When visiting a big city for a few days, I always try to get out of town on a daytrip somewhere else in the region. When I had most of a week in Gdansk, I knew I wanted to visit Malbork Castle!
Visiting Malbork Castle
Malbork Castle is the largest brick building in Europe. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site! It is originally a Teutonic castle from the 13th-century although it was damaged during World War II and has been renovated since.
The castle does have an admission cost. Student tickets are cheaper at 20.50 PLN (£4.20 // $5.30), and adult tickets cost 29 PLN (£6 // $7.50). Your ticket comes with free audio guide—normally I don’t really enjoy these, but make sure you take this one!! The audio guide was GREAT—it’s set up with some sort of GPS/location tag, so when you walked into a new room or space it would automatically go to the relevant chapter. (The main reason I don’t like audio guides tends to be because I get bored standing around waiting for the section to finish.)
The castle is HUGE. The first part takes you around the ramparts of the outer castle walls. You then go inside the first courtyard and see where the moat used to be. Then there are various different rooms and exhibitions off another big courtyard. The Grand Masters’ Palace was built at the end of the 14th century, and there’s lots of historical information in these rooms. My favorite room here was the Summer Refectory—it reminded me of a lot of abbeys I’ve been to in the UK! You’ll also go through the Middle Castle as well. The massive hall (the Grand Refectory) was beautiful and so quiet when I visited!
Don’t miss the statue of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order in the courtyard. They built and controlled the castle for several hundred years.
There are also some pretty gardens you can explore, before getting to the innermost building, the High Castle. You enter by going over a drawbridge!
The cloisters here are gorgeous, and the chapter house and church are beautiful too. I dropped my phone and completely smashed it to bits here, but don’t let that stop you! Make sure to hand your audio guide in before you leave the castle premises.
If the weather is nice, you might want to cross the bridge (opposite the castle) to get some nice photos. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful photos from this viewpoint! I visited during really misty/foggy/generally bad weather, so I skipped out on it.
Getting to Malbork by Public Transportation
From Gdansk, make sure you get the right train!! You’ll want a train going in the direction of Elblag (or possibly the fast trains to Warsaw or Krakow). If you go through Gdynia/Sopot, you’re going the wrong way. I ended up getting the wrong train (despite asking two different people that told me it was right!) and would have ended up in Szczecin if I hadn’t have realized and got off the train. So don’t make my mistake and make sure you take the right train!
The journey from Gdansk Glowny to Malbork takes about 30-45 minutes, depending on which train you get. The journey costs 13.50 PLN (£2.75 // $3.50) each way. There are a few regional Malbork stations first (if you take a regional train towards Elblag), but get off at Malbork station (just Malbork). The castle is about a 15-20 minute walk from the station. It’s not signposted, so I’d recommend loading up maps on your phone before you leave the station.
Trains aren’t all that frequent going back to Gdansk, but they should leave roughly once an hour (for the maximum waiting time). There’s free wifi in the train station in Malbork, if you need it. Trains to Malbork go fairly frequently too—again, you might time it right and not have to wait long at all!
Malbork Castle makes an excellent daytrip from Gdansk. It’s not too far away, the castle is the main attraction and definitely worthy of the trip, and it’s accessible with public transportation. There is a lot to see in the region, and you definitely shouldn’t miss Malbork!
I visited Gdansk and used it as my base to daytrip one day to Malbork Castle. For my stay, I stayed in Midtown Hostel, which I loved! I always recommend booking through Hostelworld, or if hostels aren’t your things I recommend Booking.com! You can also sign up to and search Airbnb here. I found really cheap flights to Gdansk on Skyscanner, which I always use to search for flights. Considering travel insurance for your trip? World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more.
I hope this post helps in planning a daytrip to Malbork Castle from Gdansk with public transportation!
Check out my other posts on Poland:
How Much Does It Cost To Travel Poland For 5 Days?
The Ultimate Guide To Gdansk, Poland
Hostel Review: Midtown Hostel, Gdansk
Krakow: The Perfect Gateway City
10 Things You Should Know About Poland
Have you ever done a daytrip to Malbork Castle? What was your experience like?
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[…] A Daytrip To Malbork Castle From Gdansk […]
[…] This massive UNESCO World Heritage Site is definitely worth a visit when in Gdansk. It’s the largest brick castle in Europe, and has so much to explore! It’s easiest to get there by train: tickets cost 13.50 zlotys each way, and the journey takes 40-60 minutes. From the station in Malbork (get off at the main Malbork one), it’s about a 15-20 minute walk to the castle. Admission to Malbork Castle costs 29.50 zlotys (20.50 zlotys for students), and includes an audio guide to take you around. You can read my full post on this daytrip here! […]