1 February 2012. Train times valid from 11
December 2011 to 9 June 2012.
London or Paris to Istanbul by train...
Above:
The incredible Haghia Sofia, Istanbul, a church then a
mosque and now a museum. Below: The
beautiful Blue Mosque. Both are just 10 minutes walk from
Istanbul's Sirkeci station, where you arrive by train
from London, via Paris, Vienna & Budapest. "No flights
were involved in the taking of these pictures..."
Istanbul is perhaps Europe's most exotic city, where east
really does meet west. Can you still travel from
London or Paris to Istanbul by train? Of course!
The train journey is perfectly feasible and an adventure.
It's safe & comfortable too, if you book a sleeper.
The journey takes 3 nights, and
departures from London or Paris are daily all year except Christmas
day. Just remember that a London-Istanbul train journey
will naturally cost
more than the air fare, as it's a 2,000 mile
3-day adventure, rediscovering some of the mystery, intrigue and
romance of long-distance sleeping-car travel across Europe
into the Balkans.
On this page...
You'll find a step-by-step guide to planning, booking &
making a train journey between London or Paris and Istanbul,
one-way or return, eastbound or westbound, with
schedules, fares, what the journey is like, and how to
buy tickets.
The route via Paris, Munich, Vienna, Budapest & Bucharest is
now the most convenient, comfortable & practical rail route
from London & Paris to Istanbul, and it's a wonderful way to
reach Turkey overland.
This section explains the train times, the cost, what the
trains and the journey are like, and how to arrange tickets. If you'd prefer to travel via Brussels & Cologne rather than
Paris (shown in light blue on the map above), no
problem, just see
here for details. You can also take the more traditional
route via Belgrade & Sofia (marked in red on the map
above) as shown further down this page, but the
connections via Sofia don't work as well and there are
currently problems with non-availability of sleeping-cars
east of Budapest. I strongly recommend sticking to the
convenient and comfortable route via Bucharest shown here.
Day 1: Travel from
London to Paris by Eurostar, leaving
London St Pancras at 16:01 Mondays-Fridays, 15:31 weekends, arriving Paris Gare du Nord at
19:17 (18:47 at weekends).
By all means book an earlier Eurostar from London if you'd
like to spend some time in Paris, or it has cheaper seats
available, or you'd prefer a more leisurely connection. In Paris, it's a
10 minute walk
from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est.
Day 1:
Travel from Paris to Munich overnight on the excellent
City Night Line sleeper train 'Cassiopeia', leaving
Paris Gare de l'Est daily at 20:05 (20:20 at weekends) and arriving in
Munich at 07:10 next morning. It has a sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments, either
standard with washbasin or deluxe with private toilet &
shower), 4 & 6-berth couchettes & ordinary seats.
More pictures & information about this
City Night Line sleeper train.
Day 2: Travel
from Munich to Budapest by
air-conditioned 140 mph Austrian RailJet
train, leaving Munich at 09:27 and arriving in Budapest
Keleti station at 16:49. A bar-bistro car is available, so treat yourself to lunch.
If you want to stop off
for a day or two in
Salzburg or Vienna for a day or two, no problem, this train
calls at both Salzburg (arrive 10:56, depart 11:01) and Vienna Westbahnhof
(arrive 13:44, depart 13:54). There are of course plenty
of other trains between Munich, Salzburg, Vienna & Budapest if
you're stopping off in
those cities which may suit your plans better. You
can check train times using
http://bahn.hafas.de. Look out for great views of Salzburg
citadel & castle on the right as you cross the river
Salzach approaching Salzburg. The
train crosses the Danube just before arrival in
Budapest.
More pictures & information about this RailJet train.
Map of Budapest showing Keleti station.
Day 2: Travel from Budapest to
Bucharest on the EuroNight sleeper train
'Ister', leaving Budapest Keleti station at 19:10 and arriving at
Bucharest Nord station at 11:00 next morning (day 3).
'Ister' is the ancient name for the River Danube. The
EuroNight train 'Ister' has
a modern air-conditioned sleeping-car with safe,
comfortable & carpeted 1, 2 & 3-bed compartments with
washbasin, plus several deluxe compartments with 1, 2 or 3
beds and private shower and toilet. It also has more basic 4-berth & 6-berth couchettes
(basic flat bunks with rug and pillow), a
restaurant car for dinner and breakfast, and ordinary seats. Travel
in ordinary seats is not
recommended. A couchette is fine, but a bed in the sleeper
is the recommended option. Sleepers can be converted
to private sitting rooms for evening/morning use, and
there's a shower at the end of the corridor (which
may or may not work). Take your own provisions in
case the restaurant car doesn't show up, there's usually
one attached but sometimes it's not. The train crosses
Transylvania by night, and after reaching Brasov
at 08:19 next morning it descends the pass through
the Carpathian mountains, a wonderfully scenic and almost Alpine section of
route.
Day 3: Travel from Bucharest to Istanbul on the
international sleeper train 'Bosphor', leaving Bucharest Nord daily at
13:00 and arriving at
Istanbul's Sirkeci station at 07:50 next day (day 4 from
London). Expect an arrival an hour or two late. The Bosfor
consists of a modernised air-conditioned
Romanian sleeping-car with safe, comfortable and carpeted 1,
2 & 3-bed compartments with washbasin, and a Turkish
couchette car with more basic 6-berth
compartments. A bed in the sleeper is
the recommended option. Bedrooms can be converted
to private sitting rooms for daytime use, assuming the
sofa under the bottom bunk isn't too dusty - you'll
probably have to do the beds-to-sofa conversion
yourself! There's
a shower at the end of the corridor which might
even work. There's no buffet or restaurant car at
all on this train, so take plenty of food and bottled
water, and your own supply of beer or wine. It's a
very scenic and enjoyable journey, meandering sedately through
the lush green hills and valleys of Bulgaria, see an
account of the journey
here. Be prepared to get off the train at the
Turkish border at Kapikule late at night to
buy a tourist visa and get your
passport stamped, you arrive Kapikule 01:45 and
depart at 02:55. This is certainly a tad
inconvenient, but it's no big deal really and you're
soon back in bed, looking forward to the train's
dramatic arrival into Istanbul at the very edge of
Europe.
Map of Istanbul showing Sirkeci station.
IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM 22 FEBRUARY 2012:
Engineering work will affect the 'Bosfor' to and from
Istanbul Sirkeci from 22 February 2012 for up to two years.
The 'Bosfor' from Bucharest will terminate at either Kapikule
or Cerkezköy (it hasn't
yet been decided which) and a bus will take
passengers on to Istanbul. This will apply in
both directions from 22 February 2012, for up to two
years. This is while railways in Istanbul are
transformed with the new Bosphorus rail tunnel, and
a new underground station in European Istanbul,
serving train to both Europe and Asia.
Feedback
would be appreciated if you go this way!
Day 1: Travel from Istanbul
to Bucharest on the international sleeper train 'Bosphor', leaving Istanbul's Sirkeci
station daily at 22:00 and arriving in Bucharest
Nord at 18:33 next day (day 2). Expect an arrival an hour or two
late, occasionally 3 hours. The Bosfor has a
Romanian sleeping-car with safe,
comfortable & carpeted 1, 2 & 3-bed compartments with
washbasin, and a Turkish couchette car with 6-berth couchettes (basic bunks).
There are no ordinary seats. A
sleeper is the recommended option, rooms can be
converted to private sitting rooms by day, there's even
a shower at the end of the corridor which might
even work. Bring your own food, water and wine or beer, as there's
no restaurant or buffet car at all. There used to be a
handy wine shop directly across the road from the
entrance to Sirkeci station, it may have closed now but
there is a small supermarket outside the station to the
left in the road with the tram. Travelling in the
comfort & security of the sleeping-car, this is a very
pleasant journey, although be prepared to get off the
train at the frontier (Kapikule, reached at 02:52 and
depart 04:05) to have your
passport stamped. In the morning the train wanders
through lush green Bulgarian valleys before crossing the
wide brown Danube into Romania. Relax and enjoy
the ride...
Day 2:
Spend the night &
following day in Bucharest. Changes to train
times over the last year or two mean that a same-day
connection is no longer possible, unless the Bosfor
arrives on time, which it almost certainly won't. The
traditional 3-night journey has become 4 nights
westbound,
but this does give you a stopover in the wonderful city of
Bucharest. The
Hotel Ibis Gara de Nord is walking distance from the
station, inexpensive and gets reasonable reports.
Day 3: Travel from Bucharest to Budapest by
EuroNight sleeper train 'Ister', leaving Bucharest Nord
at 19:00 and arriving in Budapest at
08:50 the next day (Day 4). The 'Ister' has a
modern Romanian
air-conditioned sleeping-car
with safe, comfortable & carpeted 1, 2 & 3-bed
compartments with washbasin, plus several deluxe
compartments with 1, 2 or 3 beds and private shower &
toilet. This is the
recommended option, the rooms can be converted to
private sitting rooms by day and there's even a shower
at the end of the corridor which might work if you're
lucky. There are
also ordinary seats (not recommended) and 4-berth & 6-berth
couchettes (basic bunks with rug and pillow). The
Ister also has a restaurant car for dinner and
breakfast. Spend a few hours exploring Budapest,
left luggage is available at the station.
Day 4: Travel from Budapest to Munich by
air-conditioned 140mph RailJet train, leaving Budapest
at 13:10 and arriving in Munich Hauptbahnhof at 20:34.
A bar-bistro car is available, so treat yourself to
lunch. The train travels via Vienna (arrive 16:00,
depart 16:14) & Salzburg (arrive 18:58, depart 19:02) if you
want to stop off for a day or two at either of these
cities. Watch for great views of the Danube &
citadel soon after the train leaves Salzburg. More pictures & information about this RailJet train.
Day 4: Travel from Munich to Paris by
the
excellent
City Night Line sleeper train 'Cassiopeia', leaving
Munich Hauptbahnhof daily at 22:47 and arriving at Paris
Gare de l'Est 09:24 next morning (day 5). The trains has ordinary seats, couchettes (6-berth
& 4-berth) and
a sleeping-car with 1, 2 or 3-bed rooms, deluxe with toilet & shower or standard
with washbasin.
More
pictures & information about this City Night Line
sleeper train.
Walk from the Gare de l'Est to the Gare du Nord.
Day 5: Travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar, leaving Paris
Gare du Nord at
11:13 and arriving London St Pancras at 12:30.
Of course. The train times shown above
assume you are travelling straight through without
stopovers, but as each train is ticketed separately and runs
daily, you
can book each leg of the journey for whatever date you want.
So feel free to spend
some time in Paris, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Transylvania or Romania on the way,
it makes little or no difference to the cost. Just
remember that most of these trains are
'reservation compulsory', so you need to have made a seat,
couchette or sleeper reservation before you board each
train, you can't just hop on without a reservation.
You make all the reservations in advance in the UK,
or you can stay flexible and make
reservations at station ticket offices as you go along, it's
up to you. If you choose to make reservations as you
go, you will hardly ever find any of these trains fully booked,
places are normally available even on the day of travel. There is only one daily train from
Bucharest to Istanbul, but on most of the other stages (for
example, London-Paris, Paris-Munich, Munich-Vienna,
Vienna-Budapest &
Budapest-Bucharest) there are other trains as well as
the ones suggested above. You can check train times
for each stage using
www.bahn.de.
From Paris to Munich by City Night Line sleeper train...
The Paris-Munich overnight train is one of the German Railway's excellent
City Night Line sleeper trains. Called the
'Cassiopeia', it has a modern 'Comfortline' sleeping-car
with 1, 2 & 3-berth deluxe rooms with private shower &
toilet, or 1, 2 &
3-berth standard rooms with washbasin. There is a shower at
the end of the corridor for passengers in standard rooms,
and all rooms have power-points for laptop computers.
It has
modern air-conditioned couchettes (choose between a berth in a 4- or 6-berth compartment),
and ordinary seats (not recommended for an overnight
trip).
The sleeping-car fare includes
a light breakfast.
More
pictures & information about this City Night Line train.
Travel tip: For a good meal in a classic
Parisian brasserie before boarding the sleeper train in
Paris, catch the earlier 14:04 Eurostar & dine at the
Brasserie Terminus Nord directly across the road
from the Gare du Nord. For a cooked breakfast in
Munich or evening meal before boarding the Paris-bound
sleeper on your return, try the typically Bavarian
Mongdratzerl restaurant, located in the hauptbahnhof
itself.
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, standard
with washbasin
or deluxe with toilet & shower.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
"Night train to Munich": The
'Comfortline' sleeping-car of the Paris to Munich
sleeper train boarding at Paris Gare de l'Est...
RailJet is
Austria's brand-new high-speed train, linking Munich, Vienna
& Budapest. It will soon also link Zurich, Innsbruck &
Vienna. Designed to run at up to 230km/h (143 mph) on
sections of upgraded track, it currently reaches 200km/h on
part of the route, but in other parts snakes around
beautiful scenery at a more sedate pace. Look out for
great views of Salzburg citadel & castle on the right as you
cross the river Danube approaching Salzburg. RailJet
has three classes, Economy (2nd class), First (1st class),
and Premium (25 euros supplement over normal first class).
It has a bistro car providing drinks, snacks and hot dishes,
which are served on proper china at your seat in first and
premium classes. TV screens in each car tell you the
train's speed, show maps of the train's location, and
display a list of next station stops and times.
There's even a small children's TV area for the kids.
A great way to travel - simply order one of the regional
beers from the bistro, sit back and enjoy the scenery...
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
The RailJet has landed...
Train RJ 63, the morning RailJet from Munich has arrived spot
on time at Budapest's historic Keleti station, built
1881-1884...
Premium class costs
25 euros more than normal 1st class...
Economy class on
RailJet, comfortable open saloons with large picture
windows. Some seats are arranged around tables,
some are unidirectional.
The 'Ister'
from Budapest to Bucharest has a smart modern
air-conditioned
Romanian sleeping-car with carpeted 1, 2 or 3-bed
compartments
with proper beds & washbasin, plus several
'deluxe' 1, 2 or 3 bed compartments with private toilet
& shower, see the photos below.
Travelling in the sleeping-car is safe, comfortable &
civilised. The Ister also has a Romanian
couchette car with 6-berth & 4-berth compartments, providing
seats by day which convert to bunks for night time use
with rug, sheet & pillow. Couchettes are fairly basic, and a
proper bed in the sleeper is much more comfortable
and secure yet costs very little extra, so is the
recommended option. The Ister also has several
air-conditioned seats cars, but an ordinary seat is not recommended.
There's a modern Romanian restaurant car on most
departures, serving dinner and a cooked breakfast, but
taking some supplies of your own is always a good idea.
Deluxe sleeper... The en suite toilet &
shower in a deluxe sleeper from Budapest to
Bucharest. Photo courtesy of Andy Brabin.
A sleeper set up as a
single-berth
compartment with the middle & top berths folded away against the
wall. Photo courtesy of Andy
Brabin.
The EuroNight sleeper train 'Ister': This is the
train's modern air-conditioned Romanian sleeping-car.
The letters above the windows say 'Voiture-Lits -
Sleeping-car - Carrozza Letti - Vagon de Dormit'...
Welcome to your hotel on rails: Some compartments have an en suite toilet &
shower! Photo courtesy of Andy Brabin.
From
Bucharest to Istanbul by
sleeping-car on the Bosfor...
Travelling in
the comfort & security of a sleeper is the recommended
option. The sleeping-car on the Bucharest-Istanbul train
is
operated by CFR (Romanian Railways) and is usually of a
type bought second-hand from German Railways. Each
compartment can be used for 1, 2 or 3-person occupancy,
and each room converts from a bedroom with washbasin at
night to a private sitting room with sofa and coffee
table by day (though you might have to fold away the
bunks yourself, and the seats may be a bit dusty!). There's even a shower at the end of
the corridor which may or may not be working, although temperature and water pressure
could be better. Compartments are single-sex,
unless all berths in the compartment are occupied by
people travelling together. All rooms have both a
normal lock on the door, and a security lock which
cannot be opened from outside (even with a staff
key), so you'll be both safe and snug.
More information about travelling in sleepers.
The Bucharest to Istanbul train also has a Turkish 6-berth couchette
car, but couchettes are
far more basic and not a lot cheaper, so a proper
sleeper is strongly recommended.
A bedroom at night...
Set up here as a single-berth with middle & top berths
unused.
A private sitting room by
day, with sofa & table. The seats might be a bit
dusty!
Above: The
Bucharest-Istanbul sleeping-car ('vagon de dormit'), seen here at Giurgiu on the
Bulgarian/Romanian frontier...
Travelling in the
comfort & security of the sleeping-car, the
journey from Bucharest to Istanbul is a pleasant,
leisurely
and enjoyable journey. A couple of hours after leaving Bucharest
the train crosses the Danube from Romania into
Bulgaria on a long steel bridge (2.5 km long, in fact,
making it the
longest steel bridge in Europe, built in 1954), then for most
of the rest of the day it meanders slowly through pleasant
river valleys past small Bulgarian villages. The
Turkish frontier at Kapikule is reached very late at night (01:25), and here you will need to leave
the train briefly to buy a Turkish visa and then get your passport
stamped, see the visa information below.
You'll be back in bed soon enough, but make sure you're awake
for the dramatic entry into Istanbul, through the
impressive Byzantine Walls
of Theodosius and along the Bosphorus right underneath
the walls of the Topkapi Palace, into Istanbul's
historic Sirkeci station built in 1888 in
the heart of the city, walking distance from all the
sights. There's no more traditional way to arrive
in Istanbul than by sleeping-car into Sirkeci station - why not hop into a taxi
to the famous and equally traditional
Pera Palas Hotel? Expect an arrival an hour
or two late, occasionally 3 hours late or more, just relax and enjoy the ride...
Map of Istanbul showing Sirkeci station.
Above: After crossing
the Danube into Bulgaria, the Bosfor spends a lazy
afternoon meandering along pleasant river valleys like
this. Relax in your private sleeper, pour yourself
a beer or glass of wine (remember to bring your own food
& drink!), read away the hours & enjoy the trip... Left & centre photos above courtesy of Kester Dampney
Above: The 'Bosfor' express in
the green countryside of Bulgaria, coupled with
other cars from Belgrade and Sofia to Istanbul...
After midnight, under
the arclights at Kapikule on the Turkish
frontier. You need to get off the train briefly here to buy
your Turkish visa & have your passport stamped.
Visa info...
In the last minutes of the
journey, the train swishes through the Walls of
Theodosius (above) at the edge of the city. Photo
courtesy of Kester Dampney
Above left: A 2-bed
sleeper on the train from Bucharest to Istanbul.
Above centre & right:
Journey's end, Istanbul's Sirkeci station, just a
stone's throw from the Bosphorus at the very edge of
Europe. The shores of Asia are only a 20 minute
ferry ride away. The old station building (left)
is at the side, a new section (right) now fronts the
station forecourt. There are restaurants just off
the forecourt and a wine shop across the road, handy for
your return journey. The tram for Sultanahmet (for
the Blue Mosque, Haghia Sofia, Grand Bazaar & many
hotels) leaves from just in front of the station, or
it's easy enough to walk...
Calculating the cost of a London to Istanbul train
journey is not an exact science (more of a black art), as you're not buying
a "London to Istanbul ticket", there's no such thing
any more.
You're buying a separate ticket for each train you take
right across
Europe, and the price for each ticket can vary, so treat the costs
below as a rough estimate for budgeting purposes.
Using an InterRail is the cheapest option if you're
under 26, it's also the cheapest for a return journey
if you're over 26. However, for a return trip
where you're away for longer than 22 days, the balance
swings back to point-to-point...
London
to Istanbul by train:
Estimated total cost,
including
a couchette Paris-Munich
& sleepers east of
Budapest:
Using
normal point-to-point tickets
(assuming
the cheapest fares are available for key sections):
£350 one-way
£610 return
Using
an InterRail pass
(5-travel-days-in-10-day-period InterRail for a one-way trip,
a 10-travel-days-in-22-day-period
InterRail for a return trip,
Savings fare =
cheap fare, price varies, limited availability,
no refunds or changes to travel plans.
Normal fare =
fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
3. Munich to Budapest
by RailJet
Economy class fares
start at 39 euro (£34) one-way, 78 euro (£68) return
First class fares
start at 69 euro (£60) one-way, 138 euro (£120) return
4. Budapest to
Bucharest
on the Ister :
Booked in the UK:
£87
each way in 6-berth couchettes, £95 each way in 4-berth
couchettes.
£99
each way in 3-bed sleeper, £112 in 2-bed sleeper, £198
in single sleeper.
£162 each way in
2-bed deluxe sleeper with shower, £209 in single-bed
deluxe.
All per person, berths sold individually, you don't need
to fill the whole compartment.
Bought at the
station in Budapest, Budapest-Bucharest is about 65
euros
one-way, 130 euros return. For a
couchette, add 12 euros per night, or for a
more comfortable and secure sleeper, add about 30 euros
for a bed in a 3-bed sleeper, 45 euros for a bed in a
2-bed.
5. Bucharest
to Istanbul
on the Bosfor:
Booked in the
UK:
£76 each way in
6-berth couchettes (though a sleeper is the recommended
option)
£89 each way in 3-bed
sleeper, £102 each way in 2-bed sleeper (per person).
Bought at the
station in Bucharest, Bucharest-Istanbul is about 45
euros one-way or
90 euros return in 2nd class. To travel in a
couchette in 6-bunk couchette compartment, add 9 euros
to this 2nd class fare. For for a
more comfortable & secure sleeper, add either 23 euros for a
bed in a 3-berth compartment or 37 euros for a bed in a
2-berth compartment to the 2nd class fare (per person,
per journey). Sole occupancy of a
single-bed sleeper requires a 60 euro 1st
class fare plus 80 euros single sleeper supplement.
Bought at the station
in Istanbul, Istanbul to Bucharest costs 84 Turkish Lira
(£39) one-way for the basic travel ticket, plus either a couchette supplement of 20 YTL
(£9) to travel in a 6-bunk compartment, or
a sleeper supplement of 56 YTL (£25)
per person to travel in a shared 3-bed sleeper, or 84 YTL
(£37) to travel in a shared 2-bed sleeper. Sole
occupancy of a single-berth sleeper requires a 1st class
ticket costing 58 euros plus a 77 euro sleeper
supplement.
The cost if you use an InterRail pass...
Using an InterRail pass
is the most flexible
way to make a train journey from London or Paris to
Istanbul. It's usually cheaper than normal
tickets if you're under 26 years of age, but usually a few pounds more
than normal tickets if you're over 26, depending on what
point-to-point prices you manage to get for your dates of
travel.
For a
one-way trip to Istanbul, a 5-days-in-10-days flexi
InterRail pass gives a total of 5 days of unlimited 2nd
class train travel in all the countries you pass through
within an overall period of 10 days, which is plenty to make
the journey, even with a day or two in Vienna and Budapest
and Bucharest if you want. It costs £156 if you are
aged under 26, £238 if you're aged 26-59, or £220 if you've
over 60. Children
4-11 inclusive £120.
For a return
trip to Istanbul, a 10-days-in-22-days pass costs
£229 if you are aged under 26, £339 if you're aged
26-59, or £312 if you're over 60. Children 4-11 inclusive £170. This gives a
total of 10 days of unlimited 2nd class train travel in all
the countries you pass through within an overall period of 22
days, which is enough to make the outward and return
journeys, even with a day or two in Vienna and Budapest or
Bucharest if you want, with over two weeks in Turkey, as
long as you complete both your outward and return journeys
within the 22 day period covered by the pass. If you
plan to be away for longer than 22 days, you'll need either
a 1-month continuous InterRail, or you could buy one
5-days-in-ten-days flexi pass for the outward trip and
another 5-days-in-ten-days flexi pass to cover your return
trip, and spend however long you like in Turkey and the
middle east. The only limiting factor is that you can
only buy InterRail passes a maximum of 2 months before their start
date.
Add the price of a
Eurostar ticket: InterRail passes do not cover
Eurostar, so you need to add the cost of a Eurostar
ticket. You have two options: Buy a normal
cheap Eurostar ticket, from £69 return, £39 on-way, no refunds, no
changes to travel plans allowed, or you can buy a
special passholder fare, £57 one way £100 return,
refunds and change of travel plans allowed. The
cheapest place to buy Eurostar tickets is
www.eurostar.com.
Add 3 nights
sleeper or couchette supplement each way: In addition to the
cost of the pass, you'll need to pay a
supplement for a couchette or sleeper for each of the 3 nights
from London to Istanbul in each direction.
For a couchette, budget for around 25 euros (£21) per person for
the first night between Paris & Munich, then £12 for
each of the next two nights between Budapest & Bucharest and
Bucharest & Istanbul (but sleeper rather than a couchette is
recommended east of Budapest). For a bed in a 2-berth
sleeper, budget for 65 euros (£56) per person per night for the night
between Paris and Munich, then £36 per person per night for
each of the following two nights Budapest-Bucharest and
Bucharest-Istanbul.
Important
note about InterRail flexi passes & overnight trains: When using an InterRail flexi pass, overnight
sleeper trains leaving after 19:00
count as the following day, as long as the overall 10- or
22-day pass validity period has started. For example,
if you left Paris at 22:43 on 1 January on the sleeper to
Munich using a 5-days-in-10-days InterRail, you should ask
for a pass which starts it's 10-day validity period on 1 January, but as the sleeper train
leaves Paris well after 19:00, you would write '2nd January'
in the first of the 5 'free travel day' boxes printed on
your pass. This free travel day would then cover both the
Paris-Munich sleeper and the Munich-Budapest train next day. You don't need to use up
a free travel day for the Eurostar, as Eurostar passholder
fares don't require a pass day to be used, and you will
probably end up buying a normal (non-passholder) Eurostar
ticket anyway as these are usually cheaper. Similarly,
travelling westbound, if you left Istanbul at 22:00 on 1
January on the Bosphor, you'd need a pass which was dated to
start its 10-day validity period on 1 January, but the first
date you'd write on it would be 2 January, as you're leaving
on a sleeper train after 19:00. It's not rocket
science!
Let's make buying train tickets to Istanbul easy.
Click the button (or
click here) and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
specific trains you
need to book. Fill in the form & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost.
If you're okay with the price you can give them your credit
card details and they will send you the tickets.
European Rail
is an experienced agency whose staff are used to making more
exotic bookings like this. They are equipped with the
German Railways reservation & ticketing system, so can
access all the cheap fares for travel via Germany.
They charge a £35 booking fee which includes postage to any
UK address, or they can send to any address worldwide if you
pay the courier fee. European Rail will normally book
your journey as a series of point-to-point tickets, unless
you specify that you'd prefer to use an InterRail in the
'special requests' section. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
How to buy tickets, the full
story.
Buy a special add-on ticket from almost any station in
Britain to London International (St Pancras).
Buy tickets online...
You can buy tickets online for the
London-Budapest part of the journey, in either
direction, and this can be the cheapest way to book
because you can see all the cheap deals and don't have to
pay any agency booking fees. You'll still need to pick
up the phone for the Budapest-Bucharest & Bucharest-Istanbul
bookings, though. Before you start, I
recommend making a list of the specific trains and dates you
want to book, as each train is effectively a separate
booking.
See the
London to Hungary page
for step-by-step instructions on how to book London-Budapest
train tickets online.
Top tip:
If you want to stop off in Vienna for (say) a day, when
booking the Munich to Budapest train at bahn.de simply look
for the 'Via (1)' box and enter 'Vienna', then enter '24:00'
in the 'hh:m stopover' box. It'll then book you a 24
hour stopover in Vienna, but still let you buy a cheap 39
euros fare from Munich to Budapest (if it's available,
obviously). You can even spend a few hours in Salzburg
on the way as well, by entering 'Salzburg' in the via box
and (say) '04:00' in the stopover box, then clicking 'add
another stopover' and entering 'Vienna' & '24:00'. All
still for 39 euros!
In fact, you
can also book the Budapest to Bucharest sleeper train online
in either direction using
www.raileurope.co.uk,
although it only seems to offer 6-berth couchettes or 2-bed
sleepers eastbound, 3-berth & 2 berth sleepers westbound,
not the full range of accommodation. In 6-berth
couchettes or 3-berth sleepers, Rail Europe's prices are
similar to or slightly lower than those charged by the two
telesales agencies suggested below (both of whom use German
ticketing system, raileurope.co.uk uses the French system),
making online booking a good option. However, for
2-bed sleepers the French system still assumes you need a
1st class ticket even though that's no longer the case on
this route, so charges £142 instead of the correct £118.
Well, I told you booking tickets to Istanbul was a black
art!
Even if you
book the London-Budapest part of the trip online, you'll
still need to
book the Bucharest-Istanbul sleeper by phone, and probably
(if you want sleepers) the Budapest-Bucharest sleeper too.
So make a note of the specific trains and dates you want to
book, then call either
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open
09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday & Sunday, no
booking fee, 2% credit card charge) or
www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00
Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturdays, £35 booking fee).
Buy tickets by phone or email....
Alternatively, you can buy all
your London-Istanbul tickets together by phone. But please don't phone up a
ticketing
agency, say "I want to book a train
ticket from London to Istanbul" and expect them to know
which route and trains you want and to work it all out for
you. You aren't buying a ticket from London to
Istanbul as such tickets no longer exist, you're buying 5 separate tickets for 5 separate train journeys.
So use the train times on this webpage to prepare a list
of the specific trains you want to book between specific
cities on specific dates (you may find the technique shown
on
How to plan an itinerary & budget
helpful). When you're ready to book, contact one of
these two agencies:
European Rail Ltd: Edit this
special booking form and
email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy using this form. European Rail
is an experienced London-based booking agency who use the
German Railways reservation system and whose staff are
familiar with complex bookings like this. When they
get your form, they will make all the reservations (without
obligation) and call you
back to confirm the price and take your credit card details.
There's a £35 booking fee per transaction.
Here are their contact details if you need them:
www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00
Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturdays). From overseas
call +44 20 7619 1083, tickets can be sent outside the UK if
necessary.
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66,lines
open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday &
Sunday. They
also (obviously) use the German Railways reservation system
so charge the same prices as European
Rail but on the plus side don't charge a booking fee, just a
2% credit card fee. Tickets can be sent to UK or Irish
addresses, or (for a fee) overseas addresses. Just be
aware that their staff aren't always familiar with
complex bookings like this and may need gentle persuasion.
You will need to talk them through exactly what train
bookings you want, and be polite but persistent if necessary.
For booking a journey to Istanbul, the booking fee charged
by European Rail can be worth the extra few pounds.
Buy
tickets at stations as you go...
If you like, you can stay flexible and
buy tickets as you go. However, I'd recommend buying the
Eurostar ticket well in advance at
www.eurostar.com, because prices rise steeply as
departure date approaches, like air fares. I'd also
suggest pre-booking the Paris-Munich train, using either
www.raileurope.co.uk
or
www.bahn.de (check prices on both!) as there are also
cheap deals if you pre-book. The
Munich-Vienna-Budapest train doesn't require a reservation
and there are always places available, but again it might
cost just 39 euros if you book in advance, but three times
this if you leave it until the day of travel. From
Budapest to Bucharest and from Bucharest to Istanbul, buying
at the station can actually be cheaper than pre-booking from
the UK, as (a) the price is the same whether you buy in
advance or buy on the day, and (b) the station in Budapest
can sell you a ticket for these journeys using cheaper local
tariffs, whereas UK agencies can only sell tickets using the
standard international tariff. There are almost always
places in the sleeping car available, even on the day of
travel, although of course nothing is 101% certain if you
leave it till the day of departure, so buying as you go is
probably a good option only if you have plenty of time
and/or are planning to stopover en route anyway..
The hassle-free option: Tailor-made train travel & hotel arrangements...
If putting the trip together
yourself seems too complicated (even with the booking forms
and advice I provide!), one experienced company offers a compete tailor-made
travel service with all your rail tickets expertly booked for you and
good quality hotels arranged at stops along the way. You simply
tell them where you want to go and where you'd like to stop
off on the way, and they will do the rest. Contact
www.railbookers.com, on 020 3327 0761. US
residents can call them on (646) 770 2894 (please
quote seat61) and Canadian residents on (416) 800 0732
(please quote 'seat61'). Australian residents can call
their Australian office,
www.railbookers.com.au on 02 8096 0550.
Railbookers get
very positive reviews, and they look after their customers very
well.
Browse suggested holiday itinerary
to Istanbul &
prices. At the time of writing, they offer a 7-night
train journey to Istanbul with hotel stops in Budapest &
Belgrade for around £699 including a flight back, but they can
arrange return trips by train with whichever routes and
stopovers you like, just ask them! One or two other
companies offer this service too, see
the details here.
Plan your
trip using the information on this page. Decide which
type of InterRail pass you need, by reading the
information about InterRail passes above and on the
InterRail page.
Decide which
route you want to use, and make a list
of which train reservations you want on which specific
dates.
This may
help you plan your trip:
How to plan an itinerary & budget.
You can buy your InterRail pass
online from the
www.raileurope.co.uk (UK residents only).
Then buy your
Eurostar ticket from
www.eurostar.com, as that's the cheapest way, passholder
fares usually being more expensive than normal cheap fares.
Call Rail
Europe on 0844 848 5 848 to make a sleeper reservation
from Paris to Munich using your pass (£8 booking fee), or
call Deutsche Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (no
booking fee, 2% credit card fee). There's no
supplement to pay for the Munich-Budapest RailJet and
reservations aren't compulsory on RailJet, although paying
£4 or so to reserve a seat is a good idea for such a long
journey. The remaining
sleeper or couchette reservations from Budapest to
Bucharest and Bucharest to Istanbul can
either be made as you go along at the stations in Munich, Vienna, Budapest or
Bucharest, there's almost always places available, or you
can also get these in advance from Rail Europe or Deutsche
Bahn.
Alternatively, call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open 09:00-17:00 Monday-Friday, no
booking fee, 2% credit card charge) or
www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (£35 booking fee, but the staff can
be more experienced in booking journeys like this) and buy
your InterRail pass, Eurostar ticket and all the
reservations you need by phone, all together.
Important
note about westbound
bookings from Istanbul...
There's seldom any problem booking the
eastbound trains from London to Istanbul, assuming of course
that you catch the data link to the Romanian reservation
computer on a good day... However, when booking a westbound journey from Istanbul to
London, although there should be no problem booking the trains
from Bucharest back to London, there may be a problem
booking the first Istanbul to Bucharest
leg of the trip. European Rail report
that they can now book the Istanbul-Bucharest train
as there's a small allocation of Istanbul to Bucharest
sleeping-car berths held on
the Romanian reservation computer, but until recently the sleeper from Istanbul
back to Bucharest could not be booked from the UK,
it needed to be booked at Istanbul ticket office (ticket window 4)
when you get to Istanbul. Which isn't difficult, so
don't worry if you have to do this. The
reason is simple:
Istanbul-Bucharest sleeper
reservations aren't held on a computer reservation system
accessible from the UK, they are made in biro on a tatty piece of
paper stuck on a clipboard in Istanbul ticket office. This
makes it very difficult to book this sleeper from 2,000
miles away, but very easy to book when you're standing six
feet in front of the bloke with the biro... Although
reports suggest they may have invested in a computer by now,
although not connected to any other country's system!
If you're
in Istanbul, and want to buy tickets to western
Europe...
There are
occasions when you might want to buy train tickets from
Istanbul to western Europe, including Amsterdam, Paris or
London, when you're already in Istanbul (perhaps just
arrived from Iran or Syria, say). Here's how:
Go to
Istanbul's Sirkeci station, ticket window 4.
They can sell
open travel tickets to destinations as far away as
Budapest (189 Turkish lira, £82 or 94 euros), Vienna (245
lira, about £105 or 120 euros) or Munich (392 lira), valid
2 months and allowing unlimited stopovers at places on the
way within that period. You can find the cost of
tickets from Istanbul to these and other cities at
www.tcdd.gov.tr (click for 'English' at top right,
click 'passenger transportation' then 'trains to Europe'). However, they
can't sell Eurostar tickets or tickets for any other western
European train with reservation-based ticketing.
They can only make reservations on direct trains leaving
Istanbul as far as Bucharest, Sofia or Belgrade, because they have
no reservation computer linked to the reservation system for the rest of
Europe, so can't book any trains beyond Belgrade or
Bucharest.
So buy an
open ticket from Istanbul to Budapest or Vienna, and ask for a sleeper reservation from Istanbul to Bucharest.
The sleeper supplement is 56
lira (£24) for a bed in a 3-berth sleeper, 84 lira (£36)
for a bed in a 2-berth. One report suggests they are
only willing to sell tickets as far as Bucharest, so be
polite but persistent,
feedback
would be appreciated.
Then go to
an internet cafe, check they have a printer, and book
the City Night Line sleeper trains from Munich to Paris or
Vienna to Cologne or Amsterdam online at
www.bahn.de,
with cheap fares available if you book in advance.
You can buy a Eurostar ticket from Paris or Brussels to
London online at
www.eurostar.com. If you simply turn up in Vienna
or Munich, you can of course book these sleeper trains on
the day if there are spaces available (and there usually
will be), but you'll pay the full fare, no cheap deals
available at the station on the day of travel.
Eurostar can also be booked on the day at the station in
Paris or Brussels if all else fails, but you'll pay a much
more expensive price than if you-pre book in advance
online.
On arrival in
Bucharest, approach the sleeper attendant on the
Bucharest-Budapest train and ask if he has any spare berths. You'll
already have the open travel ticket, so you'll just need
to pay him the sleeper supplement, about 20 euros.
Above:
Ferries sail frequently across the Bosphorus from Europe
side to Asia. They also run occasional cruises
through the Bosphorus to the edge of the Black Sea, well
worth taking...
Above: View of
the Haghia Sofia (left) & Blue Mosque (right) from the
top of the Galata Tower. The equally famous
Topkapi Palace is just out of shot to the left.
UK citizens
no longer need a visa for Hungary, Romania or Bulgaria, but
they need a tourist visa to visit Turkey. There is no
need to get this in advance, it's
easy to buy this at the Turkish frontier at Kapikule.
Take some pounds sterling
or euros with you for the visa - in 2011, the visa costs
£10
or 15 euros, payable
in pounds sterling or euros. Kapikule is almost the only frontier in
Europe
where you need to leave the train for
passport formalities, rather than staying on board the train.
On arrival at Kapikule at 02:05 eastbound, leave the train with everyone
else (remember not to leave any valuables in
your compartment) and look for the visa office on the
station platform. Don't just follow the other passengers into the
passport control office, as most of them will be Turks, Bulgarians or Romanians
who don't need
a visa! After getting your visa, go to the passport
control office next door (where by this time the queues
should be very short or gone) to get your passport stamped.
The train stops at Kapikule for plenty of time for this to
be done, so don't worry, it doesn't leave again until 02:55. You'll soon be back in bed!
If you prefer, you can travel from London to Istanbul via Brussels &
Cologne instead of Paris and Munich. It makes
little difference to the journey time or cost, in
fact it takes an hour or two longer, that's all, but
avoids the walk between Paris Nord and Paris Est if
that's a problem for you. You take
the 12:57 Eurostar
from London to Brussels, a connecting high-speed Thalys train to
Cologne, the
Austrian EuroNight sleeper train from Cologne to Vienna
and a connecting Railjet train to Budapest. From
Budapest onwards the journey is the same as that
described above.
See the London to Hungary page for full details of
train times & fares between London and Budapest via
the Brussels & Cologne route. You can buy
tickets for this route in exactly the same way as that
suggested above.
The traditional route from
London or Paris to Istanbul is via Belgrade & Sofia rather
than Bucharest. However, the route via Belgrade was blocked in
the 1990s by the war in Yugoslavia, and was for some time afterwards
badly affected by border
and security problems. These are now over, and it's
possible to travel this way especially if you're planning
to stop off in Belgrade and Sofia. It's
certainly a fascinating & scenic ride,
see
video of the Belgrade-Sofia-Istanbul train journey.
However, problems with BDZ (Bulgarian Railways), which is now
technically bankrupt, and its lack of serviceable
sleeping-cars, plus endemic delays meaning that at key points
even through carriages can miss their connection and spend a
day in the sidings, make this route far less attractive than
the far more reliable and comfortable
route via Bucharest recommended
above. By all means go this way if you are
particularly adventurous, but until BDZ sorts itself
(and its sleeping-car service) out, I strongly recommend
sticking with the route via
Bucharest. It's also worth noting that the route
of the celebrated Simplon Orient Express,
Paris-Milan-Venice-Zagreb-Belgrade-Sofia-Istanbul as
featured in Agatha Christie's famous book, is no longer
practical either. Although you can still travel from
London to Venice and Trieste via the Simplon route, from December 2011 there is no longer
any train service at all across the border between Italy and
Slovenia. EU transport policy and Trenitalia have
succeeded where 50 years of Communism failed, an iron
Curtain has now descended across the border at this point...
London ► Istanbul
Day 1: Travel from
London to Paris by Eurostar, leaving
London St Pancras at 16:01 (15:31 at weekends), arriving Paris Gare du Nord at
19:17 (18:47 at weekends).
By all means take an earlier Eurostar from London if you'd
like to spend some time in Paris, or it has cheaper seats
available. In Paris, it's a
10 minute walk
from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est.
Day 1:
Travel from Paris to Munich overnight by the excellent
City Night Line sleeper train 'Cassiopeia', leaving
Paris Gare de l'Est daily at 20:05 (20:20 at weekends) and arriving in Munich at
07:10 next morning.
It has a sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments, either
standard with washbasin or deluxe with private toilet &
shower), 4 & 6-berth couchettes & ordinary seats.
More pictures & information about this
City Night Line sleeper train.
Day 2, travel
from Munich to Budapest by
air-conditioned Austrian 'RailJet' train
with bistro car, leaving Munich Hbf at 09:27 and
arriving in
Budapest Keleti at 16:49. Treat yourself to
lunch in the bistro!
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
Day 2, travel
from Budapest to Sofia by direct sleeping-car, leaving
Budapest Keleti at
22:00, passing through Belgrade (arrive 06:06 next
morning, departing 07:50) and
arriving in Sofia at 17:47 in the evening (day 3 from London).
By all means arrange stopovers in Vienna, Budapest or Belgrade
if you like - you'll find other possible train journeys
between London & Vienna, London & Budapest or London & Belgrade on the
Hungary &
Serbia pages.
Just one sleeping-car runs
direct from Budapest to Sofia, with 1, 2 & 3-berth compartments
with washbasin, see
the photos below. There is no restaurant car,
so take you own food, water and beer or wine, and enjoy
the ride. Expect an arrival in Sofia an hour late,
so don't rely on having time to buy more provisions -
buy them in Budapest. But you should make the
connection with the sleeper to Istanbul, as the
Belgrade-Sofia train has to hand over through cars to
the Sofia-Istanbul train in Sofia. Important
update:
Please read the updates here about this direct Bulgarian
sleeping-car and the odd things that can happen to
it - there may or may not currently be a sleeping-car
attached to the Budapest-Belgrade-Sofia trains due to
Bulgarian Railways problems with sleeping-car
availability.
Day 3,
travel from Sofia to Istanbul by sleeping-car on the
Balkan Express, leaving
Sofia at 19:15 and arriving Istanbul at 07:50 next
morning (day 4 from London). The sleeping car is an old Bulgarian
sleeping-car with 1 2 & 3 bed compartments with
washbasin. There may also be 6-berth couchettes in
summer, but the sleeper is the recommended option. There is no restaurant car, so again,
take you own food, water and beer or wine. Expect
an arrival in Istanbul an hour or two late. Note
that you cannot reserve this sleeping-car from outside
Bulgaria, though there are almost always places
available on the day.
Be prepared to get off the train at the Turkish border at
Kapikule late at night to
buy a tourist visa and get your
passport stamped, you arrive Kapikule 01:45 and
depart at 02:55. This is certainly a tad
inconvenient, but it's no big deal really and you're
soon back in bed, looking forward to the train's
dramatic arrival into Istanbul at the very edge of
Europe. Important update: Latest reports in September
2011 say that BDZ (Bulgarian Railways) are short of
serviceable sleeping-cars, and can no longer provide
a sleeping-car on this Sofia-Istanbul train until at least the end
of 2011, possibly longer. Couchettes may be available, and seats.
This really does make the London-Istanbul route via Bucharest the vastly
superior option.
Bulgarian sleeping-car, Budapest-Sofia and
Sofia-Istanbul (if & when running!)
BDZ
(Bulgarian Railways) acquired some second-hand German
sleeping-cars to replace these communist era sleepers, but
it seems there were problems, and these older sleepers are
being used again. Worse, although they are trying to
keep a sleeper on the Budapest-Sofia route, they have
temporarily withdrawn the sleeping-car from the
Sofia-Istanbul train at least until the end of 2011,
probably longer.
Above: A Bulgarian sleeping-car of
the old communist-era sort.
The sleeper corridor...
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler.
3-bed compartment.
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler
Istanbul ► London
Day 1: Travel from
Istanbul to Sofia by sleeping-car on the Balkan Express, leaving
Istanbul at 22:00 daily and arriving in Sofia next
morning at
10:55 (day 2). This train has ordinary seats,
a couchette car with 6-berth compartments (summer
only) & a
sleeping-car (all year round) with 1, 2 & 3 bed compartments with
washbasin. A bed in the sleeper is
recommended. There is no restaurant or buffet
car, so take plenty of food, snacks, beer or wine
and enjoy the journey. You'll need to alight
briefly at Kapikule at the Turkish border late at
night to have your passport stamped. Kapikule
is reached around 02:52, departing 04:05. Important update:
Latest reports in September 2011 say that BDZ
(Bulgarian Railways) are short of serviceable
sleeping-cars, and can no longer provide a
sleeping-car on this train until at least the
end of 2011. Couchettes may be available, and
seats. This really does make the
London-Istanbul route via
Bucharest the vastly superior option.
You are then strongly
recommended to plan an overnight stay in Sofia.
In theory, you can connect in Sofia the same morning for
Belgrade and Budapest, getting back to London on day 4.
Indeed, a through Istanbul-Belgrade couchette car
(June-Dec, Turkish) or sleeping-car (Dec-June, Serbian) is
switched between trains at Sofia, but even so, the
Sofia-Belgrade train does not wait if the train from
Istanbul arrives late, which it usually does, by 1
to 3 hours. Reports suggest this connection is
regularly missed, and the Istanbul-Belgrade through car
ends up in the sidings for the day! So I strongly
recommend spending day 2 and the night in Sofia and
travelling onward on day 3.
Day 3: Travel from Sofia
to Vienna by direct sleeping-car, leaving Sofia at 11:55
and arriving at Budapest Keleti at 06:04 next day
(day 4). The sleeping-car is an old Bulgarian one
with 1, 2 & 3-berth
compartments with washbasin. There is no
restaurant car, so take you own food, water and beer or
wine. In the sleeping-car, it's a safe, pleasant
and scenic journey, passing through Belgrade (arrive
19:47, depart 22:10).
Spend the morning in Budapest. Important:
Please read the updates here about this direct Bulgarian
sleeping-car and the odd things that can happen to
it!
Day 4, travel from
Budapest to
Munich by air-conditioned Austrian 'RailJet' train, leaving
Budapest Keleti at
13:10 and arriving in Munich at 20:34. The train has
a restaurant car & bar.
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
The cost of
travelling using an
InterRail pass is almost exactly the same as going
via Bucharest, but here are the point to point fares
for travel via Sofia.
Savings fare =
Special cheap fare, book in advance, limited availability,
no refunds, no changes to travel plans.
Normal fare =
fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
Youth fares:
There is a 25% discount on normal fares (but not Savings
fares) for anyone under 26 years old. Savings fares
usually cheaper!
Senior fares:
There is a 20% discount on normal fares (but not Savings
fares) for anyone over 60 years old. Savings fares
usually cheaper!
3. Munich to Budapest
by
RailJet
Economy class fares
start at 39 euro (£34) one-way, 78 euro (£68) return
First class fares
start at 69 euro (£60) one-way, 138 euro (£120) return
4.
Budapest to Sofia:
Approx £101 each way in
3-bed sleeper, £113 each way in 2-bed sleeper (all per
person)
4.
Sofia to Istanbul:
Not known, but
bought in Sofia around 30 euros plus 20 euros
sleeper supplement for a bed in a 2-berth.
How to buy tickets...
You can book the journey via Belgrade & Sofia through the same
agencies as the route via Bucharest,
see the section above.
However, you cannot book the Sofia-Istanbul sleeper from
outside Bulgaria, but I recommend buying a ticket
(without sleeper reservation) along with your other
tickets. This means you can simply approach the
sleeper attendant at Sofia and ask if berths are free,
paying him the sleeper supplement (in euros).
If you'd prefer a sea voyage to Turkey, avoiding
eastern Europe, two shipping lines sail direct from
Italy to Turkey during the summer.
www.marmaralines.com sail once a week between June
&
September from Brindisi to Cesme (about 50 miles or
one
hour by bus from Izmir), taking 2 days and 1 night.
See their website for sailing days, times, fares and
booking.
Update 2011: It
seems this ferry won't be operating in 2011.
Meslines operate from Ancona in Italy to Cesme once a
week
between May & October, taking 3 nights, 2 days. See
www.ferries.gr/mesline/brindisi-cesme.htm for
details and booking. Update 2011: It
seems this ferry won't be operating either in 2011.
See the London to Italy page
for train travel from London or Paris to Ancona or Brindisi.
At other times of year, you can still travel this way.
First, travel from London to Athens as shown on the
London to Greece page. Then use a
daily all-year round ferry from Piraeus (the port of
Athens) to the Greek island of Chios (try
www.hellenicseaways.gr or
www.nel.gr).
Stay the night on the island. Then take a daily
ferry from Chios to Cesme next morning, see
www.sunrisetours.gr or
www.kanaristours.gr).
London to southern Turkey via Italy, Athens & the Greek Islands...
If you're heading for southern Turkey, for example,
Bodrum or Marmaris, this can be a better route than
heading to Istanbul overland by train.
Step 1: Travel from London to Athens by
train & ferry via Italy,
see the London to Greece page for full details.
The journey takes 2 nights. I'd recommend
spending at least 1 night in Athens.
Step 2: Take a ferry from Piraeus (the port of
Athens, 25 minutes from central Athens by metro) to
either Kos, Lesvos (the port on Lesvos is called
Mytilini), Samos (the port is Vathi) or Rhodes (Rodos in Greek). For
Piraeus-Lesvos (Mytilini) see
www.hellenicseaways.gr to check sailing dates,
times, fares and to book online. The voyage
takes 9.5 hours. For Piraeus-Kos or
Piraeus-Rhodes see
www.bluestarferries.gr to check sailing dates,
times, fares and to book online. Ferries
normally sail Piraeus-Rhodes overnight, often calling
at Kos very early, with cabins available. For
Piraeus-Samos see
www.kallistiferries.gr.
Step 3, take an onward ferry to southern
Turkey. Ferries from Rhodes to Marmaris
sail several times a week, see
www.marmarisferry.com or
rhodes.marmarisinfo.com for details. Journey
time 1 hour by catamaran, 2 hours by car ferry. Ferries sail
from Lesvos (Mytilini) to Ayvalik in Turkey
daily Monday-Saturday, crossing 1 hour 10 minutes,
fare 30 euros. Ayvalik is a few hours by bus
north of Izmir. A hydrofoil sails around 15:30 every
afternoon from Kos to Bodrum, fare 28 euros,
crossing 1 hour, see
www.bodrumexpresslines.com. Ferries sail from
Samos to Kusadasi at 08:30 & 17:00 from April
to October, 1 hour 15 minute crossing, fare 30 euros
(50 euros open return), see
www.meandertravel.com/ferrytosamos to check times,
dates & fares.
Travel to Turkey by train, with train tickets, sleepers,
stopovers & hotels all sorted for you...
Many travel agencies offer holidays to Turkey by air, but if
you want to go by train, you've always had to organise the
journey yourself. For many people that's a daunting task.
But two experienced agencies, Railbookers & Erail, have
created the following holiday packages combining one-way or
return train travel from the UK to Istanbul with stopovers &
accommodation in key cities along the way. It's the
easiest way to see Istanbul & Turkey without flying:
Just tell them your departure date and they'll do the rest.
Please double-check the price & itinerary when you call
them, as they may vary for the examples shown here.
You can leave on any date you like, unescorted using the same
scheduled European trains that you'll find
described above
and on the Austria &
Romania pages, but with tickets,
accommodation & itinerary all provided for you by
Railbookers or Erail.
Railbookers London to Istanbul packages...
London to Istanbul one-way, with stopovers in
Budapest & Bucharest...
Railbookers can arrange a train journey from London to
Istanbul (or vice versa) for you to your own specification, with all your train
tickets, reservations, stopovers, transfers and good-quality hotels booked for you. Their website shows
some suggested itineraries and prices.
London to Istanbul one-way in 7 nights with stopovers in
Budapest (2 nights) & Bucharest (1 night) costs from around
£829 per person for 2 people sharing, including
private 2-berth sleepers and a one-way flight back from
Istanbul to the UK (they can also arrange it without the
flight at reduced cost). Daily departures on almost
any date you like. The price includes lunchtime or morning Eurostar to Brussels,
Thalys to Cologne, 1 night sleeper on the overnight train from Cologne to Vienna, 2 nights at
the 4-star Novotel in Budapest, 1 night sleeper on the overnight
train 'Ister' from Budapest to Bucharest, 1 night 4-star Hotel
K & K Elisabeta in Bucharest and 1 night in a sleeper on
the 'Bosfor' to Istanbul, plus flight back to the UK
Upgrades to first class on Eurostar or deluxe sleeper with
shower on the Cologne-Vienna train are possible at extra
cost. You can vary the route, add extra stopovers or
extra nights to meet your own requirements, just tell them
what you want.
London to Istanbul round trip by train in 14 nights
with 1-night stopovers outward in Munich, Budapest,
Bucharest, 3 nights in Istanbul, then 1-night stopovers on
the return in Brasov (for Dracula's castle), Vienna and
Nuremburg. Daily departures on almost any date you
like.
Epic 14-night trip from London to Budapest, Bucharest,
Istanbul, Izmir and Kusadasi, out overland by rail, back
by air, from around £1,285. They can easily arrange
both ways by rail at extra cost if you like. Daily
departures on almost any date you like.
Deluxe 15-night holiday to Budapest, Bucharest, Istanbul,
Ankara and Cappadocia from around £1,799, out overland
by rail, back by air. They can easily arrange both
ways by rail at extra cost if you like. Daily
departures on almost any date you like.
London to
Istanbul round trip...
Railbookers can also arrange a round trip by train to
Istanbul, with a similar journey in the return direction at
a similar price. You can vary the stopovers on the
return if you like.
Erail's London-Istanbul packages...
Tour 1: London to Istanbul one-way, with stopovers in
Vienna & Brasov...
Available from Erail, call 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 London to
Istanbul one-way tour with stopovers".
London to Istanbul in 6 nights (7 days) with stopovers in
Vienna (2 nights) & Brasov in Transylvania (1 night.)
Daily departures.
Prices from around £505-£642 in
2-berth sleepers, per person.
The price includes lunchtime or morning Eurostar to Brussels,
Thalys to Cologne, 1 night sleeper on the
EuroNight sleeper train from Cologne to Vienna, 2 nights at
a 4-star hotel in Vienna, 1 night sleeper on the direct overnight 'Dacia Express' from Vienna to
Brasov in Transylvania (16 miles from Dracula's castle at
Bran), 1 night 4-star hotel in Brasov and 1 night in a sleeper on the 'Bosfor' to Istanbul.
Upgrades to first class on Eurostar or deluxe sleeper with
shower on the EuroNight are possible at extra cost.
Tour 2: Istanbul to London one-way, with stopovers in
Budapest & Munich...
Available from Erail on 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 Istanbul to
London one-way tour with stopovers".
Istanbul to London in 6 nights (7 days) with stopovers in
Budapest (2 nights) & Munich (1 night)
Daily departures.
Prices from around £550-£650 in
2-berth sleepers, per person.
The price includes 1 night sleeper on the Bosfor
overnight train from Istanbul to Bucharest, 1 night sleeper on the Ister overnight train from Bucharest to
Budapest, 2 nights at a 4-star hotel in Budapest,
travel by air-conditioned RailJet train from Budapest to
Munich, 1 night at a hotel in Munich, 1 night sleeper on the City Night Line overnight train
from Munich to Paris, and Eurostar back to London.
Upgrades to first class on Eurostar or deluxe sleeper with
shower on City Night Line are possible at extra cost.
Tour 3: Istanbul to London & back by train with 2 nights in
Istanbul...
Available from Erail, call 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 Istanbul Return
Tour with 2 nights in Istanbul".
A 14-day holiday from London to Istanbul & back by train with
no flying necessary...
Stopovers in Vienna, Brasov, Budapest & Munich; 3 days
in Istanbul.
Daily departures.
Prices from £924 to £1,120 in 2-berth sleepers, per person.
The price includes outward travel to Istanbul with stopovers
in Vienna & Brasov as per option 1,
two nights at a hotel in Istanbul, then train
travel back to London with stopovers in Budapest & Munich as per option 2.
Tour 4: Istanbul to London & back by train without
accommodation in Istanbul...
Available from Erail, call 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 Istanbul Return
Tour without accommodation in Istanbul".
From £1,105 in couchettes or £1,240 in 2-berth
sleepers, per person.
The price includes outward travel to Istanbul with stopovers
in Vienna & Brasov as per option 1 and train
travel back to London with stopovers in Budapest & Munich as per option 2.
No accommodation is included in Istanbul, so you can choose
your own accommodation and stay as long as you like, visiting
other parts of Turkey or even neighbouring countries such as
Syria before your booked journey home.
The vintage luxury sleeping-cars, lounge-bar & restaurants of
the Venice Simplon Orient Express normally run between
London, Paris & Venice, weekly from March to November.
However, once a year in August it runs from Paris to Istanbul and will
do so again leaving Paris on 27 August 2010, returning from
Istanbul on 3 September 2010. To find out more about this train,
see the Venice
Simplon Orient Express page. It costs over £4,500
per person. To check prices & to
book online, go to
www.orient-expresstrains.com.
The annual run to Istanbul is very popular and normally leaves
fully-booked, so buy tickets as soon as you can!
The Danube Express is a new cruise train operation, originally due to
make its inaugural run from Brussels & Budapest to Istanbul
in September 2009,
with connections from London by Eurostar.
It finally started its series of departures in May 2010, and
extra departures were soon added as they reported had lots
of bookings! Fares start at £3,790 per person from London to Istanbul for
an 11-day 2,500 mile land voyage (click their 'Istanbul
Odyssey' holiday). The price includes 1st class Eurostar
to Brussels, travel on the Danube Express cruise train from Brussels
to Istanbul with stopovers & tours en route at Carlsbad,
Prague, Vienna, Budapest (3 night hotel stop), Novi Sad &
Sofia. It also includes a flight back, but you can of
course return overland (at extra cost) on either scheduled
train services or the westbound Danube Express. If successful, they plan to start monthly
operation in 2010 between April & October between
Brussels, Budapest & Istanbul. The Danube Express has 'classic'
wood-panelled sleepers with washbasin and 'deluxe' sleepers
with private shower & toilet, a restaurant car, lounge-bar
car. See
www.danube-express.com for details, or call 01462
441400 (+44 (0)1462 441400 from outside the UK).
Please quote 'Seat61' when booking (or write 'seat61' in
the notes/special requests section of the online booking
form), as seat61 can receive some commission this way.
You can also arrange a complete trip through train holiday
specialist
www.railbookers.com,
with an 8 night deluxe trip from London costing around
£3,559 per person with a return leg by air (Railbookers can
arrange an overland journey back as well if you like).
Train travel within Turkey...
There are some
excellent modern train services in Turkey. For train
travel within Turkey,
including onwards express trains from Istanbul to Ankara, Konya,
Izmir, Cappadocia and Pamukkale, see the separate
Train travel in Turkey page.
For trains from Istanbul to Aleppo & Damascus in Syria, see
the London to Syria page.
For trains from Istanbul to Tehran in Iran, see the
London to Iran page.
For
trains between Istanbul, Thessaloniki & Athens, see the
Train travel in Turkey page.
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
Personal
hotel recommendations in Istanbul...
Without a doubt, the
famous and historic
Pera Palas Hotel, where Agatha Christie, Mustafa Kemal
Attaturk and even King George V have stayed, is the most
interesting place to stay, see the section below. It
wasn't that expensive, by grand hotel standards, although
prices have risen after its recent complete refurbishment. The
nearby Grand Hotel de Londres offers similar affordable
grandeur,
www.londrahotel.net, just 35 euros for a basic single,
50 euros for a double, more for a renovated room. It's
apparently a favourite with archaeologists working in
Turkey! Alternatively, the
Yasmak Sultan
is a good choice. For a good cheap hotel in the
Sultanahmet travellers' area, try the
Park Hotel. If
you are on a tight budget and want a backpacker hostel room
or dorm bed at a rock-bottom price, see
www.hostelbookers.com. For independent reviews of
Istanbul hotels, see
www.tripadvisor.com.
The Pera Palas Hotel, Istanbul...
Easily the most famous and historic hotel in Istanbul is the
Pera Palas, built in 1892 by the Compagnie Internationale
des Wagons-Lits to accommodate the passengers arriving by
train on the Orient Express from London and Paris.
It's been closed for refurbishment for several years now,
but it's due to reopen on 1 September 2010 with its
delightfully faded grandeur fully restored. If
your budget will stretch (prices after refurbishment will
start at around 185 euros a night for a double room, up from
maybe 100 euros in its previously faded form), it's a
wonderful and historic place to stay. The hotel's own website is
www.perapalace.com. One of it's rooms has been kept as a museum to
Turkish leader Ataturk, another room (411) was regularly
used by Agatha
Christie, and can actually be booked by guests.
Book the Pera Palace online...
Pera Palas hotel, main
entrance (before refurbishment).
Bedrooms
have now been elegantly refurbished.
Photo courtesy of the Pera Palas Hotel
The Pera Palas hotel, after its recent refurbishment.
Photo
courtesy of the Pera Palas Hotel
Agatha Christie's room 411
at the Pera Palas, where she wrote 'Murder on the Orient
Express'.
Thomas
Cook Timetables & map
There
are two truly remarkable books that are a 'must' for
serious overland travellers and an inspiration for
armchair travellers:
This is probably the most adventurous timetable ever
produced. It has train, bus & ferry times for every country in
Asia, Africa, North and South America and Australasia,
including non-European Russia, Asian Turkey, Mongolia, China and the
Trans-Siberian Railway. Sadly, the Nov/Dec 2010
edition was the very last to be published, but you may
still be able to buy
a copy of the final edition at Amazon.co.uk,
Overseas Timetable
Winter 2010/2011 edition.
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe...
This is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at Amazon.co.uk with worldwide delivery. See an extract from the map
To
get the most out of your trip, definitely take a good guidebook
- I'd recommend the Lonely Planets guides as about the best
out there for independent travellers. The Middle East
guide is less detailed, but covers Egypt, Syria, Jordan,
Iran, Israel and other countries as well as Turkey.
My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to
Europe based on this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", is due to be published in June 2008,
and Amazon will let you pre-order now.
Travel insurance, health card, SIM card
Get travel insurance, it's essential...
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself).
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome. Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a spare credit card, one designed for foreign travel with no currency
exchange loading & low or no ATM fees...
It costs nothing to take out an extra credit card.
If you keep it in a different part of your luggage so you're
not left stranded if
your wallet gets stolen, this is a form of extra travel insurance in itself. In addition,
some credit cards are significantly better for
overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which
UK credit cards
have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something
overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when
you use an ATM abroad. Taking this advice
can save you quite a lot on each trip compared to using your
normal high-street bank credit card! You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency Visa Card, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' Visa Card,
find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card
to save on mobile data and phone calls...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
Erail's London-Istanbul packages...
In
the UK, try
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, try
If you live in the USA or Canada, try
