Trains

Trains to Warsaw
Although there are two daily flights between Vilnius and Warsaw (Varšava), which if booked in advance offer an affordable and quick way of travelling between one city and the other, there are alternative transport options available, most notably the train. According to the official timetable, there are two daily trains between the Lithuanian and Polish capitals, but on closer inspection this proves to be somewhat erroneous. The overnight service turns out to be a bus and the daytime train is actually two trains which meet at the Lithuanian border town of Šeštokai (irritatingly written as Šeštokus on the train departure boards at thr train station in Vilnius). Neither the Lithuanian nor the Polish trains have on-board catering facilities and the station at Šeštokai is little more than a cattle shed. At a little under 10 hours to make the journey, you might want to consider taking some food and drink with you. Interestingly, the train travels through a large and somewhat dilapidated gateway as it passes from one country to the other. Right up until the two countries joined the Schengen area in 2007, this gateway came complete with a huge door that was opened by a sombre-looking Polish soldier to allow the train to pass. Find it immediately north of the station at Trakizki.