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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.
Turkish train no. 498, the Bosfor
Ekspresi, departs Istanbul at
22:00 (10 pm) westbound for Bucharest,
Romania.
The Sofia-bound cars are
switched at Dimitrovgrad (at
06:10 am) to train no. 490-492,
the Balkan
Ekspresi, which arrives
in Sofia at 13:10
(1:10 pm), then continues to Belgrade,
arriving at 20:18 (8:18 pm), a
trip of more than 20 hours from
Istanbul.
The eastbound train (no.
491/499) departs Belgrade at
08:40 am, departs Sofia at 18:30 (6:30
pm), and arrives at Istanbul's Sirkeci
station at 08:25 am, making the
Belgrade-to-Istanbul journey about
24 hours.
The train hauls compartment, couchette and sleeping
cars.
One-way (single) fare between Sofia
and Istanbul is €26.80 in 1st
class, or €18 in 2nd class. The
fare between Belgrade and Istanbul
is €64.80 in 1st class, or €43.20
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.
Another 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.
Turkish
State Railways Route Map
Fares
between Europe and Istanbul
Types
of Turkish Trains
How & Where
to Buy Train Tickets
Train
Fare Discounts
Money-Saving
Monthly Passes
Pullman
Car
Couchette
Car
Sleeping
Car
How
to Decipher the TCDD Website
Train
Travel
Transportation
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