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Best ways to get to Istanbul from EU

Posted by (Los Angeles, CA) on

I am planning on taking train down from Slovenia to Greece, and was thinking about adding a stop in Istanbul. But I am not finding much about train routes. Rome2Rio does not list a train route, and has a 17 hour bus ride. the Trainline does not even list Istanbul as a valid destination. There is always flying, but I was hoping to use a rail pass and avoid all the hassle of airport security and overhead compartments.

It would also be cool if there was an overnight train through Sofia, Bulgaria to Istanbul. I thought I saw a YouTube video where a guy goes from Paris to Istanbul but maybe it was Paris to another place in the area.

Also, is it possible to camp on the Greek side, and do day trips into Instanbul? In places like San Diego, CA, you can cross into Mexico without any visa and back.

Posted by
2267 posts

You could look on “the man in seat 61”, a great resource for train travel. But I’m pretty sure the east solution will be flying.

Posted by
15799 posts

Not sure if scudder meant easy or best, but if east is a combination of the two, it's the "east" answer. 🤣

Posted by
28716 posts

Rail service in the eastern Balkans usually bears little resemblance to the express trains in western Europe. You may well end up needing to take buses because there's no rail service from your Point A to Point B. And the trains that do exist are mostly really cheap. I think a Global Eurail Pass would be a huge waste of money for use in the Balkans (if that's the kind of pass you're thinking of).

Posted by
700 posts

thank you everyone. So how best to get Sofia - Istanbul - Greece? Are there any ferries? How are the busses? I have been on sleeper buses in Venezuela that were like really cool, and I have been on over night buses in the Philippines where some of the windows were just plywood slats. So there is quite a range.

Posted by
21259 posts

I drove from Sofia to Istanbul one time. Wonderful trip, but I spent a week doing it. Once you get within about 20 miles of Istanbul, well, the highway is a once in a lifetime experiences (sometimes the traffic jam taking a lifetime).

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