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Direct (or not ?) overnight train Istanbul to Sofia

  • 27 June 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 185 views

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to travel from Istanbul to Sofia this summer by the Sofia-Istanbul Express overnight train. The train should be departing from Istanbul Halkali station at 8pm on the 29th of August and arrive at Sofia at 9.37 am the next day. However, when I try adding this trip to the rail planner app, I can only find a train with a connection in Plovdiv (in Bulgaria) between 5.41am and 6.35am on the 30th of August. Therefore I should have to use two travel days to make this trip.

 

I’ve read on the seat61 website that this train is supposed to be direct between the two cities and therefore only cost a travel day. 

Has anyone done this trip recently and know how I can manage to book it on the rail planner app?

Thanks in advance,

 

Arthur

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Best answer by rvdborgt 27 June 2023, 17:53

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2 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

It is direct. Adding the journey manually is your best option here.

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

It's a direct train but there are probable errors in the data delivered by Bulgarian railways.

If you have a flexipass and by the time you travel the train is still not shown as a direct train, then just enter it manually.

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