How do I get to Kaliningrad from the UK - Expat in Kaliningrad, Russia

UK to Kaliningrad

Updated: 29 September 2023 ~ How to Get to Kaliningrad from UK

Airspace Closures

Russia has closed its airspace to airlines from multiple countries in direct response to airspace closures effecting its airlines, which were introduced by western governments opposing Russia’s military operation to ‘demilitarise and de-Nazify’ Ukraine. Airlines on the banned list are prohibited from landing in or flying over Russian territory. As a result, air travel disruptions are widespread. If you intend to travel in the immediate future, you should contact your airline or travel agent for further information.
Links to Airport/Airlines websites can be found at the end of this guide

Coronavirus

Please note that due to the ongoing situation with coronavirus, you are advised to check the travel restrictions for each of the countries referred to in this guide, including any exit requirements that may be in force within the UK.

Please see the following links:

UK: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

Poland: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/poland/entry-requirements

Lithuania: (1) htthttps://www.govilnius.lt/media-news/important-information-regarding-the-coronavirus

(2) https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/lithuania/entry-requirements

See: Airlines/Airports Websites at the end of this post

How to Get to Kaliningrad from UK

Most people travelling from the UK to Kaliningrad are not going to do so by car, train, taxi, bicycle or hitching. Some of you might, but most of you won’t. You’ll want to come by plane, so that’s what I will focus on here.

Flights from the UK to Kaliningrad

As far as I am aware, there are no direct flights from the UK to Kaliningrad, and there has not been for some time.

The last time I flew back from Kaliningrad to London direct was many years ago. I remember it well, as I sat in the front of the plane looking through the open door to the flight deck. The date was 10 September 2001. It was most probably the last day that you would be able to do that on an international airliner.

As far as I am aware, the only ‘convenient’ way to fly to Kaliningrad from Europe is to fly to Turkey and then change for Kaliningrad. If you aren’t in the market for paying between £400-£800 pounds, then I wouldn’t bother.

If you do fly to Kaliningrad, you will land at Khrabrovo Airport. Once a relatively small red-brick building dating from the Königsberg era with a high wire fence, today Khrabrovo Airport is a modern terminal possessing all the usual facilities.

From Khrabrovo Airport to Kaliningrad

The distance from Khrabrovo Airport to Kaliningrad central is about 20km.

The easiest way of getting to Kaliningrad is by taxi. Look for the cubicles by the airport terminal exit, which offer taxi services. The fare to the centre of Kaliningrad typically costs between 700 and 900 roubles (approx. £5.87~ £7.55).

The cheaper option is to travel by bus ~ fare 50 roubles (0.42 pence). Take either route 144 or 244-Э. Payment is made on the bus, either to the driver or a conductor. Buses run frequently, about every 40 minutes, between 9.00am and 9.00pm (Link to Bus Timetable). The journey to Kaliningrad’s Yuzhniy Bus Station takes approximately 45 minutes.

Kaliningrad via Gdansk, Poland

Wizz Air: How to get to Kaliningrad from the UK — (Photo credit: Serhiy Lvivsky)

The route that most of us take when travelling to Kaliningrad is to fly by Wizz Airlines from Luton London Airport to Gdansk and then travel from Gdansk to Kaliningrad.

Time was once that I would take a pre-booked taxi from Gdansk Airport to Kaliningrad. If you had contacts in Kaliningrad, which I had, someone could arrange this for you. In 2022, I was told that the journey to Kaliningrad from Gdansk Airport would cost you in the region of £348. This was a gigantic leap in price from the 100 quid that I was paying back in 2019. Why? Could the price hike be associated with border-crossing difficulties emanating from coronavirus restrictions, a by-product of western sanctions or just plain old profiteering? Whatever the explanation, rumour has it that the taxi option is no longer viable. Even if you like spending money, Poland is no longer accepting vehicles with Russian number plates crossing from Kaliningrad into Poland (now, where’s my screwdriver!) (Link to article on Poland’s extraordinary measures. It also mentions a ‘big wall’, so you won’t go climbing over that, will you, with or without licence plates! So there!)

Bussing it from Gdansk to Kaliningrad

I have travelled by bus to and from Kaliningrad via Gdansk three times now.

To do this, you must first take a taxi from Gdansk Airport to Gdansk Bus Station, located at 3 Maja St 12. There are plenty of taxis at the airport rank, and the cost of the trip is about 87 zloty (£16).

The bus ticket from Gdansk costs 178 zloty (approximately £31). There are 3 buses a day from Gdansk Bus Station, and the last bus leaves at 5.00pm. The approximate travel time is advertised at 4hrs and 20mins, but in reality it often takes longer than this, due to the grilling you get at both borders, especially since the Polish border authorities introduced the practice of photographing everyone on board: Smile please, we are going to make crossing into Kaliningrad extremely irritating for you. It will be inside leg measurements next!

Catching the bus means buying tickets online in advance. By far the most straightforward and therefore best online booking service is Busfor.pl

Example of Busfor’s Gdansk to Kaliningrad page below:

There was a time when the bay from which the Gdansk>Kaliningrad bus service operated was Gdansk’s best kept secret. You could try asking at the bus information office, but if they had that information they would not be letting you have it. Thankfully, it is not necessary to resort to such enigma now, as a printed piece of paper stuck on the inside of the bus station wall states that the bus to Kaliningrad leaves from bay 11.

Bay 11 is not exactly a bay, it is a sign sticking out of the wall at the back-side of the bus station with the figure ’11’ chalked across it. But this is good enough.

The facilities at Gdansk Bus Station are bog standard. It does have a bog (It will cost you 4 zloty for a pee.), but the metal tins that used to function as a left-luggage department have disappeared TARDIS-fashion, and the Bus Station cafe, which was basic but useful, as there are no other cafes nearby, has closed.

At the time of writing, you will have approximately two hours to kill if you catch, for example, the morning flight from London Luton Airport to Gdansk in time to catch the 3.00pm bus. My advice is take a walk into Gdansk Old Town for great cafes and an historic atmosphere.

The buses dock at Kaliningrad’s Central Bus Station in the vicinity of the city’s South Railway Station. Change here for local buses, coaches to Svetlogorsk/Zelenogradsk coastal resorts and taxi services.

Kaliningrad Gdansk London Luton Tips for Survival
An account of the first time I travelled by bus from Kaliningrad to Gdansk Airport and the return journey from the UK to Kaliningrad, again using the bus option.

Kaliningrad via Vilnius, Lithuania

Is it still possible to take a train from Vilnius to Kaliningrad? A good question, and one to which I have found no definitive answer. Most articles and train booking sites on the net are either keeping shtum about this or are acting rather cagey. I tried to ‘book a ticket’ online using four different hypothetical days on which to travel, only to be told each time that ‘there are no trains running on this day’.

Years ago we used to fly to Vilnius (www.ryanair.com), stay overnight in one of the hotels there and then catch a train either the next day or the day after to Kaliningrad. This is because Vilnius is a wonderfully historic city with great bars, and we were young(ish), in love and courting (‘courting’, it sounds so quaintly British don’t you think!).

The trains that pass through Vilnius on their way to Kaliningrad are long-distance trains returning from Moscow. The train journey is a bit of a plodder, taking about 6 to 7 hours in total. Passengers can travel economy class but by far the most civilised way is to pay for a compartment. Each compartment holds four people. For economy purposes, you can purchase one ticket and share the compartment; for privacy, you pay for the whole compartment.

It never was easy to purchase a ticket in advance for this journey, ie online, but you can try (www.litrail.lt/keleiviams😮[Sorry, silly sanction block] ) (www.vilnius-tourism.lt/en/information/arrival/by-train/). We used to purchase the ticket at Vilnius Railway Station itself on the day of travel or the day before. If we ever got stuck, we would use the bus service . Vilnius Bus Station is conveniently located next to Vilnius Railway Station.

From Vilnius by train you will arrive at Kaliningrad’s South Railway Station, a superb restoration of the Königsberg original on the outside and inside revamped but tastefully.

Taxis can be found on the station’s concourse and buses are available from the adjacent Central Bus Station. Turn right when you exit the main entrance, and you will find the bus station in easy walking distance.

Kaliningrad Visa Information when travelling from UK