Borders Of Greece

Thank you for your reply! Does it make a difference if I fly in versus take a train in?

No difference. You still have to show your passport.

If you fly in from another Schengen country, you will not need to go through immigration again. Croatia is not a Schengen member, so you would show your passport.

If you're traveling by land, Greece still has border controls because none of it's neighbors are yet party to the Schengen Agreement, which eliminated border checks between signatory countries. That doesn't mean the border is "closed off", it just means you have to show your passport.

And there is no train into Greece other than from Turkey. You would either fly in, a ferry, rental car or by bus.

Thank you again for all your replies! I may have misunderstood the report. My parents said they saw a news report that informed them all transportation into Greece was closed down. This may have been up to a year ago though. Or perhaps it was just the neighboring countries that are not part of the Schengen Zone.

Maybe they confuse it with the fact that all international trains to and from Greece have been cut due to budget restraints.

Assuming you know that Croatia does not share a border with Greece, what is your intended route? The borders of Greece are not closed, but the ones with Bulgaria have been a bit contentious in the recent past with strikes causing temporary closures. It's unlikely you'd encounter a problem, but that may have been what your parents heard about. The Man in Seat 61 website has lots of helpful info about non-air routes to Greece, but flying seems easiest to me. It is true that there are no train routes into Greece at this time.

Ok, I understand now. We were hoping to take a train from Croatia to Greece. Are you saying that is not an option? We are going to be in Medjugorje and from there we are going to travel to Greece. After that we are going to Italy and Spain. Our trip is actually very long so explaining the REAL route would be very extensive. We will not be in Greece until April of 2014. It is at the end of our trip. Is flying from Croatia to Greece our only option? Thank you for the website link. I will read it now.

No, you can't take a train from Croatia to Greece. You may be able to fly; go to Skyscanner.com and look for possible routes. Plug in various cities in Croatia (Dubrovnik, Split, Zagreb). It's too early to buy the tickets but you could get an idea of what may be available. A few years ago we wanted to go from Dubrovnik in Croatia to Athens. We ended up taking a bus to Budva, Montenegro; a tour bus from Budva to Tirana, Albania; and then a flight from Tirana to Athens. Took a couple of days. Fun if you have time and are adventuresome. For more info on making this trip, go to Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree

Could we take a ferry from Croatia, then to Italy and then to Greece? Is there a direct ferry from Croatia to Greece?

You can take a ferry from Dubrovnik, Croatia, to Bari, Italy. From Bari, you can ferry to Patras, Igoumenitsa or Corfu, Greece. These will likely both be overnight ferries. Then, from where you land in Greece, you will have to make your way to your ultimate destination. So you're looking at two overnight ferries in a row, and then a bus or train to Athens, and a ferry to ??? A simpler idea might be to take the ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari, spend whatever time you wanted in Italy, making your way to Rome or Milan, and then fly to Athens or Santorini or wherever you're going in Greece. When you're done with Greece, fly from Athens to Madrid or wherever your next stop is. You can find fairly low priced flights; check out skyscanner.com to see if there are any routes that would work for you. Just be aware that with budget airlines, you need to pay close attention to the baggage policies. Hopefully, with all these stops, you're planning to travel light.

Thank you! The two overnight ferry deal is probably the route we are going to take. We have thought about doing Italy first and then Greece but we need to be in Italy at a very specific time: Holy Week. We are traveling very light. One large pack back each!

Christina ... be aware that ferries may not run every day at that time of year. As your trip gets closer, do some research and verify that the ferry timing will work for you. I was a little confused; at one point, you said you were visiting Croatia, then Greece, then Italy and Spain. At another, you said Greece was at the very end of your trip. I wanted to mention that if you plan to visit any Greek islands, you will have better weather and more ferry connections the later you go in the spring. Have a great trip!

You are so right. The way I said Greece is at the end of our trip was very misleading! We have our trip plotted out in three parts. Greece is in the last PART of our trip but not the last stop. Sorry again and thank you for your time and help!

I am a citizen of Bangladesh I want to go through the train to Greece from Turkey please help me

What sort of help do you need, jowai?