Visiting John and Rajmund at Kamionka Wielka
By air
Our nearest airport – about 2.5 hours away – is Krakow, John Paul II, aka Balice. It’s served by at least three low-cost carriers from the UK.
Temporary info – the shuttle train service is currently suspended until some time in 2015 while the track and airport are improved. For now, take the bus or a fixed-price cab into Krakow.
From the airport
– take the shuttle train to Kraków Główny (commonly called Dworzec Główny) the main railway station in Krakow. The shuttle station is 200m from the international terminal, or
– take a bus to Dworzec Główny. Day buses are numbers 208 and 292. The night bus is number 902.
L, an airport shuttle bus. R bus 292 to Dworzec Główny
Shuttle train tickets cost 12z single, 20zl return, and can be bought:
– on the train, from the train’s attendant
– on the train, from a ticket machine
– in terminal T1 (from the ticket machine located near the centre exit)
– at Kraków Główny (at ticket counters or from the ticket machine located at Platform 1)
The timetable is here http://www.krakowairport.pl/en/passenger,c70/transport-parking,c76/how-to-get-to-krakow-airport,c77/by-train,a199.html
Bus tickets cost 4zl each way and can be bought:
– from the bus driver
– at the RELAY newsagent’s shop – T1 international terminal, mezzanine
– from the ticket machine at the bus stop,
Additionally, ticket vending machines can be found on 292 line buses.
Please read About vaildating your ticket.
The bus routes and stops can be found via http://www.krakowairport.pl/en/passenger,c70/transport-parking,c76/how-to-get-to-krakow-airport,c77/by-public-bus,a198.html
Taxis and pre-bookable transfers are also available.
From the main railway station you can take a train or a coach to Nowy Sącz – the coach station (Dworzec autobusowy) is reached by tunnel from the train station. In Poland, and in most cases, trains are slower than buses. ICE trains to Warsawa are sort-of the exception.
http://www.szwagropol.pl/pl/linie-autobusowe/ is one of the bus companies operating a service from Kraków to Nowy Sącz. Current fare is 16zl. The journey takes 2.5 hours, approx.
Change some money at the airport for fares and buy some sweeties for small change.
Car hire – Budget at JPII charge 240 euros for one week, hiring a Clio 1.2 (other hire companies are available!)
Next closest airport would be Katowice, an extra hour’s drive.
By train
Shades of the Orient Express? Take the ferry from Harwich or Newcastle to Hook of Holland or Amsterdam and there is a train, the Jan Kiepura, every evening from Amsterdam to Warsawa – it leaves Amsterdam at 19:01 and is scheduled to arrive in Warsawa at 10:55 the next morning. Sleepers, showers and a breakfast car are available. From Warsawa, Kraków is 2.5 – 3 hours by EIC, the inter-city express.
Alternatively, there is Eurostar to Brussels, where you’d change to the ICE to Cologne to connect with the Jan Kiepura.
By car
You can get ferries over the Channel, Harwich – Hook of Holland and Newcastle – Amsterdam, and the Chunnel for rail or car via Folkestone/Calais.
Obviously, the longer ferry crossings are more expensive and you’ll need a cabin for an overnight crossing, but we’ve found the Harwich-Hook service gets you ashore and on the road early enough to drive all the way to KW24 in a very long day! Otherwise, we recommend B&B hotels in Germany http://www.hotelbb.de/
Google maps should give you the following distances, from:
Ijmuiden (the port of Amsterdam) 1,360km
Hook of Holland 1,395km
Calais Port/Chunnel 1,575 – 1,600km
We’re roughly 4-4.5 hours from the Polish border with Germany. Although not overall up to the standards of German roads, the main highways and motorways in Poland are fine. In Poland you’ll see places called Zajazd – roadhouse – where you can stop for a meal and toilet break, as well as more obvious wayside restaurants.
GPS co-ordinates : 49.562244,20.853143
Just over the border into Poland you will pass the exit for Bolesławiec, the famous pottery town – stop off for a last minute souvenir from the factory shops on your way home!
For those thinking of visiting Auschwitz, the museum is a little south of the motorway between Katowice and Kraków, closer to Katowice.
The famous salt mine at Wieliczka is just to the south of Kraków.
By coach
From London Victoria to Krakow, Eurolines (part of National Express) operate coaches which do the journey in a scheduled 25h 40m – leaving London at 08:00 and due into Dworzec Główny at 09:40, next day.
1904loghouse 