Jelleeb
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 8 years ago
Hi everyone!
This summer my friends and I will make our first Interrail trip. :D We know the destination already, that will be Athens (Greece). I have two questions after reading some topics about the Hellas express, which we would like to take to Thessaloniki. We would like to buy a 5 days in 15 days flexi pass.
- According to the topics, the website of trainOSE, Interrail and the Serbian Railways, we have to change in Gevgelija on a bus. Does anyone made the journey from Belgrade to Thessaloniki in 2015/2016 (partly by bus)? What is your experience of the journey, did you ever have the feeling it could be unsafe because the situation at the Greece/Macedonian border?
- When we take the Hellas express, we have to use two travel days (because the train departs on 18:50), but the next train station the Hellas express arrives is Racovica (at 19:11). Does somebody know it is possible to buy a ticket to Racovica at Belgrade station, and to use the Interrail pass when we passed Racovica?
I hope somebody can help us with these questions!
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Hi!
I've been travelling with the Hellas Express southbound in both summer 2014 and 2015.
Currently Gevgelija - Thessaloniki is by bus, this could last until the summer, but depends on the actual refugee situation of course.
The trip is not unsafe, you dont have to worry. It seems that the situation at the border is rather calm now, although this probably changes towards the summer. Anyway, on both my trips there were no issues at all. We saw a northbound special service packed with refugees at Gevgelija, while waiting for custom and border controls, that makes you think about your luck in life...
Buying a ticket to Rakovica and using IR and the 1900 rule from there shouldnt be a problem - I already did so on other trains. However, if you want to travel in the couchette (instead of regular seats) you may think about buying your reservation only from Rakovica and travel Belgrade - Rakovica in 2nd class, then change to the couchette in Rakovica. This could be easier than explaining the conductor your ticket combination at Belgrade station...
We are official partners of interrail.eu - to support the free information and the forum on railcc, please be fair and buy your official Interrail pass via our railcc partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
Thank you! :)
Flo 8)
Jelleeb
Traveller
1 comments
Great to read your experiences! I'm also happy they were positive :D
Thank you for your reply!
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
BTW I forgot to mention the blog post: :D
[u]https://rail.cc/blog/belgrade-skopje-thessaloniki-train/[/u]