Alfie
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 1 month ago
We're planning on interrailing North from Athens in October.
Our route would preferably be Athens -Thessaloniki- Skopje-Nis-Sofia-Bucharest.
Alternatively, we could go from Thessaloniki to Sofia and take a scenic route east to Tulovo, and then north to Bucharest.
We are reading of all sorts of line closures on the internet and our rail map.
How can we find out if these lines are definitely open?
Thanks for your help
MisterSteve
Traveller
1078 comments
Your are not planning, you are simply bouncing around the internet presumably following links which Google's algorithm threw out as responses to your random search. I knew what was going to happen, but to prove it I just started to type just the words greek railways into google search and before I had typed the final letter s it was offering the official website as first suggestion. From there clicking on the english option and opening the menu lead to the international page and that has a definitive statement "All the international itineraries are suspended until further notice." That's all you need to read for connections from Greece, no need to look anywhere else and read unofficial comments or pages from a decade ago which aren't dated. https://www.hellenictrain.gr/en/international-railway-services
The only way out of Greece by land is by bus - and they don't accept Interrail. And before you go any further, travel within ex Jugoslavian countries is almost as difficult, and they have almost no connections to Bulgaria. If you only intend to travel in the Balkans youa re wasting money with Interrail because ordinary fares will be cheaper - Interrail was priced for western europe.