Krakow to Zakopane, Poland

Nine trains leave Kraków each weekday to climb up to Poland’s premier mountain retreat, Zakopane. In 1936, the fastest trains to Zakopane took under 2½ hours. Almost a century later, after infrastructure renewal work lasting several years, just one of those nine trainsmatches the 1936 time. Such is the state of railways in some parts of rural Poland.

Anyone in a hurry to reach Zakopane from Kraków will take the bus, which runs nonstop and takes two hours. But the train is a gentler, greener option. With time on my hands, I opt for one of the slower trains, which promises 48 intermediate stops. Yes, 48. There’s a dash of Slavic magic in the litany of stations along the route: Sieniawa, Skawina, Stronie, Stryszów, Szaflary.

We rattle south from Kraków’s main station, passing on our right St Nicholas Church, which has a fine Armenian votive cross in its garden. Then to the left is one of the two Jewish cemeteries in the Kazimierz district. Soon we are crossing the Vistula River on an impressive bridge with a complex lattice of girders. Until 1846, this meandering river marked the frontier between the Free City of Kraków (Rzeczpospolita Krakowska) and the Austro-Hungarian empire.
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