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Steveh
Traveller
2 comments

Posted 17 years ago

Hi I'm looking to go to Istanbul after Greece, which is best route to take? i cant seem to find any trains going to or leaving Istanbul!!!
[u]https://rail.cc/en/search-interrail-route[/u]

After Istanbul i would like to travel north to Austria or the surrounding area

If any has any ideas i would be very thankful

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Danny
Traveller
12 comments

replied 17 years ago

My friends and I are planning to go from Greece to Turkey, then up to places like Austria as well.

I think or plan at the moment is to look around Athens before taking a train to Thessaloniki (further north in Greece) and stopping for a couple of days there. After that, we are going on to one other place about halfway betwen Thessaloniki and Istanbul, and then finally on to Istanbul itself. Leaving Istanbul, we are taking a train to Bulgaria (to the capital, Sofia), so we don't have to spend TOO long on the train. We are then planning to leave Sofia and head on to countries like Hungary and Austria.

Its up to you, of course, but we thought that would be a sensible way to do it. That way, you never have to spend too long on trains, and you get to see a variety of places.

Hope that gives you some ideas. :P

As for not finding trains to and from Istanbul...I use that website and have no problem finding them. The trains in that part of Europe take a lot longer to cover a certain distance than their Western European counterparts, from what I can see, so train travel will take up a lot of time whatever you do.

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Steveh
Traveller
2 comments

replied 17 years ago

When i choose local transport only Istanbul - Sofia nothing at all same with most other nearby cities :S

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anonymous
Traveller
2467 comments

replied 17 years ago

Yes yes, Istambul and Sofia - check the distance :) it wouldn't be wise to run such a local international trains :) and i think you should search for any possible train if you want to have a little change of trains route...

and yes - i was right - fast night train D is operating:
Istanbul Sirkeci - Sofia
dep 30.01.07 22:00
arr 31.01.07 11:40
duration: 13:40
changes: 0

so, imagine how long would you go on a local :) :):)
have a pleasant night in this train :P ~

P.S. this train looks like has obligatory reservation with extra surcharge..

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Steveh
Traveller
2 comments

replied 17 years ago

Thankyou for your answer

with trains that need reservation how long do u have to give? obviously i don't want to book it untill im actually in Turkey when i know when im going ot be leaving

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anonymous
Traveller
2467 comments

replied 16 years ago

Dear Steve,
From Sofia anly one service per day on 8:30 pm everyday but delay everytime :)
When you arrive to Sofia, you can use bus companies which they depart every 2 hours during the day...The most quality ones is Metro...This is Turkish Company...
For train, to Istanbul, is not comfortable...No extra charge is needed. But you have to get out at the train on Turkish Border...Normally train arrvies to the Turkish Border at 2 am :)
Turkish Government will change the train cars in the near future...But altough I have written several email on border get out, they are so strict on passport check...