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Poland is set to launch a direct train connection to Croatia, a popular tourist destination, Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed yesterday. Polish state rail operator PKP Intercity will run the route four days a week starting from next month.
“We finally have a DIRECT rail link from Poland to Croatia!” announced Tusk on X on Sunday.
Jest taka cisza, że chyba każdy usłyszy tę dobrą nowinę: mamy wreszcie BEZPOŚREDNIE połączenie kolejowe z Polski do Chorwacji! Ruszamy od czerwca, cztery dni w tygodniu. Szczegóły we wtorek.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) May 18, 2025
Progress on establishing the rail connection was announced in April, when infrastructure minister Dariusz Klimczak said that talks were taking place between PKP Intercity and the countries through which the route would pass.
The overnight train is expected to run from Warsaw to the city of Rijeka in northwest Croatia. It will stop at stations in southern Poland as well as in the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia, with a journey time of 19 hours and one-way fares starting from around 200 zloty (€50).
The train would leave Warsaw at around 2 p.m., reaching its final destination before 9 a.m. the following day, suggested rail industry website Rynek Kolejowy. It would return from Rijeka around 7 p.m., reaching Warsaw before 2 p.m.
Plans for establishing a rail connection between Croatia and Poland have been under discussion since 2021, but the project was delayed due to complications arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Croatia regularly ranks among the most popular tourist destinations for Poles, with over 1.2 million Polish tourists visiting the country in 2024 and accounting for 7.1 million overnight stays, reports website Total Croatia.
But the new connection is aimed at increasing tourism on both sides. “It is not just about one of our favourite destinations, but also about inviting Croatians to Poland, and we know that Croatians love Poland,” said Klimczak in April.
PKP Intercity is Poland’s largest rail operator, providing transport between major cities and popular tourist destinations in the country, as well as across Europe. Last year, its trains carried 78.5 million passengers, 15% more than in 2023 and 33% more than in 2022.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Sanja Nikolic / Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY 2.0)
This article originally stated that the new train route would start on 1 July. In fact, the latest statements say that it will begin in June.
Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.
