Turkey, Georgia and Armenia

My son and I are planning a trip to these three countries in late August/September. Are there decent rail links between all three countries, or is/are the best (only!) cross border links by bus? If it is bus only, are the journeys long distance, are the buses/coaches of decent quality, and are they reliable?

There are no trains between Turkey and either Georgia or Armenia. There is a line between Tblisi and Yerevan, but it is quite a lot slower than going by road.

The border between Turkey and both Georgia and Armenia are in pretty remote east end of Turkey. So don't underestimate how long it will take to get there. There are direct buses between Istanbul and Tblisi but 1, it takes a very long time, and 2, the border can be painful. I have never heard anyone express concerns about the reliability of the bus, but do remember that bus drivers in Turkey can be quite 'excitable' and often buses don't have toilets - so you have to plan around service station stops, which can also be quite stimulating - and not in a good way.

Most people fly.

As far as I know, the border between Turkey and Armenia is closed. There used to be a railway line between the two countries but it has been lifted. There is a line betweenTurkey and Georgia, sadly only active for freight. But you can take a train to the last served station of the line and a bus from there. As usual, seat61.com has all the details.

Just remember there's a lot of historic bad blood between Turkey and Armenia
Expecting easy transit between the two is naive.

Georgian Railways' bookings only open 20 days before travel so don't be surprised if a search for bookings in advance of that comes up with the message "The selected route does not exist". The Tbilisi Batumi route is very busy in the summer so if you want first class seats it's probably best to book as soon as the booking window opens. Bookings open about midnight Georgian time so, by using the 3hr time difference to your advantage, you can effectively book not long after 9pm 21 days in advance.

Bookings for the sleeper from Batumi to Yerevan seem to open a few more days in advance of the daytime trains.

The Georgian Railways App does have an English option but it's not easy to find (at least on an Android phone). Hit the the three lines top right and then select the flag option at the bottom left of the pop up screen.

I'm going to Georgia on holiday in just over a week's time but I'm very envious of your planned trip. Enjoy

There's a third-party app known as "TRE" which I found to be significantly easier to use than Georgian Railways themselves. IIRC it applied a fee but I actually succeeded in buying a ticket on it.

Otherwise - enjoy the trip. I found Georgian Railways staff to be extremely helpful when I visited in April.

MarcVD said:

As far as I know, the border between Turkey and Armenia is closed. There used to be a railway line between the two countries but it has been lifted.

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Still closed, although relations are starting to improve.

Relations between the neighbours have been strained over historic grievances and Turkey’s close alliance with Azerbaijan.​

Turkey removed a restriction on direct trade with Armenia on Wednesday in a symbolic gesture towards improved ties between the longtime rivals.

Under a new arrangement, shipments of goods from Turkey or Armenia through a third country may now directly list their final destination or point of origin as Turkey or Armenia, lifting a prior restriction on such designations, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said.

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