3 June 2009. Train times valid from 14 June to 12 December
2009.
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 just as it always has, 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, Budapest & Bucharest is
now arguably the most convenient, comfortable
& practical
rail route from London & Paris to Istanbul. You take Eurostar to
Paris and the excellent City
Night Line sleeper train from Paris to Munich, then a connecting
125mph 'RailJet' train to Budapest. Safe & comfortable sleeping-cars are available
from Budapest to Bucharest & from Bucharest to Istanbul.
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, no
problem, just see
here. You can also take the more traditional
route via Belgrade shown further down this page, but the
connections via Belgrade don't work as well and the
sleeping-cars east of Belgrade are not as comfortable as the
Romanian ones used on the route suggested here.
Day 1: Travel from
London to Paris by Eurostar, leaving
London St Pancras at 15:29, arriving Paris Gare du Nord at 18:56.
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 at 20:20 and arriving in Munich at
07:16 next morning. The 'Cassiopeia' runs daily
from 27 March to 2 November 2009, and on Mondays,
Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays the rest of the year.
It has sleeping-cars (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.
If you need to travel on a day when this train isn't
running, simply use the alternative daily services from
London to Budapest via
Paris, Munich & Vienna or
via Brussels, Cologne &
Vienna as shown on the Hungary
page.
Day 2: Travel
from Munich to Budapest by
air-conditioned 140mph Austrian RailJet
train, leaving Munich at 09:27 and arriving in Budapest
Keleti station at 16:53. a bar-bistro car is available, so treat yourself to lunch.
If you want to stop off in
Salzburg or Vienna for a day or two, no problem, this train
calls at both Salzburg (arrive 10:54, depart 11:00) and Vienna Westbahnhof
(arrive 13:40, depart 13:50). 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 overnight on the EuroNight sleeper train
'Ister', leaving Budapest Keleti station at 19:13 and arriving at
Bucharest Nord station at 10:28 next morning.
'Ister' is the ancient name for the River Danube. The Ister has
modernised air-conditioned sleeping-cars with safe,
comfortable & carpeted 1, 2 & 3-bed rooms with
washbasin, 6-berth couchettes
(basic bunks), a
restaurant car for dinner and ordinary seats. Travel
in ordinary seats is not
recommended, a couchette is OK, 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 even 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 but often not. The train crosses
Transylvania by night, and soon after Brasov (reached
at 07:02 next morning) it descends the pass through
the Carpathian mountains, a wonderful, almost Alpine section of
route.
Day 3: Travel from Bucharest to Istanbul on the
'Bosphor', leaving Bucharest Nord daily at 12:16 and arriving at
Istanbul's Sirkeci station at 08:25 next day (day 4 from
London, assuming you don't stop off anywhere). The Bosfor
has a modernised air-conditioned
sleeping-car with safe, comfortable and carpeted 1-
2- & 3-bed compartments with washbasin and 6-berth
couchettes (basic bunks). A bed in the sleeper is
the recommended option: Bedrooms can be converted to
private sitting rooms for daytime use, and there's even 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.
Day 1: Travel from Istanbul
to Bucharest on the 'Bosphor', leaving Istanbul's Sirkeci
station daily at 22:00 and arriving in Bucharest
Nord at 17:19 next day. Expect an arrival an hour or two
late, occasionally 3 hours late or more. The Bosfor has a modernised air-conditioned
sleeping-car with safe,
comfortable & carpeted 1- 2- & 3-bed compartments with
washbasin, and 6-berth
couchettes (basic bunks). 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. There
are no ordinary seats. Bring your own food, water
and wine or beer, as there's no restaurant or buffet car
at all (There's
a handy wine shop directly across the road from the
entrance to Sirkeci station). 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) at 02:55 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: Travel from Bucharest to Budapest on the
EuroNight sleeper train 'Ister', leaving Bucharest Nord at
19:50 and arriving in Budapest at
08:47 the next day (day
3). The 'Ister' has modernised
air-conditioned sleeping-cars
with safe, comfortable & carpeted 1- 2- & 3-bed
compartments with washbasin. 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) & 6-berth couchettes. Spend a few
hours exploring Budapest, left luggage is available at
the station.
Day 3: 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 16:08, depart 16:20) &
Salzburg (arrive 18:58, depart 19:03, watch for great
views of the Danube & citadel soon after departure) if you're stopping
off there.
More pictures & information about this RailJet train.
Day 3: Travel from Munich to Paris by
the
excellent
City Night Line sleeper train 'Cassiopeia', leaving
Munich Hauptbahnhof at 22:44 and arriving at Paris Gare
de l'Est 09:30 next morning. The 'Cassiopeia' runs daily
from 26 March to 1 November 2009, and on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays &
Sundays outside this period. The trains has ordinary seats, couchettes (6-berth
& 4-berth) and
sleeping-cars (1, 2 or 3-bed rooms, deluxe with toilet & shower or standard
with washbasin).
More
pictures and information about this City Night Lin
sleeper train.
Walk from the Gare de l'Est to the Gare du Nord.
If you want to travel on a day when this train isn't
running, simply use one of the alternative daily
services from Budapest to London shown on the
Hungary page.
Day 4: Travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar, leaving Paris
Gare du Nord at
11:13 and arriving London St Pancras at 12:29.
Introducing
the City Night Line Paris-Munich 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 modern 'Comfortline' sleeping-cars
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 euro 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 euro 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.
By
sleeping-car from Budapest to
Bucharest & from Bucharest to Istanbul...
Travelling in
the comfort & security of a sleeper is the recommended
option. The sleeping-cars on the
Budapest-Bucharest and Bucharest-Istanbul trains are
operated by CFR (Romanian Railways) and
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.
Both trains also have 6-berth couchettes, but these are
far more basic and not a lot cheaper, so a proper
sleeper is always recommended.
Above: The
Bucharest-Istanbul sleeping-car ('vagon de dormit'), seen here at Giurgiu on the
Bulgarian/Romanian frontier...
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!
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.
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...
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:
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...
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 (apart from the Paris-Munich sleeper in winter, but there are
daily alternatives), 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.
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 series of tickets for each train across
Europe, and the price for each train 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 Vienna:
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)
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 £25 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.
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 special fares from 39 euro (£33) one-way
or 78 euro (£66) return
Economy class full price 105 euro (£91) one-way, 210
euro (£182) return.
First class special fares from 69 euro (£60) one-way or
138 euro (£120) return
4. Budapest to
Bucharest
on the Ister :
Booked in the UK:
£91 each way in 6-bunk couchettes, £96 each way in
4-bunk couchettes
£101 each way in 3-bed sleeper, £118 each way in 2-bed
sleeper (all per person)
Bought at the
station in Budapest, Budapest-Bucharest is about 60 euro
one-way, 120 euro return. For a
couchette, add 10 euro per night, or for a
more comfortable and secure sleeper, add about 26 euro
for a bed in a 3-bed sleeper, 39 euro 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 euro one-way,
90 euro return, 2nd class. For a
couchette in 6-bunk couchette compartment, add 9 euro
to the 2nd class fare, or for a
more comfortable and secure sleeper, add 23 euro for a
bed in a 3-berth compartment or 35 euro for a bed in a
2-berth compartment to the 2nd class fare. For a
single berth sleeper, add 80 euro supplement to the 1st
class fare (1st class is 50% more than 2nd class).
Bought at the station
in Istanbul, Istanbul to Bucharest costs 84 Turkish Lira
(£37) one-way, plus a couchette supplement of 20 YTL
(£9) 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.
The cost using 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 £152 if you are
aged under 26, or £237 if you're over 26. Children
4-11 inclusive £119.
For a return
trip to Istanbul, a 10-days-in-22-days pass costs
£228 if you are aged under 26, or £342 if you're over
26. Children 4-11 inclusive £171. 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 InterRails 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 £59 return, £35 on-way, no refunds, no
changes to travel plans allowed, or you can buy a
special passholder fare, £50 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 £17 per person for
the first night between Paris & Munich, then £10 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 3-berth
sleeper, budget for £30 per person per night for the night
between Paris and Munich, then £22 per person per night for
each of the following two nights Budapest-Bucharest and
Bucharest-Istanbul. For a bed in a 2-berth sleeper,
budget for £45 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 22:44 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!
Buy tickets
online: You can buy tickets online for the
London-Paris-Munich-Budapest part of the journey (in either
direction), and this is probably the cheapest way to book
because you can see all the cheap deals and don't have to
pay any agency booking fees. 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
euro 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 euro!
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!
You'll 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, £25 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 actually
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 £25 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.
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...
Buy tickets
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 euro 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..
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.
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 (£25 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.
If you're
already 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 euro), Vienna (245
lira, about £105 or 120 euro) 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 euro.
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 2008, the visa costs
about £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 01:25 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 03:00. You'll soon be back in bed!
You can travel from London to Istanbul via Brussels &
Cologne
if you prefer, though it takes an hour or two longer. You take
the 12:57 Eurostar
from London to Brussels, a connecting Thalys train to
Cologne, then the City Night Line sleeper to Vienna
and a EuroCity train onwards 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 via this 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 and Sofia rather
than via Bucharest. However, this route 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 in
spite of engineering work which again blocked this route in
2004 and flooding which affected it in summer 2005, it's now
possible to travel this way. On the down side,
eastbound there's now a tight connection in Belgrade with a
24 hour delay if you miss it, and westbound it takes a day
longer than the Bucharest route. And the
Belgrade-Istanbul sleeping-car isn't running at the moment
either, see the update below. For these reasons, the route via
Bucharest remains the recommended option.
See
video of the Belgrade-Sofia-Istanbul train journey.
Train times London ► Istanbul
Day 1: Travel
from London to Belgrade as shown on the London to
Serbia page. You leave London at 10:25 by
Eurostar, catch a TGV from Paris to Munich and the
overnight sleeper to Budapest, then a direct EuroCity
train from Budapest to Belgrade, arriving in Belgrade
art 20:31 on day 2. Spend the night in Belgrade.
Many other options are available,
see the London to Austria page
for alternative services between London and Vienna.
A direct sleeper train links Vienna and Belgrade
daily, for example.
Day 3: Travel from Belgrade to
Istanbul on the Balkan Express, leaving Belgrade at 07:50,
passing through Sofia that evening (arriving 17:40,
departing 19:10) and arriving in Istanbul
(Sirkeci station) at 08:25 next morning (24 hours from
Belgrade, day 4
from London).
This train has two through cars from Belgrade to Istanbul,
namely a seats car (not recommended) and a
comfortable Turkish sleeping-car with 1- & 2-bed
compartments with washbasin (the recommended option).
Other seating cars run between Belgrade & Sofia, and another
sleeping-car (an old and basic but reasonably comfortable
Bulgarian one) runs between Sofia & Istanbul. There is no
restaurant or buffet car on this train, so take plenty of food, snacks,
beer or wine. You should be aware that this is a tight
(though feasible) connection in Belgrade, with the train
from Vienna typically an hour late arriving, which is one of
the reasons I suggest the route via Bucharest in preference.
Feedback if
you use this route would be appreciated!
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The
through sleeping-car & seats car from Belgrade to Istanbul
are currently
not running. You can still leave Belgrade at 07:50,
but you have to travel in (rather
basic) seating cars from Belgrade to Sofia arriving 17:40,
where you change trains and transfer to the
Bulgarian
sleeping-car for the overnight part of the
journey to Istanbul (departing Sofia 19:10).
You can't book the Sofia-Istanbul
sleeping-car from outside Bulgaria, so you'll just have to
approach the sleeper attendant on arrival in Sofia and pay
him the sleeper supplement for a berth. There are
almost always spare berths available.
The
direct Belgrade to Istanbul sleeping-car was due to resume
running on 12 June 2009, but latest reports (late June) say
that it still isn't running.
On board the
Belgrade-Istanbul sleeper...
Above: The
Belgrade-Istanbul sleeping-car is a Turkish sleeper with
spacious and carpeted 1- & 2-bed compartments with
washbasin. Rooms convert from bedrooms at night
with upper and lower berths to a private sitting room
(as shown) with two armchairs. There is a lock and
security chain on the compartment door, and an attendant
is on duty. Travel in the sleeper is safe and
secure! Passengers travelling alone but only
paying for a bed in a 2-bed room will share with other
civilised sleeper passengers of the same sex.
Train times Istanbul ► London
Day 1: Travel from
Istanbul to Belgrade on the Balkan Express, leaving
Istanbul at 22:00 daily, passing through Sofia next
morning (arriving 10:50 & departing again at 11:55)
and arriving in Belgrade at 19:18 that evening (24
hours from Istanbul, on day 2). This train has
two through cars from Istanbul to Belgrade, namely an
ordinary seats car (not recommended) and a comfortable
Turkish sleeping-car with 1- & 2-bed compartments with
washbasin (recommended). Another (Bulgarian)
sleeping-car runs from Istanbul to Sofia, and
additional seats cars run between Sofia & Belgrade.
There is no restaurant or buffet car, so take plenty
of food, snacks, beer or wine and enjoy the journey.
Expect an arrival several hours late. Spend the
night in a hotel in Belgrade.
IMPORTANT
UPDATE: The
through sleeping-car & seats car from Istanbul to Belgrade
are currently
not running. So at the
moment you have to travel from Istanbul to Sofia in the
Bulgarian sleeping-car and change trains next morning onto
the Sofia-Belgrade seats train for onward travel, although
you still arrive in Belgrade at 19:18.
The
direct Istanbul to Belgrade sleeping-car was due to resume
running on 12 June 2009,
but latest reports (late June) say that it still isn't
running..
Day 3:
Travel from Belgrade to London as
shown on the London to Serbia page. You
leave Belgrade at 07:30 on a direct EuroCity train for
Budapest, then take the sleeper overnight to Munich, a
TGV to Paris an Eurostar back to London, arriving St
Pancras at 19:34 (day 4). Plenty of other option
area available. For example, spend a day in
Belgrade and catch the overnight Belgrade-Vienna
sleeper, travelling from Vienna back to Lonon by any
of the options described on the
London to Austria page.
Fares, and how to buy tickets...
Fares are similar to the Bucharest route, so use
the fares shown above as
a guide to cost. In fact, the point to point
fares are a bit cheaper via Belgrade, and the cost of
travelling using an
InterRail pass is exactly the same as going via
Bucharest.
You can book the journey via Belgrade through the same
agencies as the route via Bucharest,
see the section above.
The Serbian Railways' reservation system is in theory
now linked to the outside world but the link goes down
a lot. So if you have any difficulty making
reservations on trains starting in Belgrade (either
the Belgrade-Istanbul train on an eastbound journey or
a Belgrade to Vienna reservation on a westbound trip)
you can make the reservation through the Wasteels
agency in Belgrade station, picking up the reservation
in Belgrade. Their contact details are:
Agency representative
Mr. Popovic speaks good English and will be glad to make train
reservations. He can also book tickets (probably cheaper than
elsewhere in Europe). Payment must be made in cash in Serbian Dinar, which should be
no problem because there is a bureau de change next to the Wasteels office. Both offices are situated
in Belgrade main station at the exit gate in line
with the buffer stops.
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
and
September from Brindisi to Cesme (about 50 miles or
one
hour by bus from Izmir).
www.meslines.com also used to operate from Italy to Cesme
between March and October, but as of 2008 no longer do
so. Brindisi to Cesme takes 2 days and 1 night. See
www.marmaralines.com
for sailing days, times, fares and booking.
See the London to Italy page
for train travel from London or Paris to Brindisi.
London to Istanbul via Italy, Athens & Thessaloniki...
If you'd prefer to avoid eastern Europe & the Balkans
by travelling via Italy and Greece,
no problem. First, see the
London to Greece page for train and ferry times
from London to Athens. This journey takes 2 nights
via Paris, Bologna, Bari, ferry to Patras and train to
Athens. Spend at least 1 night in Athens.
Then see the
Train travel in
Turkey page for the Athens-Istanbul train service.
You take a mid-morning InterCity train to Thessaloniki
and the overnight 'Filia-Dostluk Express' sleeper
train from Thessaloniki to Istanbul (1 night).
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 euro. Ayvalik is a few hours by bus
north of Izmir. A hydrofoil sails every
afternoon from Kos to Bodrum, fare 35 euro,
crossing 1 hour, see
www.olymposyachting.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.
Holidays to Turkey by train, with train tickets, sleepers,
stopovers & hotels all sorted for you...
Many travel agencies offer holidays to Turkey by air. If
you want to go by train, you've always had to organise the
journey yourself, which for many people is a daunting task.
And many people don't even think it's possible to reach Turkey
from the UK except by air!
But with input from seat61.com, experienced agency Erail have
created the following holiday packages
which combine 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 Erail, as they may vary for the
examples shown here.
You can travel 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 Erail.
Tour 1: London to Istanbul one-way, with stopovers in
Vienna & Brasov...
London to Istanbul in 6 nights (7 days) with stopovers in
Vienna (2 nights) & Brasov in Transylvania (1 night.)
Daily departures.
Prices from £535 in couchettes or £675 in
2-berth sleepers, per person.
The price includes lunchtime or morning Eurostar to Brussels,
Thalys to Cologne, 1 night couchette or sleeper on the City
Night Line overnight train from Cologne to Vienna, 2 nights at
the 4-star Hotel Regina in Vienna, 1 night couchette or
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 Capitol in Brasov and 1 night in a
couchette or sleeper on the 'Bosfor' to Istanbul.
Upgrades to first class on Eurostar or deluxe sleeper with
shower on City Night Line are possible at extra cost.
To book, call Erail on 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 London to
Istanbul one-way tour with stopovers".
Tour 2: Istanbul to London one-way, with stopovers in
Budapest & Munich...
Istanbul to London in 6 nights (7 days) with stopovers in
Budapest (2 nights) & Munich (1 night)
Daily departures.
Prices from £550 in couchettes or £655 in
2-berth sleepers, per person.
The price includes 1 night couchette or sleeper on the Bosfor
overnight train from Istanbul to Bucharest, 1 night couchette
or sleeper on the Ister overnight train from Bucharest to
Budapest, 2 nights at the 4-star Hotel Parlament in Budapest,
travel by air-conditioned RailJet train from Budapest to
Munich, 1 night at a the Kings Hotel in Munich, 1 night
couchette or 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.
To book, call Erail on 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 Istanbul to
London one-way tour with stopovers".
Tour 3: Istanbul to London & back by train 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 £1,220 in couchettes or £1,360 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 the Hotel Orient Express in Istanbul, then train
travel back to London with stopovers in Budapest & Munich as per option 2.
To book, call Erail on 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 Istanbul Return
Tour with 2 nights in Istanbul".
Tour 4: Istanbul to London & back by train 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.
To book, call Erail on 020 7619 1080 (or email
sales@erailtravel.com) quoting "Seat61 Istanbul Return
Tour without accommodation in Istanbul".
The vintage luxury sleeping-cars, lounge-bar & restaurants of
the Venice Simplon Orient Express normally only run between
London, Paris & Venice, every week March-November.
However, it runs an annual trip to Istanbul in August and will
do so again leaving Paris on 28 August 2009. To find out more about this train,
see the Venice
Simplon Orient Express page. 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 now looks like starting in 2010. 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.
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.
It's
easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets, just use the search box below. This links to
www.hotelscombined.com, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere,
Asiarooms and many
others) to find just about the widest range of hotels with the cheapest rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide.
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's
not that expensive, by grand hotel standards! 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.
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. If
your budget will stretch, and you can negotiate a reasonable
rate (maybe 100 euro a night for a double room), it's a
wonderful place to stay. The hotel's website is
www.perapalas.com. Sadly, it's now closed for refurbishment,
originally until late 2008 but now they're saying it will
reopen in 'late 2009'. One of it's rooms has been kept
as a museum to Agatha Christie, who was a regular guest
there.
The Pera Palas hotel.
The grand staircase -
the lift is original...
Bedrooms are largely
unmodernised...
The restaurant...
Agatha
Christie's room 411 at the Pera Palas, where she wrote 'Murder on the
Orient Express'...
Pera Palas hotel, main
entrance...
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. It costs £13.99 from any branch of Thomas
Cook or you can buy it online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com.
Alternatively, buy the
independent traveller's edition at Amazon.co.uk,
Overseas Timetable summer 2009 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
Travel insurance..
Travel insurance is boring, but a necessity, so
never travel without it. Make sure your cover is adequate, at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover,
from a reliable insurer. 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). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Direct Line,
Columbus Direct & the Environmental Transport Association
(click the banner below).
I've used Direct Line myself and on one occasion, successfully
claimed back the cost of non-refundable Eurostar & trainhotel
tickets to Spain when we cancelled the trip because my mother
fell ill. ETA offer discounts on insurance for
non-flying trips, so give them a try too although I have yet
to use them myself.
Feedback from
using insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome!
UK citizens travelling in Europe should carry a European
Health Insurance Card. This replaces the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available free
from
www.ehic.org.uk and 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 UK's NHS.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see