666 bus to Hel back in business, as doomed tourist route is resurrected

World 666 bus to Hel back in business, as firm resurrects doomed Polish tourist route By Anna Noryskiewicz Updated on: June 1, 2026 / 11:33 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Berlin — One of Poland's strangest tourist attractions is back: The 666 bus to Hel is doomed no more, and rolling again.In Christian tradition, 666 is known as the number of the beast, but the bus doesn't go to the underworld – it goes to Hel, a small resort town on Poland's Baltic coast.For years, people took photos of themselves on the 666 to Hel and shared them on social media, relishing the coincidence of a bus to a beach resort provoking mental images of damnation, thanks to the similarity of the town's name to the English word hell.But for the significant conservative Catholic population in Poland, the route's popularity amounted to an inappropriate glorification of evil, and after much lobbying, local operator PKS Gdynia changed the route number from 666 to 669 three years ago.This summer, however, the 666 is back.German international transport company FlixBus has launched a seasonal Route 666, running from Kraków in southern Poland to Hel on the Baltic Sea. The 13-hour route also includes stops in Warsaw and several other towns along the coast. It will operate through the summer tourism season.The end of the route in 2023 upset plenty of people, as by that time it had become well known across Poland and even garnered international attention. Some tourists would board purely for the novelty of the route.   FlixBus clearly knew what it was doing by resurrecting the route. At a press event, the company's Eastern Europe managing director Michał Leman admitted the route number was selected quite deliberately. "Everyone will understand," he said, suggesting the number would leave customers in no doubt as to the bus' final destination.Leman dismissed the controversy surrounding the route. "It's vacations. Let's have fun, let's do some jokes abo...