Update from Georgia (beyond Interrail but final destination) :I ended up taking a bus from Bucharest to Istanbul, there is a Flixbus every night. It's an extra cost on top of the pass but less than buying a full price CFR ticket. (if you book on CFR you will have to physically pick up your ticket at a train station). The bus also takes less time (billed as 10 hours but took 12h, border crossing times are variable).I did go to see the 10.50 train in Bucharest just in case, no wonder it fills up for days ! The couchette wagon (singular) is tiny and half the space is taken up by seats and tables for the non-sleeping time. Looks like travel in style for the passengers but not very space-efficient.I was able to book Istanbul-Bucharest as well as Bucharest-Budapest for my return directly in Budapest. Turkey : do indeed book tickets online or at least check availability very regularly, they are highly serious about 1 booking = 1 seat even in second class seating for short trips.However unless
Thanks for the link, I understand the suggested change much better.No luck at the counter, it's fully booked the next 3 days ! I can still try to he attendant directly but I don't have much hope.They're also completely unable to tell me if the Sofia-Istanbul is fully booked, is there any way I can find out ? I've tried the Bulgarian website but it doesn't want to accept Istanbul as an option maybe it's just for domestic travel.…If I can't be sure I won't be stuck in Dimitrovgrad for 3 days I will probably just pay for a bus to Istanbul… Thanks again, last questions I think !
I will ask at the station and try my luck as well tomorrow morning.How easy is it to figure out "following the sleeper carriage" around until Dimitrovgrad ? Bearing in mind I don't speak Romanian (or Bulgarian) and so far have met very few english-speakers... I will ask about the Sofia-Istanbul at the station, do you know why it doesn't appear in the interrail planner ? I'm going to book my way back as well so I don't have this problem coming back. There is 1h30 changeover time between the Istanbul-Bucharest and the Bucharest- Budapest... That seems a little tight to me, would you recommend planning 1 day buffer in between? Thanks for all your help
Update from Romania :I would not recommend this route to anyone at the moment. The rail accident is still not solved, there are now two options for Budapest-Bucharest :Either take 2 trains and a replacement bus to Mezotur, without a booking for a couchette (due to the incident the ticket office in Budapest cannot book you a place !! They are also not informed about the situation and delays etc).Or taking the 22:45 which runs directly from Budapest but takes a big detour through Cluj-Napoca. Nobody can tell you in advance how much delay this will cause, but so far it is looking like we I'll arrive around 20:30 instead of 15:10.It also looks like the Bucharest-Istanbul will be full the next 2 days which means I will be stuck there, but I don't see how I could have proceeded otherwise...
Ah :/ Very unfortunate. I suppose there’s a chance it will be solved by then, I imagine I can stay updated on the mavsoport.hu website. Thanks !
Thank you very much for your help.
Thank you both for your help. I will try the Swiss rail counters on the day of my departure, I can always leave an hour early to make sure I have time.Thank you also for the correct link to the Turkish rail ticket purchase, I had found myself on a different site for the same company that didn’t recognise anything East of Ankara as a valid station...Fingers crossed that this Romanian section isn’t too much of a hassle, I feel like getting stuck in Dimitrovgrad would really not be ideal. Last question : When you suggest asking the attendants directly on the train and paying cash, do you have a rough estimate of how much this will cost ? I would need to make sure I have enough Romanian currency….
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