The Hel Peninsula Railway

Beyond Władysławowo the train leaves the mainland and runs out along a sand spit about 35 kilometres long, with the open Baltic on one side and the Bay of Puck on the other. Between Kuźnica and Jastarnia the strip is less than 200 metres wide, and a single railway track shares it with a road, a cycle path and the dunes.

The ground there is looked after. Storms in 1988 and 1989 threatened the spit at its root and along its middle, and between 1989 and 1995 about 8.34 million cubic metres of sand were placed on selected stretches, rebuilding beaches and dunes along 13.8 kilometres. Top-ups have been made ever since, sized to the rate of loss, and 135 groynes now run along 12 kilometres of shore from Władysławowo to Kuźnica. In 2024 the Maritime Office in Gdynia was again widening beaches between Władysławowo and Jurata with sand pumped ashore as a slurry.

The railway got here in 1922, built in nine months the year before, soon after Poland regained a coast. It runs today from Reda, where it leaves the main line, to the town of Hel at the tip, 62 kilometres in all. In summer every train the single track can hold is timetabled, and through trains run as far as Kraków and Bohumin. In winter it is a quiet regional branch, with eleven trains a day each way.

Most trains start at Gdynia Główna and call at Rumia before reaching Reda, where the branch leaves the main line to Słupsk. It heads north through Kashubia to Puck, where Poland's "wedding to the sea" was held on 10 February 1920, with a platinum ring thrown into the bay. Swarzewo, a few minutes further on, was once the junction for a line to Krokowa, closed in 1991.

The sand begins

Władysławowo stands at the root of the peninsula. From Władysławowo Port the line runs along the spit itself. Chałupy, Kuźnica and Jastarnia follow, with the water of the bay visible through the trees on one side and the dunes rising on the other. Between Kuźnica and Jastarnia the strip is at its narrowest.

In late September 1939 this was where Polish engineers set off torpedo warheads to cut the peninsula and keep the Germans out of Hel. Accounts differ on the date and on how well it worked, but the blast wrecked the railway. The garrison at the tip held out for 32 days and surrendered on 2 October.

Pines to the end of the line

Beyond Jastarnia the spit widens and the track runs through pine forest to Jurata, a resort founded in 1928. A station at Hel Bór has stood unused since 1979, and the line ends at Hel, 62 kilometres from Reda, in a half-timbered station rebuilt in 2015. An extension into the port, added in 1928, was later dismantled.

The trains

POLREGIO, the regional operator, runs the year-round service. Newag SA137 and SA138 diesel railcars, bought by the Pomeranian voivodeship in 2010 and 2011, have long carried it, and recently bought LINT diesel units are joining them. In high summer it also runs longer loco-hauled sets, and PKP Intercity sends through trains to Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź and Bielsko-Biała. These have to be hauled by diesels over the unelectrified branch, and in recent years that has included Czech class 754 locomotives.

A full railway

Trains can pass each other at only five places: Mrzezino, Puck, Władysławowo, Kuźnica and Jastarnia. Platforms limit a train to 125 metres. POLREGIO told parliament in July 2026 that the line's capacity is used up in summer, and that double-deck carriages are the only way left to add seats. Designs are under way for extra passing places at Chałupy and Hel Bór, with electrification considered later. A proposal for a second track on the narrowest stretch, between Kuźnica and Jastarnia, has been opposed by residents of Kuźnica.

POLREGIO runs the regional trains all year, and the trip from Gdynia to Hel takes between 1 hour 24 minutes and 1 hour 35 minutes. Seats are not reserved. From late June to the end of August PKP Intercity adds through trains from further afield.

Winter timetable, 25 October to 12 December 2026

Trains run daily. A 23:52 from Gdynia goes only as far as Władysławowo. Between 1 and 8 December the 10:51 leaves at 10:47. The new timetable year starts on 13 December 2026.

Summer

POLREGIO's 2026 summer timetable ran 21 trains each way, 42 a day, on weekends from 14 June, on every day from 27 June to 31 August, and on weekends in September. Long-distance trains joined them from late June, leaving Hel for:

As of November 2026, from POLREGIO's timetables (opens in a new tab), its statement to the Sejm of 7 July 2026, and PKP Intercity's station list for Hel, valid 14 June to 29 August. Details for summer 2027 are not yet published.

Regional tickets are POLREGIO's own and are priced by distance, with no seat reserved. Trains can be very full in July and August, so an early departure is the better bet if a seat matters. A bicycle costs 8.50 zł and a dog 5.50 zł.

PKP Intercity sells its summer through trains on its own site. From POLREGIO's fare tables, as of November 2026.

Interrail and Eurail passes are valid on POLREGIO's Hel trains, on a Global Pass or a Poland Pass, and they need no reservation. Interrail's table of railway companies lists POLREGIO's Regio, interRegio and superRegio trains as covered.

PKP Intercity's summer trains to Hel are covered too. Some IC trains have mandatory reservations and others optional ones, so check the train before travelling; Interrail strongly recommends reserving where it is optional.

For this trip alone a pass is not worth buying: the regional fare from Gdynia is 27.90 zł. It pays only when Hel is one stop on a longer journey through Poland.

Checked November 2026 against Interrail's table of railway companies (opens in a new tab), last updated 21 October 2026.

Almost everything worth a stop is within walking distance of a station on the spit, and the town of Hel at the end has enough for a full day.

Jastarnia and Jurata are the places to stay, on the same line of the timetable as Hel and a shorter ride back to Gdynia.

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