Hello all:)
I have a question concerning trains in the balkan countries. I plan to travel from France to Greece in the beginning of June, but I cannot find any good train connections, neither on the Interrail site, nor on the national railway sites.
I would like to go from
(1) France to Austria (that´s easy)
(2) and then maybe from Vienna to Beograd, Serbia (even there I did not find connections:( )
(3) Then I somehow need to reach my final destination Greece (Thessaloniki for example), maybe via Skopje?
Has anyone a suggestion how I could travel from Beograd to Thessaloniki, which is not too complicated?
I saw that normally there is the Hellas Express Night train, but it seems not to be working in 2023 (still due to covid…?). Does anybody have informations about that? Or does anybody know which buses I could take in case there is no train connection. I would be very grateful for every advice! 
Thank you very much :)
As far as I know there are still no international trains running out of Serbia other than the line to Bar (Montenegro) and there are no international trains running into Greece either.
If you want to get to Greece, consider getting a ferry from southern Italy or be prepared to take a few buses.
Hello all:)
I have a question concerning trains in the balkan countries. I plan to travel from France to Greece in the beginning of June, but I cannot find any good train connections, neither on the Interrail site, nor on the national railway sites.
I would like to go from
(1) France to Austria (that´s easy)
(2) and then maybe from Vienna to Beograd, Serbia (even there I did not find connections:( )
(3) Then I somehow need to reach my final destination Greece (Thessaloniki for example), maybe via Skopje?
Has anyone a suggestion how I could travel from Beograd to Thessaloniki, which is not too complicated?
I saw that normally there is the Hellas Express Night train, but it seems not to be working in 2023 (still due to covid…?). Does anybody have informations about that? Or does anybody know which buses I could take in case there is no train connection. I would be very grateful for every advice! Thank you very much :)
Unfortunately, it's not that easy.
From Vienna, you may go to Budapest. Shortest bus route would be train to Szeged, bus to Subotica, train from Subotica with a change at Novi Sad (not recommended). Slow and doesn’t save a lot of money compared to going by bus directly from Budapest to Beograd.
Going to Beograd via Zagreb has the problem that regular train service does end at the border station of Croatia; there are trains from the border station in Serbia to Beograd, but not between these two countries; 10km are missing). If you don't care about boring landscape, long stays at small stations and an adventurous 2 hour walk, that's the way to go. Otherwise: bus from Zagreb on this route.
Same for Beograd to Thessaloniki (the missing link is even longer here); there's no rail connection into Greece at all (from any country). It's possible to go by bus at all or (slower) by train to Niš and from there by bus.
(It's also possible to go from Budapest via Sofia but that's not much better.)
Summary: Easiest way is to go by bus from Budapest or Zagreb completely. Or take the different route by ferry from Italy mentioned before.
As far as I know there are still no international trains running out of Serbia other than the line to Bar (Montenegro) and there are no international trains running into Greece either.
If you want to get to Greece, consider getting a ferry from southern Italy or be prepared to take a few buses.
Thank you for your advice! :)
Hello all:)
I have a question concerning trains in the balkan countries. I plan to travel from France to Greece in the beginning of June, but I cannot find any good train connections, neither on the Interrail site, nor on the national railway sites.
I would like to go from
(1) France to Austria (that´s easy)
(2) and then maybe from Vienna to Beograd, Serbia (even there I did not find connections:( )
(3) Then I somehow need to reach my final destination Greece (Thessaloniki for example), maybe via Skopje?
Has anyone a suggestion how I could travel from Beograd to Thessaloniki, which is not too complicated?
I saw that normally there is the Hellas Express Night train, but it seems not to be working in 2023 (still due to covid…?). Does anybody have informations about that? Or does anybody know which buses I could take in case there is no train connection. I would be very grateful for every advice! Thank you very much :)
Unfortunately, it's not that easy.
From Vienna, you may go to Budapest. Shortest bus route would be train to Szeged, bus to Subotica, train from Subotica with a change at Novi Sad (not recommended). Slow and doesn’t save a lot of money compared to going by bus directly from Budapest to Beograd.
Going to Beograd via Zagreb has the problem that regular train service does end at the border station of Croatia; there are trains from the border station in Serbia to Beograd, but not between these two countries; 10km are missing). If you don't care about boring landscape, long stays at small stations and an adventurous 2 hour walk, that's the way to go. Otherwise: bus from Zagreb on this route.
Same for Beograd to Thessaloniki (the missing link is even longer here); there's no rail connection into Greece at all (from any country). It's possible to go by bus at all or (slower) by train to Niš and from there by bus.
(It's also possible to go from Budapest via Sofia but that's not much better.)
Summary: Easiest way is to go by bus from Budapest or Zagreb completely. Or take the different route by ferry from Italy mentioned before.
Thanks a lot for this detailed answer and advice. I´ll go for the bus option form Budapest I think. Thank you :)
Du kannst von Sofia aus mit dem Zug in 3-4 Stunden nach Sandanski (Rumänien) fahren, von dort aus für 3-4 einen Bus nach Serres (Griechenland) nehmen und von Serres den Zug (2h) nach Thessaloniki:)
Du kannst von Sofia aus mit dem Zug an die bulgarische Grenze fahren, von dort aus einen Regio nach Griechenland nehmen und ab da weiter nach Thessaloniki und später Athen fahren.
So eine Verbindung gibt es nicht.
Du kannst von Sofia aus mit dem Zug in 3-4 Stunden nach Sandanski (Rumänien) fahren, von dort aus für 3-4 einen Bus nach Serres (Griechenland) nehmen und von Serres den Zug (2h) nach Thessaloniki:)
Sandanski liegt nicht in Rumänien.
Aber auch ansonsten auch nach dem Kompletteditieren ein doch eher etwas suboptimaler Vorschlag.
Du kannst von Sofia aus mit dem Zug in 3-4 Stunden nach Sandanski (Rumänien) fahren, von dort aus für 3-4 einen Bus nach Serres (Griechenland) nehmen und von Serres den Zug (2h) nach Thessaloniki:)
Sandanski liegt nicht in Rumänien.
Aber auch ansonsten auch nach dem Kompletteditieren ein doch eher etwas suboptimaler Vorschlag.
Oh man, was rede ich hier nur. Meinte natürlich Bulgarien. Naja, günstig ist es auf jeden Fall
Du kannst von Sofia aus mit dem Zug in 3-4 Stunden nach Sandanski (Rumänien) fahren, von dort aus für 3-4 einen Bus nach Serres (Griechenland) nehmen und von Serres den Zug (2h) nach Thessaloniki:)
Sandanski liegt nicht in Rumänien.
Aber auch ansonsten auch nach dem Kompletteditieren ein doch eher etwas suboptimaler Vorschlag.
Oh man, was rede ich nur. Ich meinte natürlich Bulgarien. Okay, ja, für meinen Vorschlag braucht man genug Reisetage und generell 2-3 Tage mehr bis man ankommt inklusive der Bereitschaft in Nachtzügen zu schlafen. Deine Option ist für gemütliches Reisen auf jeden Fall besser :)
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