Wondering which transport to use while traveling across Eastern Europe?

If you have ever been to Eastern Europe, you unquestionably already know one thing – in these countries it might take a bit more time to get from one place to another. While in the Western Europe train connections are extremely well developed (a great example may be TGV in France), in lots of Eastern European countries that might still be more difficult. A useful example, to discuss this topis more, is Poland. This is the largest country in the area, that is greatly attractive for tourists, due to the fact that:

– Poland can “offer” sea, mountains as well as plenty of lakes;
– Poland is a neighbour of some other smaller countries, which might be a perfect destination for one or two days trip, (for example, Latvia).

Wroclaw

Autor: Maciek Lulko
Źródło: http://www.flickr.com

Nonetheless, lots of tourists may be still disappointed. What is the reason? It is pretty obvious. Tons of of them have read that in Poland it is possible to experience everything you need – sea, lakes, rivers and mountains (read something more). Nonetheless, it is not repeatedly mentioned, that transport between those spots is rather bad. Despite the fact that new train connections have been introduced a short time ago , most of them are still pretty slow. For example, it may take up to dozen hours to travel from the lakes to the mountains. Even though there are some express train, there are much more expensive than the typical one. Coach firms do their best, to offer better connections. They offer fast and really well organized bus connections, not only between big Polish cities, but neighboring countries. This is worth to note that bus companies perfectly fit into the market niche. Passengers, tired with slow and eternally delayed trains, began to travel mainly by buses. Nevertheless, it is still worth to be aware, that there are not a lot of highways yet. This means that even though coaches firms do their best to make travel as fast as possible, the travel time still hugely depends on existing roads. Thus, travel from one site of the country to the other one, may still take a long time.

Wroclaw

Autor: HRS Poland
Źródło: http://www.flickr.com

Luckily, the situation has been observed by plenty of airlines. A while ago, domestic flights were not that famous. Even though there were, for example, flights to Wroclaw, there were rather expensive in comparison to trains and buses connections. In consequence, they were not very famous. It was very similar case with flights to neighbouring countries, e.g., flights from warsaw to Vilnius. Not that long ago, people were travelling mainly by buses (click).
Luckily, this has changed a while ago. Airlines began to notice the big potential in the needs of passengers travelling on short distances. They not only introduced new connections between various Polish cities and neighbouring countries, but also started to have more competitive prices.

In consequence, if you are going to travel around Eastern Europe, the main advice would be as following – remember to check plane connection first. It is not an advice you can find in travel guides or hear from local. But trust me. It might save a lot of your precious time.
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