Frankfurt to Istanbuhl

I've been working on that same issue. I'm not a train person, but thought I might try something different. It looks like more than fourty hours of solid traveling with a couple of changes. It seems it could also take as much as sixty hours. I didn't pursue what the cost would be, plus grub, etc. Airfare is about $350. That's me.

Thanks... way too much time on the train, would rather just pay for a flight... I thought there were European airlines that might be cheaper...350 sounds like a lot (is that one way?) and what airline did you check?

Since I'm not going until fall, that's three or four trips away. I think it was AirFrance off of kayak.com. Haven't checked the budget airlines yet. You might look at whichbudget.com.

Shoot, here in Germany, you can buy a 1 week vacation in Turkey with hotel, round-trip flight and half pension, for probably 200 euro. No one says you have to use the hotel. These vacation packages to popular destinations from Germany are often cheaper than just buying a flight.

Jo... thanks... is there a particular site that offers these packages?

Also about the train......make note of the countries you're traveling through. They are not open like the EU countries. You'll most likely stop at some sort of customs/border stop which could drastically slow down travel. You may even need a tourist visa or other official paperwork to travel through some countries (Serbia). If you decide on train travel definitely check with the Department of State before you go through those countries.

I bought a round trip ticket on Lufthansa last year for under $250, and that was open jaws out of Frankfurt and back to Munich. Booked through their US website, so no foreign currency surcharge on my credit card. Discount airlines may offer even lower fares, and they would probably be the better option if buying a one-way ticket. My flights were about 3 hours, which means it would be a very long trip by train.