The Baltics by Public Transport: Routes, Tickets & Borders

Last update: October 2026

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are easy to travel without a car, and you can combine them with Poland. The short version: you go in by train, you finish in Tallinn by train, and in between, the bus does most of the work.

I travelled every route in this guide myself in October 2026, always with the cheapest option. The trip runs one way, from Warsaw to Tallinn, through three countries.

Riga Tallinn, Credits: kanpoan.net

The route at a glance

• Warsaw to Kaunas – train: Warsaw to Kaunas by train
• Kaunas to Klaipėda – bus: Kaunas to Klaipėda by bus
• Klaipėda to Liepāja – bus
• Liepāja to Riga – bus
• Riga to Tartu – bus
• Tartu to Narva – bus
• Narva to Tallinn – train

Getting there and back

Option A: By train from Germany. Trains to Warsaw come from Berlin and run via Frankfurt (Oder). Coming from Dresden, you take the train to Frankfurt (Oder) and change there to the train from Berlin. From Warsaw, the train continues to Kaunas.

Option B: Fly into Warsaw, fly home from Tallinn. This way you travel the route in one direction only and skip the long way back.

Warsaw Chopin Airport: Bus 175 takes you to the city centre without changing. The timetable says 32 minutes; in afternoon traffic it took me 40. At night, bus N32 takes over. From Warszawa Zachodnia, the train to the airport takes about 15 minutes. A 75-minute zone 1 ticket costs 4.40 PLN and works on both. All details: Warsaw Chopin Airport by public transport

Tallinn Airport: Tram T2 stops right in front of the terminal and takes about 20 minutes to the centre. A single ride costs €2, and you can tap your contactless bank card on the validator. All details: Tallinn Airport to the city centre by tram

Good to know: Lux Express buses between Tartu and Tallinn also stop at Tallinn Airport.

Lithuania

Kaunas: The train from Warsaw arrives here. From Kaunas, the bus takes you on to Klaipėda. Warsaw to Kaunas by train · Kaunas to Klaipėda by bus

Klaipėda: A port city and the starting point for a trip to the Curonian Spit.

Tickets: On both trains and buses, I could always buy tickets at a machine. The machines have an English menu.

Day trip: Ferry to the Curonian Spit

Curonian Spit Klaipeda, Credits: kanpoan.net

I took the ferry from the New Ferry Terminal (Naujoji perkėla) in Klaipėda. It runs every 20 minutes, and a return ticket costs €1.70. Buy the return ticket right away: I didn't see a ticket machine on the other side.

There is also the Old Ferry (Senoji perkėla), closer to the Old Town. I didn't take it, so the times and fare above refer to the New Ferry Terminal only.

Once you get off, walk across the spit. After about 30 minutes, you're standing on the Baltic Sea beach. It's a wonderful, cheap trip, and you don't need a car.

Latvia

• Klaipėda to Liepāja: by bus, across the Lithuanian–Latvian border.
• Liepāja: once a closed city, today a welcoming place for visitors.
• Liepāja to Riga: by bus.

Estonia

• Riga to Tartu: by bus.
• Tartu to Narva: by bus.
• Narva to Tallinn: by train. This is the the only train leg in Estonia on this route.

Practical tips for the whole trip

• Bus or train? On this route, only two legs are by train: Warsaw–Kaunas and Narva–Tallinn. Everything else is by bus.
• Tickets: I mostly bought tickets from machines or at the counter in bus and train stations. Buying online is the safest option, but on the spot you often have nice encounters with locals.
• Borders: no border checks anywhere on the route.
• Paying: in the Baltics, I could always pay by card, and always in euros, which is very convenient. Poland uses the złoty.

More guides

Arriving somewhere else in Europe? The airport transfer guide compares the cheapest and fastest options for many European airports.