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Getting to Gdańsk

From Wikimania 2010 • Gdańsk, Poland • July 9-11, 2010
EU (Schengen) visa lists      EU member states     Special visa-free provisions (Schengen treaty, OCT or other)     Visa-free access to the EU for 90 days – annex II countries      Visa required to enter the EU – annex I countries     Visa-status unknown

Poland is a member country of the European Union. This means that all citizens of EU member states with a valid travel document (passport or European ID card) are allowed to travel freely within Poland for up to 3 months. Citizens of other states may need Schengen visa, see the map for quick reference.

All the countries below have visa-free access to the EU for at least 90 days.

Andorra
Argentina
Australia
Austria*
Bahamas
Belgium*
Brazil
Bulgaria*
Canada
Chile
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus*
Czech Republic*
Denmark*
El Salvador
Estonia*
Finland*
France*
Germany*
Greece*
Guatemala
Honduras
Hungary*
Ireland*
Israel
Italy*
Japan
Latvia*
Liechtenstein
Lithuania*
Luxembourg*
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malta*
Mexico
Monaco
Netherlands*
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Norway
Panama
Paraguay
Poland*
Portugal*
Romania*
San Marino
Scotland
Sicily
Singapore
Slovakia*
Slovenia*
Republic of Korea
Spain*
Sweden*
Switzerland
United Kingdom*
United States
Uruguay
Vatican City State
Venezuela

* – EU member states

By air

Airports in Poland
Passenger terminal façade with airport logo incorporating Lech Wałęsa's signature

The city has its own international airport, the [[::en:Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport|Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport]] (see the flight map), located in the western part of Gdańsk 10 km from the city center, near the [[::en:Obwodnica Trójmiejska|Tricity Ring Road]] as well as the start of one of Gdańsk's main streets (ulica Juliusza Słowackiego), which largely facilitates access by car or bus to virtually every part of the city (view location on Google Maps).

All the prices quoted below are the cheapest available one-way tickets for adults, without extra charges and reflect ticket reservation a few months in advance. Prices for October 28–29th, 2008, as quoted by http://esky.pl

Exchange rates: see today's exchange rates on the website of the Polish National Bank.

At the airport

Many services are available at the airport.

Getting to the City

Gdansk main train station
  1. Once on the airport, you need to get to the bus stop. There take bus number 210 (timetable) going in the direction of Gościnna.
  2. You can buy your ticket from the driver, but you need to have an exact amount of cash. One ticket for one ride (irrelevant of its length) costs PLN 2.50, or ride free with the Tourist card purchase
  3. Get off the bus at the main train station (the drive will take 20-30 minutes, depending on the traffic). The building is easily recognisable (you will see it on the right of the vehicle), it is a vintage, red-brick structure with a tall clock tower.
  4. From the trainstation you'll most likely have to take a taxi or walk to your accomodation, the old town has no public transport but is very walkable. (2.3 km, 30 min walk to Baltic Philharmonic) Google map of wikimania 2010 locations.

Getting to the City by taxi or airportbus

  1. Taxi approx PLN 50 (PLN 65 at night) (City Plus Neptun offers a 20% discount with the Tourist Card purchase)
  2. Airportbus, PLN 9.90
Airportbus times as follows, if this guide is correct
From the airport 09:50, 10:50, 11:50, 13:10, 14:45, 16:05, 18:25, 19:50
To the airport 09:00, 10:20, 11:20, 12:30, 14:00, 15:20, 16:50, 19:00

Getting around the city

Moving_around has further information about getting around town, once you've arrived.

Connections

Travel time includes waiting time for connecting flights. If the cheapest flight took unreasonably long without a large price difference, it was omitted.

Air connections to Gdańsk (Poland) from European cities
City Airfare Airlines Number of stopovers Stopover cities Travel time Additional remarks
Amsterdam 814 PLN / $ 289.82 / € 212.13 / £ 189.58 SAS 1 Copenhagen 4h55 A cheaper and less time-consuming connection via Wizz Air (Eindhoven).

-

Athens 646 PLN / $ 230.01 / € 168.35 / £ 150.46 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 12h30 -
Budapest 357 PLN / $ 127.11 / € 93.04 / £ 83.15 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 5h45 -
Brussels 591 PLN / $ 210.43 / € 154.02 / £ 137.65 LOT 1 Warsaw 4h20 A cheaper and less time-consuming connection via Wizz Air (Eindhoven).
Frankfurt 247 PLN / $ 87.94 / € 64.37 / £ 57.53 Lufthansa 0 - 1h40 Alternatively, a cheaper option (133 PLN / $ 47.35 / € 34.66 / £ 30.98), flight with Ryanair from Hahn airport, located further from the city centre
Helsinki 344 PLN / $ 122.48 / € 89.65 / £ 80.12 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 6h55 -
Liverpool 80 PLN / $ 28.48 / € 20.85 / £ 18.63 WizzAir 0 - 2h30 -
London 162 PLN / $ 57.68 / € 42.22 / £ 37.73 WizzAir 0 - 2h10 -
Madrid 790 PLN / $ 281.28 / € 205.88 / £ 183.99 SAS 1 Copenhagen 8h25 -
Moscow 857 PLN / $ 305.13 / € 223.34 / £ 199.6 SAS 1 Copenhagen 20h30 A less time-consuming connection by the same route (8h10) costs 928 PLN / $ 330.41 / € 241.84 / £ 216.14.
Moscow 550 PLN / $ 195.83 / € 143.33 / £ 128.1 Aeroflot/PKP or PKS Gdańsk 1 Kalinigrad 2h + 6h or 3.5h A cheaper and less time-consuming connection via Kalinigrad.
Paris 651 PLN / $ 231.79 / € 169.65 / £ 151.62 SAS 1 Oslo 5h25 -
Prague 335 PLN / $ 119.28 / € 87.3 / £ 78.02 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 3h35 -
Rome 561 PLN / $ 199.74 / € 146.2 / £ 130.66 SAS 1 Copenhagen 6h05 -
Istanbul 610 PLN / $ 217.19 / € 158.97 / £ 142.07 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 12h30 -
Stockholm 114 PLN / $ 40.59 / € 29.71 / £ 26.55 WizzAir 0 - 1h04 -
Vienna 753 PLN / $ 268.11 / € 196.24 / £ 175.38 SAS 1 Copenhagen 8h00 -
Vilnius 455 PLN / $ 162 / € 118.58 / £ 105.97 LOT 1 Warsaw 3h45 -

Air connections to Gdańsk (Poland) from African cities
City Airfare Airlines Number of stopovers Stopover cities Travel time Additional remarks
Cairo 1856 PLN / $ 660.83 / € 483.69 / £ 432.27 Tarom, LOT 2 Bucharest, Warsaw 18h55 Less time-consuming connection via Munich and Warsaw takes 8h35, but costs 2892 PLN / $ 1029.69 / € 753.67 / £ 673.56.
Dakar 3323 PLN / $ 1183.15 / € 866 / £ 773.94 TAP, LOT 2 Lisbon, Warsaw 13h15 -
Johannesburg 2317 PLN / $ 824.97 / € 603.83 / £ 539.64 South African Airlines, LOT 1 Munich 17h15 -
Nairobi 3067 PLN / $ 1092 / € 799.28 / £ 714.32 Swiss, LOT 2 Zurich, Warsaw 15h50 -

Air connections to Gdańsk (Poland) from Asian cities
City Airfare Airlines Number of stopovers Stopover cities Travel time Additional remarks
Beijing 3038 PLN / $ 1081.68 / € 791.72 / £ 707.56 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 13h00 -
Hong Kong 2849 PLN / $ 1014.38 / € 742.47 / £ 663.55 SAS 2 Bangkok, Copenhagen 19h35 Note: It's only 13 hours and 1600 PLN / $ 569.68 / € 416.97 / £ 372.65 on BA to London
New Dehli 2306 PLN / $ 821.05 / € 600.96 / £ 537.08 Lufthansa 1 Munich 10h45 -
Riyadh 2713 PLN / $ 965.96 / € 707.03 / £ 631.87 Swiss, LOT 2 Zurich, Warsaw 16h35 -
Seoul 2378 PLN / $ 846.69 / € 619.72 / £ 553.85 Lufthansa 1 Munich 30h20 -
Tokyo 8797 PLN / $ 3132.17 / € 2292.56 / £ 2048.86 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 14h55 -

Air connections to Gdańsk (Poland) from Australian cities
City Airfare Airlines Number of stopovers Stopover cities Travel time Additional remarks
Perth 6210 PLN / $ 2211.07 / € 1618.37 / £ 1446.34 Thai, SAS 2 Bangkok, Copenhagen 23h35 Note: the cost is half this with other airlines
Sydney 4560 PLN / $ 1623.58 / € 1188.37 / £ 1062.05 SAS 2 Bangkok, Copenhagen 31h30 Note: it is quicker and cheaper to go via London and/or Warsaw. Sydney to London in August takes 22h 40m and costs $1144 (zł2714) each way with BA

Air connections to Gdańsk (Poland) from North American cities
City Airfare Airlines Number of stopovers Stopover cities Travel time Additional remarks
Chicago 2212 PLN / $ 787.58 / € 576.46 / £ 515.19 LOT 1 Warsaw 13h50 -
Dallas 2483 PLN / $ 884.07 / € 647.09 / £ 578.3 LOT 2 Chicago, Warsaw 18h32 -
Los Angeles 6918 PLN / $ 2463.15 / € 1802.88 / £ 1611.24 Lufthansa 1 Munich 19h25 -
Mexico City 4669 PLN / $ 1662.39 / € 1216.77 / £ 1087.43 Lufthansa, LOT 1 Frankfurt 13h35 -
Miami 5745 PLN / $ 2045.5 / € 1497.19 / £ 1338.04 Lufthansa 1 Frankfurt 14h40 -
New York 2096 PLN / $ 746.28 / € 546.23 / £ 488.17 LOT 1 Warsaw 13h25 -
Toronto 2295 PLN / $ 817.13 / € 598.09 / £ 534.52 LOT 1 Warsaw 13h45 -
Vancouver 2870 PLN / $ 1021.86 / € 747.94 / £ 668.44 Air Canada, LOT 2 Toronto, Warsaw 20h15 -

Air connections to Gdańsk (Poland) from South American cities
City Airfare Airlines Number of stopovers Stopover cities Travel time Additional remarks
Bogota 7273 PLN / $ 2589.55 / € 1895.39 / £ 1693.92 Avianca, Lufthansa 2 New York, Munich 38h50 -
Buenos Aires 4284 PLN / $ 1525.32 / € 1116.44 / £ 997.76 TAM, Lufthansa 2 Sao Paulo, Munich 26h25 -
Rio de Janeiro 4315 PLN / $ 1536.35 / € 1124.52 / £ 1004.98 TAM, Lufthansa 2 Sao Paulo, Munich 23h05 -

By sea

The Stena Baltica departing from Gdynia to Karlskrona
Gdańsk Marina – the conference venue is visible in the far background

Wikimedians from Sweden, Finland and Germany can also reach Tricity directly by ferries. Connections:

Sweden
  • [[::en:Nynäshamn|Nynäshamn]] – Gdańsk (Polferries)
  • [[::en:Karlskrona|Karlskrona]] – Gdynia (Stena Line)
Finland
  • [[::en:Helsinki|Helsinki]] – Gdynia (Finnlines)
Germany
  • [[::en:Rostock|Rostock]] – Gdynia (Finnlines)

The best way to reach the conference venue is by boat – the Gdańsk Marina [1] is located only a few hundred meters from the venue on the Ołowianka island (location: 54°21‘09“ N 18°39‘44“ E).

By land

Gdańsk Główny railway station]]

Wikimedians from every country bordering Poland, as well as other [[::en:Baltic states|Baltic states]], [[::en:Netherlands|the Netherlands]], and [[::en:Denmark|Denmark]] may all very likely reach Gdańsk within a single day by car or coach. A journey from the south, from countries such as [[::en:Hungary|Hungary]], through [[::en:Slovakia|Slovakia]] offers a trip across astonishing landscapes of the [[::en:Tatra Mountains|Tatra Mountains]].

It should be noted, though, that Poland's roads are of significantly lower quality than those of Western Europe. On the other hand, key roads are being upgraded and new motorways are being built in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2012 and Gdańsk, as one of the tournament's host cities, is one of the hubs of Poland's network of roads.

However, there is a convenient train connection from Warsaw to Gdańsk, in less than 5 hours.

The cheapest connection by rail between Gdańsk and Warsaw is the "Słoneczny" train operated once a day during the summer period by [[::en:Koleje Mazowieckie|Koleje Mazowieckie]], currently the normal fare for the Gdańsk-Warsaw route (354 [[::en:kilometer|km]]) is 31 PLN / $ 11.04 / € 8.08 / £ 7.22[1] euro.


By train


By car

  • If you are coming to Gdańsk by Car (with seats free) or looking for a lift please write here: Getting_to_Gdańsk/Car


References

  1. Fares of KM railways (in Polish)