I Scored a Glorious Beach-and-City Break with Europe's Best-Value Interrail Pass

I’m speeding from Poland’s capital city, Warsaw, to its best beach, Sopot. The country’s fastest train gets close to Formula One velocity.

Moments zip past akin to a silent travel documentary: stub-tailed deer, diving swifts, and ancient fortresses.

The live cooking restaurant at my Intercity train is turned up all the way. Next door, in the dining car, I enjoy a dill-flavored cucumber soup, succeeded by pork-filled cabbage rolls served alongside a brew from the historic Olbracht Brewery established in the 15th century in Torun. This meal costs just £10. Should this be considered an example of 21st-century Polish travel, I’m sold.

My rail trip around Poland is a personal pilgrimage. Thirty years ago, as a woefully naive backpacker, I traced a similar journey, not long after the fall of communism.

The trains may be different, but the costs are similar. A €63 (£54) Interrail Poland Pass remains available. Europe’s the most affordable compared to Bulgarian and Macedonian alternatives – I could explore over 11,000 miles of railway tracks for four days within a month period.

For comparison, a monthly train pass costs as follows: Italy or France costs €147 (£124) and €167 (£140). Spain .

Poland offers a range of transportation options including speedy Pendolino trains, which primarily run along routes such as Gdansk-Warsaw-Krakow. You can also travel via contemporary intercity services and the older TLK local lines. To experience some nostalgia, hop onto an aged Polregio regional train that chugs leisurely across the Polish landscape.

I began my adventure atop Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science, once among the globe’s ten tallest structures upon its completion in 1955. During my visit in 1995, the entrance hall had a distinctively SMERSH aesthetic with Politburo-inspired décor featuring plastic couches that seemed rigged to zap an enemy agent à la James Bond.

Today, a quick lift ride to the institution’s 30th-floor observation deck costs just £5. Standing at the top, I witnessed laser displays illuminating skyscrapers and riverside nightclubs along the Vistula River.

Next door is the city ’ s gleaming new Museum of Modern Art. Within, stairways reminiscent of MC Escher twist upwards endlessly.

My hotel in Warsaw is also quite modern. Puro is a Polish chain that incorporates local designs, and their newly opened Old Town location draws inspiration from Poland’s ties to the Baltic region mixed with Scandinavian simplicity alongside a Danish bakery offering smorrebrod topped with horseradish and gravadlax. I help myself to a complimentary macchiato before heading to Warszawa Centralna station.

My first high-speed The train journey from Warsaw deposits me in Sopot, which serves as Poland’s version of Saint-Tropez. This streamlined service completes the trip in roughly three hours, featuring ergonomic first-class seating arranged in a 2+1 layout. Within the carriages, you'll find professionals tapping away on their laptops all the way to Gdańsk alongside travelers hauling wheeled suitcases.

Between Gdansk and Gdynia, in what is known as Polish Riviera Sopot’s three-mile stretch of fine white sand is where the nation’s upper class gathers to enjoy themselves. At the White Marlin Beach Club, I indulge in a Zubrówka vodka Bloody Mary paired with a serving of Baltic oysters for £16.

Sopot’s wooden pier – the longest in Europe – acts as a runway. Among the accessories are TikTok tripods, bichon frisés, and glasses of frosé.

In the 1970s, Sopot exuded a socialist-chic atmosphere. Smuggled goods made their way into the city. pier So those awesome folks could grab a pack of Marlboro and a Jack Kerouac book. Poland’s inaugural discothèque, Musikorama, played tunes from The Beatles and Jethro Tull.

Sopot also boasts a direct railway connection to Hel. The Hel Peninsula is a slender strip of land extending over 32 kilometers into the Baltic Sea, featuring an unending stretch of sandy beaches and dense pine forests.

There’s also a highway to Hel which used to be serviced by bus number 666. The route has been recently renumbered after an uproar from Polish church leaders.

The small electric train departs from Sopot’s charming station and makes stops at picturesque hopping points around the peninsula throughout a roughly 90-minute journey. Jurata is somewhat of a Baltic gem. Bahamas , where families disembark to enjoy a day in woven beach chairs.

Chalupy is among Poland’s few destinations for nudists. beaches , which gained popularity in the 1980s when revealing everything was viewed as a retort to the constraints of the socialist period.

My charmingly eerie destination is Hel town located at the very tip of the peninsula. A number of past vacationers apparently reached what seemed like the final stop, developed a deep affection for the local fishermen, and decided to stay indefinitely. These individuals now reside in repurposed railway carriages adorned with fishing floats and decorated with intricate floral mandalas.

I utilise my rail pass for Poland’s latest train service, introduced in December. Using just a few touches on the Interrail app, I secured a seat on the Baltic Express; this reservation can be made ahead of time (though seats typically remain available even on the same day as well).

The path creates a picturesque zigzag starting from the Baltic Sea into the core of Polish culture, moving from the coastal city of Gdynia, across the Czech border all the way to Prague. This trip occurs four times daily and spans an eight-hour duration.

Read Next: The lesser-known spots that might soon become popular, ranging from eco-friendly Spain to 'the Venice of Poland'

Stops along the route include art nouveau Bydgoszcz and arty Wroclaw. The train itself isn’t particularly fancy, and has no dining car, but the stops read like the “Best Of” section of a Polish guidebook. I settle on fairy-tale-pretty Poznan.

The historic district is topped off with church murals and features pastel-colored houses.

I arrive in the evening and decide to get dinner from Dumpling Shack Pierozak. Customers can indicate their choices by pointing at various heaps of pierogies, each costing 50p per piece. I begin with a serving of borscht for 60p, then move on to a plate of Poznań-style pierogies, which have a thinner dough wrapper filled with roasted duck and apples.

My last trip was aboard Poland's latest high-speed service, called "Chrobry" which means “The Intrepid.” This train races from Poznań to Warsaw in slightly more than two hours. I board the 7:40 AM service and start my morning by devouring a stack of breakfast pancakes topped with cottage cheese. For those planning trips to Poland by rail, this marks a fresh beginning.

Getting there and around

Interrail provides Poland with single-country passes for £54, which allow four days of travel within a month, or Global Passes for unrestricted travel across Europe starting at £241 per month. interrail.eu

Staying there

The Puro Hotel in Warsaw Old Town offers double rooms starting at €165. purohotel.pl

More information

poland.travel