Krakow Główny Station: A Modern Transport Hub with Integrated Shopping
Krakow Glowny is Krakow's modern main station, Glowny being Polish for main. The station was completely rebuilt in 2014 and integrated with the adjacent Galeria Krakowska shopping centre. The old station building dating from 1847 was closed, and now houses a museum.
Platforms. There are 5 island platforms numbered peron 1 to peron 5 serving 10 tracks. Steps, escalators & lifts take you down to the main passageway & ticket hall below. Note the deck above the platforms with taxi rank & car park - if you want a taxi go up, not down. Which platform for your train?
Main passageway, lined with shops & cafes. This spans the width of the station underneath all the platforms, with the Galeria Krakowska shopping centre at its western end and doors to the bus station at its eastern end. There are steps, escalators & lifts up to each platform, clearly signed peron 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.
Ticket hall. The ticket hall is underneath the platforms, running parallel with the main passageway and linked to it by cross-passages. Here you'll find international and domestic ticket windows, a travel centre, left luggage lockers, toilets & seating. This photo is taken looking east, there's a Burger King at the far end and a couple of cafes on the left.
Main entrance. The main entrance to the Galeria Krakowska shopping centre on Pawia Street is also the main entrance to Krakow Glowny and marked with the Polish Railways PKP logo. You walk in, go down one level, then walk through the shopping centre directly into the main station passageway underneath the platforms. Follow the signs to Dworzec Glowny / Railway station.
Tip: To enter & leave the station directly without walking through the Galeria Krakowska, see the advice here.
The old station building closed in 2014 and now houses the History Land museum, historyland.pl. It's immediately south of the Galeria Krakowa shopping centre on its own square. It's alongside the railway, but south of the new station's platforms.
Tip: The covered pedestrian walkway to/from the new station (by-passing the Galeria Krakowska) is just out of shot to the left.
Food & drink
Cafes, restaurants: There are many cafes and restaurants in the station & adjacent Galeria Krakowa. There's a Burger King at one end of the station ticket hall. There are a couple of cafes in the main passageway and a Glycan Polish ice cream parlour. For a sit-down meal with traditional Polish food, the self-service Polskie-Smaki restaurant is just off the main passageway to the north, near Peron 1 - Please let me know if that link stops working.
For dinner before boarding a sleeper train, there's the Polskie-Smaki restaurant in the station, open every day until 22:00. But for a more traditional restaurant outside the station, try the restaurant inside the Puro Hotel across the road and to the right from the Galeria Krakowska, purohotel.pl. Also consider the Jarema restaurant (closed Mondays) or Szalone Widelce restaurant for Polish food, a few minutes walk from the station towards the old town. If you eat at any of these restaurants or have another recommendation, let me know!
Supermarket: There's a Biedronka supermarket in the main passageway underneath peron 2. This is the best place to stock up for a journey. They don't sell beer or wine, but (unlike most European countries) you can't drink your own alcohol on Polish trains, only beer or wine bought & consumed in the restaurant or bar car.
