London to Istanbul mid March

[rvdborgt]

This train is due to arrive at 1319 hrs so I can get the 1510hrs towards Bucharest as suggested thanks. I see this 1510hrs train also stops at Arad timetabled for 1932hrs according to OBB. But dbahn shows it as 2032hrs.

ÖBB Tickets (website and app) show all times in CET. That's bad practice, but that's the way it is. fahrplan.oebb.at does use local times.

With my confusion it looks like I left it too late and the 1510 hrs is showing as sold out now anyway.

If you're looking at ÖBB Tickets: they can't book couchettes/sleepers for that train online so what they say about its booking status is irrelevant. They can book seats though. Booking couchette/sleeper via MÁV should work.

 

[Ian99]

Thanks to all for your help. I bought the reservation online without too much fuss. Would have been easier if I knew what the Hungarian for England, UK or GB was - closest I could get on their list of countries was Guernsey....

 

[CW2]

A couple of thoughts re the Turkish section of your trip:
The Sofia Express has been arriving in Istanbul (Halkali) about 4 hours late every time I have seen it. That puts it into Halkali around 10:45, so for onward travel to Konya, the 15:45 YHT from Sogutlucesme is your best option (assuming you don't want a day off in Istanbul to recover).
Secondly, your Konya train will terminate at Konya Selcuklu YHT because of engineering work. That might affect your choice of hotels etc.

I hope that's helpful. Enjoy the trip.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Thanks to all for your help. I bought the reservation online without too much fuss. Would have been easier if I knew what the Hungarian for England, UK or GB was - closest I could get on their list of countries was Guernsey....

Hungarian (using Google translator):
English: Angol
British: Brit
UK: Egyesült Királyság
Great Britain: Nagy Britannia

I guess this doesn't matter now...

 

[nwales58]

Remember your Interrail day is still valid on IC79 until you reach your destination in Romania (which I would urge to be Videle, doubling back via Bucharest is playing with fire IMHO).

Videle: seconded.

Between there and Bucurest can easily be 30 mins late due to TSRs and congestion.

 

[Ian99]

Videle: seconded.

Between there and Bucurest can easily be 30 mins late due to TSRs and congestion.

Indeed I took the suggestion and got off at Videle. Walked into town, visited the bakers - better than the worry of not making the connection.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Mar 2025 ==

Hungarian (using Google translator):
English: Angol
British: Brit
UK: Egyesült Királyság
Great Britain: Nagy Britannia

I guess this doesn't matter now...

I guess it had Egyesult Kiralysag on its list but I wouldn't have been able to guess it from that.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Mar 2025 ==

A couple of thoughts re the Turkish section of your trip:
The Sofia Express has been arriving in Istanbul (Halkali) about 4 hours late every time I have seen it. That puts it into Halkali around 10:45, so for onward travel to Konya, the 15:45 YHT from Sogutlucesme is your best option (assuming you don't want a day off in Istanbul to recover).
Secondly, your Konya train will terminate at Konya Selcuklu YHT because of engineering work. That might affect your choice of hotels etc.

I hope that's helpful. Enjoy the trip.

That is indeed very helpful. My ticket shows a scheduled arrival of 0956 hrs. Regardless I wouldn't mind an hotel stop sooner rather than later so could stop in Istanbul. Is it feasible to get to Antalya the day after, in one day?

 

[CW2]

That is indeed very helpful. My ticket shows a scheduled arrival of 0956 hrs. Regardless I wouldn't mind an hotel stop sooner rather than later so could stop in Istanbul. Is it feasible to get to Antalya the day after, in one day?

The TCDD schedule gives a Halkali arrival of 06:34 for the Sofia Express, but it is usually between 10:30 and 11:00 that it arrives.

There are plenty of coaches from a range of operators running from Konya to Antalya, throughout the day, with a journey time of about 3.5 hours. Depending on your preferences, you could stay overnight in Istanbul, or Eskisehir, or Konya. The latter two cities both have a range of decent hotels. If you don't ant to stay overnight in Istanbul (which would be more expensive and require an early start next morning), then Eskisehir or Konya might be a better bet. Doing Istanbul to Antalya by YHT + coach in one day is possible, but might be a bit tiring.

 

[Ian99]

Got to Halkali at about 10am so was able to get the 1150hrs to Konya. Stayed overnight. Next morning, went to the station in anticipation of getting the 1320hrs to Antalya as per Seat61 times but no one at the station knew anything about such a bus.... So got a taxi to the main bus station (it's quite a way north of the main town) and took a coach from there..

The Astra Trans Carpatic refund for the train I cancelled came through after a day or two so got £75 back. The Turkish sleeper ticket from Dimitrovgrad to Istanbul was a bargain as I had a compartment to myself and was £33.86 including Ruse to Dimitrovgrad.

Thanks everyone for all your help!

I've now got a week or so to think about my return route...

 

[nwales58]

I've now got a week or so to think about my return route...

If via Romania, two main choices:

See the other Danube bridge at Vidin: Sofia 0650 gets you to Craiova 1630. If you can find anywhere you feel like staying then IR72 the following morning arrives Budapest 2050 and you get to see the route down and along the start of the Danube gorge that you slept through (maybe) on the way out.

Or back to Bucharest, the 1730 arrival probably means you get there by 1830. If slogging onwards you're probably OK for IR78 or try your luck for a Luxe sleeper in the Astra Transcarpatic to Arad at 2030. If staying the night in Bucharest to actually see something of Romania as you travel onwards, unfortunately IR72 no longer runs from Bucharest in the morning. Instead:
- IRN346 through to Vienna leaves 1500-ish though the couchettes may be full, or
- via the Danube IR1043 leaves Bucharest in the morning and gets you to Timisoara 2200-ish, or
- via Brasov CFR's 'premium' trains IC531/521 leaves 1310 gets you to Arad around midnight (you see Sighisoara as you pass by), or
- if you fancy breaking the journey in Sibiu (old german centre), IR1621 leaves 1000 and does it comfortably in daylight, IR77 the following day is the comfortable (Brasov)-Sibiu-Budapest daytime train - views are well worth it all the way to Arad this way, or
- take your pick of open-access operators to Brasov (depending which pre-loved stock you like) then pick up IRN346 which gets you to Vienna 0820 or stay the night and IR77 to Budapest in the morning.

My favourite would be one of the last two, unless in a hurry where I'd try ATC to Arad as I never manage it last year.

Brasov-Sibiu-Simeria is class 60 (or 62?) hauled, the others go via Sighisoara as it is wired.

 

[MarcVD]

If via Romania, two main choices:

See the other Danube bridge at Vidin: Sofia 0650 gets you to Craiova 1630. If you can find anywhere you feel like staying then IR72 the following morning arrives Budapest 2050 and you get to see the route down and along the start of the Danube gorge that you slept through (maybe) on the way out.

Which I totally recommend. The landscape on Sofia - Vidin is absolutely terrific, and the Calafat (other side of the Danube from Vidin) - Craiova part is a time travel in the past, unless it has been recently revamped : mechanical signals, manually operated points and level crossing barriers, jointed track, 60 km/h max... just looks like a German nebenbahn of one century ago.

 

[nwales58]

... the Calafat (other side of the Danube from Vidin) - Craiova part is a time travel in the past, unless it has been recently revamped : mechanical signals, manually operated points and level crossing barriers, jointed track, 60 km/h max...

Now timed at 30 minutes longer than last year, even then it had long stretches of about 30 km/h.

The snag is you get to Craiova about 1630 and there is no onward connection towards Hungary until IRN78 at midnight. Craiova is not exactly where I'd choose to spend an evening or a night (Electroputere and Ford factories at one end, power station at the other). Evening trains get you as far as Drobeta which is OK for onwards in the morning, or through the mountains to Sibiu in the dark arriving around midnight which is a bit pointless.

 

[MarcVD]

I spent a night in Craiova in, I think, 2015 or 2016. Nothing to write home about, for sure, but a good meal and a good night anyway. Hotel just 5 minutes walk from the station. I left in the morning too early for breakfast, but I got a packaged meal to take away. Nice people...

 

[Ian99]

Thanks for your further inputs. I've got a bit distracted in Türkiye and my next move on my route back to the UK is to leave Denizli tomorrow and proceed as follows:



Any thoughts on the above? The main issue for me is getting out of the nice Turkish sleeper at Dimitrovgrad at0410hrs and waiting there for 3 hours.....

It would also be good to stay somewhere other than Linz as I stayed there on the way out.

 

[rvdborgt]

You night train from Bucharest leaves at 19:45. If the train from Ruse is delayed too much, then you can also change at Videle (arr. 16:19, dep. 20:46).

 

[nwales58]

Instead of Linz if you catch the 1540 RJX from Keleti you could stay on to Munich then choice of either way to London.

Or for somewhere quieter local train to Passau, hotel opposite station.

 

[JB_B]

The main issue for me is getting out of the nice Turkish sleeper at Dimitrovgrad at0410hrs and waiting there for 3 hours.....

I can confirm that there's not much much going on at 0410 hrs at Dimitrovgrad but at least the station was open and had a working coffee machine ( or at least it did in 2023.)

 

[Ian99]

You night train from Bucharest leaves at 19:45. If the train from Ruse is delayed too much, then you can also change at Videle (arr. 16:19, dep. 20:46).

I was looking at the Astra Trans Carpatic train which according to their website leaves at 2030hrs - is the train from Ruse likely to be delayed 3 hours?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Mar 2025 ==

Also, is there an option to stay on the sleeper from Halkali for a stop or two and then double back to Dimitrovgrad?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Mar 2025 ==

I can confirm that there's not much much going on at 0410 hrs at Dimitrovgrad but at least the station was open and had a working coffee machine ( or at least it did in 2023.)

Indeed the station was open and with 2 staff behind the ticket counter. The room labelled, "warm waiting room" was locked but there was a coffee machine and some snack vending machines.

However, I had to venture out to find a machine that took credit cards (diagonally right across the road when leaving the station front door) - sadly not the same standard of coffee as those found on machines on Italian stations though. I'll choose tea next time.

There were a few people about so I took the opportunity to walk around and the centre of town was very nice. A long pedestrian square with fountains, history posters etc with shops down the side and a park off of it. Would be a great place to change trains in the daytime....

If my train from Ruse is delayed by the time I get to Videle, does anyone have any thoughts about how late it might then be getting to Bucharest? I don't want to risk missing my 1945 hrs sleeper but don't want to spend too long in Videle as I think I saw most of its attractions 2 weeks ago ...

 

[185143]

Got to Halkali at about 10am so was able to get the 1150hrs to Konya. Stayed overnight. Next morning, went to the station in anticipation of getting the 1320hrs to Antalya as per Seat61 times but no one at the station knew anything about such a bus.... So got a taxi to the main bus station (it's quite a way north of the main town) and took a coach from there..

The Astra Trans Carpatic refund for the train I cancelled came through after a day or two so got £75 back. The Turkish sleeper ticket from Dimitrovgrad to Istanbul was a bargain as I had a compartment to myself and was £33.86 including Ruse to Dimitrovgrad.

Thanks everyone for all your help!

I've now got a week or so to think about my return route...

Where and how did you book that, out of interest?

 

[Ian99]

I wasn't able to buy it until I got to the International ticket office at Ruse at lunchtime on the day of the trip. I didn't know that I would get a compartment to myself until I got on the train at Dimitrovgrad.

On the way back, I decided to use an Interrail day and bought the reservation at Istanbul Sirkeci - although when I later got to Halkali, I noticed that they have an International Ticket window there too. Here is the price list displayed at Halkali:

 

[jack31439]

Thanks @Ian99 for the great thread.

Just completed a London to Istanbul trip with my brother today, using some advice noted here. Was able to secure the Dimitrovgrad - Istanbul couchette reservation earlier on the day of travel at Gorna Oryahovitsa.

Some incredibly slow trains (Bucharest to Ruse taking 3.5 hours for <100 miles!) but a brilliant trip in all. Loved following the Danube from Budapest, and went via Trieste and Zagreb earlier.