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There is a daily rail
connection between Istanbul and
Sofia, Bulgaria, with
onward service between Sofia and Belgrade,
Serbia,
and from there to cities in central
and western Europe, but it's not a
comfortable journey. Read this.
Turkish train no. 462/490, the Bosfor
Ekspresi, departs Istanbul at
22:00 (10 pm) westbound for Bucharest,
Romania.
The Sofia-bound cars are
switched at Dimitrovgrad (at
06:16 am) to train no. 490-492,
the Balkan
Ekspresi, which arrives
in Sofia at 10:50
am, then continues to Belgrade,
arriving at 19:18 (7:18 pm), a
trip of more than 20 hours from
Istanbul—if
it's on time, which it probably
won't be.
The eastbound train (no.
463/491) departs Belgrade at
07:50 am, departs Sofia at 17:40 (5:40
pm), and arrives at Istanbul's Sirkeci
station at 08:19 am, making the
Belgrade-to-Istanbul journey over
24 hours (plus any
late arrival.)
The train hauls compartment, couchette and sleeping
cars.
One-way (single) fare between Sofia
and Istanbul is
TL65.60 in 1st class, or TL43.70
in 2nd class. The fare between Belgrade
and Istanbul is TL161.90 in 1st
class, or TL107.90
in 2nd class. Other one-way fares are here (scroll
down the page to see them).
For more, check the website of my
friend Mark Smith, The
Man in Seat Sixty-One.
A better way to travel between Istanbul and
Europe by train is the nightly Dostluk/Filia
Express between Thessaloniki,
Greece, and Istanbul. More...
The alternative: there's
frequent, comfortable daily bus
service between Sofia,
Bulgaria and Istanbul,
Turkey; and you may be able to fly for
about the same as—or less than—the
cost of the train. More....
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