adhit1412
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 9 years ago
Hey guys I am an erasmus student in Istanbul at the moment and I am planning a railroad trip back to my host university in Tampere, Finland. My ideal route is [b]Istanbul-Sofia-Budapest-Warsaw-Vilnius-Riga-Tallinn[/b]. I know I can get a cheap ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki so that is no problem for me. However I am not familiar with the routes of these other cities. I would like to stay at least one or two days for each of the city and one day for travel because I want to travel during the day since I wanna see the view. I will start this travel during the end of January 2016. I know interrail or eurail doesn't have a pass to some of these countries so I probably can't buy any passes, however if you have any info as to what I should do I am open to suggestions. So here are my questions:
1. I would appreciate any information about anything (train companies, schedules, renovations, routes, price or even just websites) regarding my [b]Istanbul-Sofia-Budapest-Warsaw-Vilnius-Riga-Tallinn[/b] trip route so that I can build my itinerary from now. Even if you can only give me info on, for example, Budapest to Warsaw :D
2. I am an Indonesian citizen (non-EU) with a residence permit in Finland. Would there be any problem travelling through these countries?
3. Anyone who wants to meet with me during my trip or who also wants to do this trip with me is welcome. My last stop is Tampere, Finland. A beautiful underrated city right in the heart of Finland. And I am a chill environmental engineer who just loves to meet new people 8)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
You can quite easily do this trip with single tickets.
Regarding the trip to Sofia, you can find some information here: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/from-bucharest-and-sofia-to-istanbul-by-train/[/u] BTW; up-to-date information regarding these trains from Istanbul is always very welcome! ;)
From Sofia, I would recommend to travel to Budapest via Belgrade (you could also take the direct night train via Romania but this will take longer and be more expensive).
Belgrade - Budapest: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/budapest-belgrade-train/[/u]
From Budapest take the direct night train to Warsaw; for this leg buy and advance fare Fortuna ticket from Hungarian Railways: [ux]https://rail.shop/mav[/ux]
Next year (in fact from December 13) train service between Poland and Lithuania is supposed to start once again after several years of construction works; you will be required to change trains at the border though; as soon as we get confirmation and more details this blog post will be updated accordingly: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/travel-in-the-baltics-with-train-bus-and-ferry/[/u]
The remainder through the Baltics to Helsinki is fairly simple and described above in the blog too; Vilnius - Riga has to be done by bus; Riga - Tallinn is possible by train but quicker by bus.
Flo 8)
adhit1412
Traveller
1 comments
Thanks a ton for the info Flo! I will definitely update you on the Istanbul-Sofia route. Right now I am leaning towards bus directly from Istanbul but I will ask around about the trains from Istanbul.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
You're welcome. :)
A direct bus from Istanbul certainly is a good option for the time being.