Geographical location and communication

The capital of the region is Krakow, the second largest city in Poland. This former capital of Poland is today a modern city and a national leader in the advanced business services sector. Creative industries are developing here and technology startups are actively supported.

Małopolska is a region where you can live well, relax, work and invest.

The convenient location of Małopolska provides very good transport accessibility by road, rail and air. The highway running through Małopolska connects Germany and Ukraine. The Krakow Airport serves approximately 8 million passengers annually.

Air transport infrastructure

The Krakow-Balice International Airport is the largest regional airport in Poland. The airport, located only 11 km west of the center of Krakow, is well connected with the rest of the region through public and private bus and rail networks.

It offers approximately 121 regular flights to 84 cities in 30 countries, including most European capitals plus Chicago, New York, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

In 2022, the airport served 7.4 million passengers.

It has a cargo terminal with a daily throughput of 35 tons/day. A new terminal is under construction, which will offer transshipment capacity of up to 8,000 tons per year. In addition to regular cargo, the complex will also handle shipments requiring special conditions, such as animals, medicines, radioactive materials, food products, etc. The investment will include a new entrance to the airport along with a security checkpoint. The new location of the cargo terminal will allow truck traffic to move beyond the immediate vicinity of the airport entrance and will improve access to the passenger terminal.

See the flight schedule: Krakow Airport’s home page (krakowairport.pl)

Road infrastructure

Małopolska has a very well-developed road network, which, combined with the potential of the airport and the rail network, supports steady growth of enterprises in the region. The road and highway network is being gradually expanded, which stimulates the economy and allows for better integration with Europe. Intersecting international transit routes are the basis of the road infrastructure in Małopolska:

• East-west, the axis of which in Poland is the A4 highway connecting Germany with Ukraine and being part of the international road E40
• North-south, marked by the S 7 national road, connecting the south of Europe with the seaports in Gdańsk and Gdynia, forming part of the international road E77

The national road network in Małopolska has 969.6 kilometers of roads (2021). They are managed by the Krakow branch of the General Directorate for National Roads and Highways. On the website of this institution you will find detailed information about the national road network in Małopolska, investments carried out there and maps of routes and monitoring cameras.

Check: Road information map - Mapping Service of General Directorate for National Roads and Highways

Railroad infrastructure

The main railroad line E30 (part of the trans-European corridor TINA III) runs through Małopolska and belongs to the 3^rd Pan-European Transport Corridor connecting Germany, Poland and Ukraine.

The railroad network in Małopolska is managed by PKP Polish Railroad Lines.

See the timetables: portalpasazera.pl

There are also three lines of the Fast Agglomeration Railroad (SKA) – a regional rail transport system using the existing railroad network, operating on three lines:

• SKA1: Krakow Airport – Krakow Central Station – Wieliczka Marketplace-Mine
• SKA2: Sędziszów – Krakow Central Station – Podbory Skawińskie – Przeciszów
• SKA3: Oświęcim – Trzebinia – Krakow Central Station – Tarnów

The railroad operators carried 245.1 million people in 2021.

The freight transport handled 243.6 million tons of cargo in 2021. There was an increase by 20.4 million tons (9.1%) compared to 2020.

In 2021, a total of 8.76 million passengers used transport services organized by the Małopolska Region (including PLN 4.32 million transported by Małopolska Railroads, PLN 4.13 million by POLREGIO and PLN 0.31 million by Silesian Railroads). That was 0.96 million passengers more than in 2020.

There are 46 railroad sidings in Małopolska.