I'm wondering how I can visit Malbork Castle if I'm visiting Gdansk. Wikitravel says that Malbork is 1.5 hours from Gdansk by train, but doesn't say how much the train is and if it's allowed to go inside the castle and how much admission is.
The question is: if I'm in Gdansk, what should be my budget to visit Malbork castle and return to Gdansk? Also, is it possible to go and return in a morning or do I need the whole day?
The ticket prices for Malbork castle you can find here. There are a lot of different tickets available, for example, with or without guide, only the interior or also the exterior building, etc.
When we were there this summer, we went through the whole castle inside and outside without a guide. It took approximately 2 hours. We arrived in late afternoon. So I would guess that you should be able to do it in one morning if you're there in time. During winter season the castle opens at 10.
This tourist information site says the train ticket is 8 zloty each way. (But they also say the train takes only 45 minutes).
The website is great for train schedules. It shows the quickest trip to Malbork from the main station in Gdansk is 53 minutes, and 8 zloty is about 2 Euro.
Malbork castle is huge so allow a few hours, and it is well worth getting a guide because there is so much you will miss otherwise. A guided tour takes about two and a half hours.
In Your Pocket has a mini-guide to Malbork, including all the info you need about getting there and back, what to do/see, etc. It's comprehensive.
We went to Gdansk last summer (staying in Sopot) and took trains on day-trips around the vicinity, Malbork included.
Taking the trains was hassle-free, but the fare system was completely opaque to us. The fares are low, so it's not that big of a deal.
Malbork castle was nice, and you can go in there without a guide. There were guided tours in Polish, English and German. Beware that all the tours we could find were 2-3 hours long, not something you want to do with small kids.
