has to be validated on the bus as soon as you’ve boarded, because otherwise it isn’t valid.
If you buy your ticket in an app such as Jakdojade, mPay, SkyCash or moBiLET instead, you need to buy it as soon as you’ve boarded and select the number of the bus, which is shown on a label above the ticket validator. An app ticket is validated the moment you buy it.
Where to get off the bus
Jubilat: The stop is by the Vistula, a short distance west of Wawel and the Old Town. Get off here if you’re staying in the south-western part of the Old Town or near the castle.
Rondo Grunwaldzkie: The stop is on the other side of the river by the ICE Kraków congress centre, where several tram lines cross. From here, you can walk across the bridge to Kazimierz or change to a tram.
Dworzec Główny Wschód: Night bus 902 terminates here, on the east side of the main station by the MDA bus station. From here, you walk through the station to the Old Town.
3. Taxis, Uber and Bolt
Kraków Airport Taxi is the airport’s own taxi company and the only official taxi at the terminal. The fare is fixed and applies per car. It depends only on the distance from the airport to your address and not on the traffic, the day of the week or the time of day. The zones range from 29 zloty (about £5.60/$7.40) for the shortest trips to 169 zloty (about £32.50/$43) for trips of 23 to 27 kilometres.
For the city centre, three zones are relevant: 8 to 11.9 kilometres costs 89 zloty (about £17/$23), 12 to 14.9 kilometres costs 109 zloty (about £21/$28), and 15 to 18.9 kilometres costs 129 zloty (about £25/$33). Expect to end up in one of the three, depending on where in the city you’re staying, and ask the driver which zone applies before you set off. The journey takes around 25 minutes, the cars take all types of payment card, and if you’re going to more than one address, the rest of the trip is charged on the meter. The full fare table is on the airport’s taxi page.
Uber and Bolt also operate from the airport. The app shows the price before you book, and it shows where to meet your driver, which isn’t always at the nearest exit. According to Uber’s own figures, an UberX from the airport to Krakow has cost 56 zloty (about £11/$14.50) on average, and an UberXL with room for six has cost 81 zloty (about £15.50/$20.50), so you can typically expect to pay 50 to 70 zloty (about £9.70 to £13.50, or $13 to $18) for a standard car. The price goes up when demand is high. See more at Uber.
Private transfer
If you’re landing late with children, or there are several of you with lots of luggage, you can book a private transfer from Krakow Airport here. The driver takes you to the door, and the price is agreed in advance.
Onward travel around Poland straight from the airport
If you’re heading to the salt mine in Wieliczka, you don’t need to change. The airport train continues through Krakow to Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia in 44 minutes, and the ticket costs 24 zloty (about £4.60/$6.10). A few late departures terminate at Kraków Główny, so check where the train is going before you board.
Long-distance coaches stop at shelter number 2 in front of the terminal. FlixBus runs from here to Zakopane and Katowice, and Neobus runs to Katowice and Wrocław. The airport has an overview of operators and routes on its long-distance coach page, and you buy your ticket from the coach company.
Auschwitz-Birkenau is near the town of Oświęcim, and to get there you have to go via Kraków Główny. From the main station, Koleje Małopolskie runs line SKA3 to Oświęcim in around an hour for 18 zloty (about £3.50/$4.60), and the museum is around 1.5 kilometres from the station. The alternative is Lajkonik’s buses from the MDA bus station next to the railway station, which run directly to the museum’s car park in 1 hour and 25 minutes. You’ll find the timetables at Koleje Małopolskie and Lajkonik.
If you’d rather be driven straight from the airport, you can book a private transfer to Auschwitz, Wieliczka or Zakopane here. FlixBus also has a route between the airport and Gdansk, and if you’re heading that way, you can read my guide to where to stay in Gdansk.
Getting back to the airport
The train to the airport runs from Kraków Główny every half hour for most of the day, and the journey takes 17 minutes. Early in the morning, the departures are further apart, because the first trains leave at around 03:30, 04:30 and 05:30, and it’s only from around 06:00 that they run every half hour. There’s also a train shortly before 01:00. The times change with the timetable, so check your departure with Koleje Małopolskie the evening before.
Buy your ticket from the machine on the train or in the station concourse. If you buy it from the train staff after boarding at Kraków Główny while the ticket office is open, it costs 5 zloty (about £1/$1.30) extra. The station at the airport is right by the terminal, and you walk across the covered footbridge to reach the terminal.
If the train doesn’t work for you, night bus 902 runs from Dworzec Główny Wschód to the airport. The airport’s fixed taxi fares apply to journeys from the airport, so for the trip back you either book Kraków Airport Taxi in advance online or by phone, or you take an Uber or Bolt. Uber’s own figures show an average of 58 zloty (about £11/$15) for an UberX from Krakow to the airport.
The airport recommends being in the departures hall no later than 45 minutes before departure, and check-in normally opens two hours before. The terminal is open around the clock, and you can read more in the airport’s FAQ. If someone’s driving you, the first 8 minutes in the airport’s Kiss&Fly zone are free, and after that it costs 5 zloty (about £1/$1.30) for every 4 minutes or part thereof. The rules are on the airport’s page for drivers.
Which option should you choose?
Here’s what I’d recommend based on where you’re staying:
Old Town: Take the train to Kraków Główny. It takes 17 minutes, and you can walk to Rynek Główny in around ten minutes.
Kazimierz: Take the train and stay on for one more stop to Kraków Grzegórzki. The ticket costs the same, and you’re in the neighbourhood after a walk of just over five minutes.
Podgórze: Take the train to Kraków Zabłocie, two stops after the main station, and walk the last stretch or take a short taxi ride.
West of the Old Town and near Wawel: Bus 300 to Jubilat is the cheapest option and drops you closer than the train does.
If you want to travel as cheaply as possible: Bus 300 costs 6 zloty (about £1.20/$1.50), but it takes around 45 minutes and doesn’t go to the main station.
If you land at night: First check whether there’s a night train. Otherwise, night bus 902 runs to the main station, and the airport taxi costs the same at night as it does during the day.
If there are three or four of you: Three train tickets cost 60 zloty (about £11.50/$15.50), and four cost 80 zloty (about £15.50/$20.50). An Uber or Bolt typically costs the same or less and takes you to the door, and the fixed-fare airport taxi isn’t much more expensive than four train tickets.
If you have an early flight home: Take the train from Kraków Główny, where the first departures leave at around 03:30 and 04:30. If those don’t work for you, it’s night bus 902 or a car you’ve booked the evening before.
If you’re going to Wieliczka: Stay on the train all the way to the end of the line.
Practical tips for getting from Krakow Airport to the city centre
Buy your train ticket from the machine on the train. Every train has a machine that takes cards and cash, and you don’t pay extra for buying on board. That way, you don’t need to look for a ticket office when you land.
Don’t use the city ticket on the airport train. The combined 70-minute ticket for trains and city transport costs 10 zloty (about £1.90/$2.60), but it isn’t valid to or from the airport station. For the airport train, you always need the train ticket for 20 zloty (about £3.90/$5.10).
Have a payment card ready. Bus and train tickets are only sold in zloty, but the machines at the airport take cards, so you can get into the city without any cash.
Remember to validate your bus ticket straight away. A paper bus ticket is only valid once it’s been validated, and you have to do that as soon as you’ve boarded.
Check the night departures before you fly. At night, the trains are further apart, and the times change with the timetable. If you land after midnight, check in advance whether a night train or night bus 902 works for you, and otherwise have a taxi or an Uber as your plan B.
Choose your hotel with the connection in mind. If you stay in the Old Town close to Kraków Główny, you’ll be at your hotel about half an hour after the train leaves the airport, and you can see hotels in the Old Town here. If you stay in Kazimierz, you get off at Kraków Grzegórzki one stop later, and you can see hotels in Kazimierz here.
If you’re not sure which neighbourhood suits you, read my guide to where to stay in Krakow.
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