Athens - Istanbul - Budapest

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

yes ... :)
there are trains available on this route !! :)
use this website:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/search-interrail-route[/u]

Peter
:)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Yes,
From Athens; You have to go first Thessaloniki and later Istanbul...But dont remember, only 2 service are valid from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, morning around 9 am and evening 8:30 pm...
From Istanbul, only one service is valid, everyday 10 pm (local time-or 9 pm by european time)...
Many best regards from Istanbul

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

check out for train connections to Istanbul and time tables: www.tcdd.gov.tr/tcdding/avrupa_ing.htm

vickihambly
Traveller
6 comments

I am also having the same issues....I want to travel from Athens to istanbul. Using the web addresses which people have given above, it advises me to travel from athens-thessalniki-sofia-istanbul. Is it really necessary to travel via sofia...it seems to take such a long time!

I was hoping to follow a route along the greek coast (ie. via serres and pithio) without having to get into the mainland too much. This would be alot more direct but would it involve loads of changes?

Any advice would be great! Thanks!

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

hej ... :)
as I travelled a lot last spring in this region, I also talked a lot to persons working there for rail companies... and there are some changes maybe in the long distance connections as the rail track will be renewed between Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis in Greece. also in the summer months, there are often more and other rail connections than in winter.
in 2008 you had a connection with change in Thessaloniki. right now you have to go up until Sofia and then to Athens or Istanbul. ||
when the connection via Thessalonik will be available again, you have always two trains leaving from Athens/Istanbul per day.


[b]Istanbul - Thessaloniki - Athens[/b]
Dep. Istanbul 0830 | 2030
Arr. Thessaloniki 2250 | 0715

Dep. Thessalonik 0720 | 1015
Arr. Athens 1135 | 1515


[b]Athens - Thessaloniki - Istanbul[/b]
Dep. Athens 2255 | 1315
Arr. Thessaloniki 0530 | 1815

Dep. Thessalonik 0715 | 1955
Arr. Istanbul 2130 | 0800

the supplements for night trains are in most Eastern European countries the same. In Greece the use of the IC and ICE trains can become expensive by the supplements:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation/greece/gr[/u]
for the night trains add EUR 25 per bed in a double bed cabin and EUR 50 for your own single bed cabin.
and one mistake I did in the past: one of the wagons leaving in Istanbul has written on it Pithion - use this wagon as this one will cross the Turkish-Greece border so that you have access to the Greece rail network. :)

this is my personal experience of the last times I travelled this route. :)
and by the way... Sofia can be nice ... it is cheap ... and when staying in Bulgaria, you can also have a trip to the Black Sea (Varna) - also with night train connection. really nice there ! :)

vickihambly
Traveller
6 comments

That's a great help thankyou!

Do you know when the work on the line is due to be completed. I would not be going until July-August so hopefully it will be done by then?!

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

I suppose then it will be done.
By the way, there is a lot done in renewing the tracks in South Eastern Europe (Serbia, Bulgaria, ...) so sometimes the long distance trains are in delay... and not only minutes... often more like 4 hours... :) but if you know it and have enough time then it is fun and romantic like in the past ... :)

Mixed20
Traveller
13 comments

From Istanbul its very easy to get to budapest get on the 22.00 sleeper train to Sofia and from there take the direct sleeper to budapest.