Somewhere on the Interrail site I read: "Free travel on trains, buses or ferries is only valid on travel days," but I have found no useful information on the availability of free buses.
I shall be travelling in the Balkans on a two-month pass, where the train services are notoriously poor. Which bus lines are included in the IR Global Pass? Thank you.
Bus coverage by rail passes is quite rare and usually only applies to buses operated by railways, such as DB or SNCF. Other private bus companies have not made deals to be part of the pass, unless you see them mentioned on an Interrail app or literature. I would not expect to find any Balkan bus coverage. See https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/trains-europe/railway-companies, for a start.
Thank you Laura. That looks pretty bleak... As I will be on a tight budget, I think what I must do is check buses and prices locally when arriving in a large town, and if they work out to be too expensive, use one of my IR Travel Days to simply jump further on. I have downloaded the Flixbus app, which I hope will help.
Since the whole trip is a late-in-life adventure for me, that will be part of it...
Only problem is that trains in the Balkans are a bit sparse too.
Hmmm…. The Interrail map shows mainline trains in all the countries except Albania and Kosovo, with quite a dense network in Romania. Do you mean that trains won’t be running or reliable, or that there are very few of them, or anything else?
I am really keen to travel the Belgrade-Bar line (in whatever direction is preferable). Do I have a good chance of getting to Split or to Sarajevo by train from Bar?
My present intention has been to get to Ljubljana and travel southwards from there. Perhaps I should think the reverse: descend Italy for a start, cross to Greece (perhaps taking in Turkey?) and try getting up to Belgrade. Would that not be doable by Interrail? I feel I would be less stranded in the south, with the possibility, disappointingly, of returning the way I came if push came to shove.
I am spending a huge amount of time planning this trip (connections and accommodation) and it is clear that quite early on I shall be making decisions from day to day. The starting date of September 1st is coming up quite soon now!
All suggestions are most welcome! Thank you.
cross to Greece (perhaps taking in Turkey?) and try getting up to Belgrade.
Train is not the most convenient means of transport for that route.
There is currently no train from Patras to Athens, since the old railway line has already been demolished and the new one is not yet finished. There are, however, a few OSE buses for which the Interrail ticket is valid.
Regarding the Thessaloniki-Belgrade line, it's unclear whether trains are running at all. The man in seat 61 says that they run during summer, but the booking platform trainose.gr shows no current connections. There is no information available for 2020 yet. There may be two possible workarounds: From Thessaloniki by bus to Gevgelija (border station in Macedonia), then by train to Skopje (time table) and from there by night train to Belgrade (time table), or from Thessaloniki by train and bus to Sophia (timetable) and from there to Belgrade (timetable).
There is currently no train connection between Greece and Turkey; the line Alexandroupoulis - Pythion - Istanbul was suspended several years ago.
You will need a mix of train and bus. For instance, a train can get you near the Greece/Turkey border, but you'd need a bus or taxi to actually cross it, and taking a bus for more of that trip (e.g., Thessalonki to Istanbul) is likely to be faster. Some train lines are only served once daily, such as the night train (with interruption at the border crossing) between Istanbul and Sofia. Staying flexible and re-confirming schedules as you go is a key strategy in this area.
Also, if your trip is mostly focused on the Balkans, look at the cheaper Balkans Pass (which still doesn't cover buses). It can be used by anyone who does not live in Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, or Turkey.
I spent some time in the Balkans in 2015, including Romania. I took considerably more buses than trains, but I may have been unlucky in the itinerary I followed. Still I'm not sure "dense network" describes the situation. Trains don't always run everywhere tracks exist. I met a small tour group on the train from Bucharest to Sofia. Two of their overnight train rides had turned into overnight bus rides because of schedule changes.
I am talking about September 2019 here. Thanks to everyone for your help. Any serious objections or comments on anything that follows here will be very welcome.
This first paragraph to acraven: Thank you. I should like to learn more about trains in Romania. The Interrail Pass map really does show a much denser train network than any other Balkan country, purportedly representing running trains (which may or may not be the case, of course), but certainly not just tracks. But how can I learn which of these are genuinely operative?
My feeling now is that I should not have trouble getting to Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade by train. From there I can take the famed railway to Bar and bus around there for a while, perhaps returning, for want of better, by the same train to Belgrade.
Belgrade-Sofia seems to have just one train per day, direct until September 16 (not sure if I can make that), otherwise with two changes. I do want to visit Sofia if possible.
Do I have any chance of getting up to Romania from Sofia? I will study the possibility of continuing on to Thessaloniki by train, at latest when (and if) I get to Sofia. As Laura puts it so well: “Staying flexible and re-confirming schedules as you go is a key strategy in this area.”… My philosophy now is that wherever I get to, I can always go back the way I came. I hope this is not too optimistic!
Regarding the Balkan Pass, I already have a two-month Flexi Interrail Pass, which should cover all of the former, no?
My reference to Turkey was based on a ferry from Athens, if ever I get there… I have now given up the need to get to Greece in my mind.
Do I have any chance of getting up to Romania from Sofia? Is it impossible to continue on south by train?
