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From the Netherlands to Istanbul

  • March 22, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 156 views

Hi there, I am travelling for 3 months (unlimited travel days) with The Netherlands as starting point, and wanted to go to the balkans/eastern Europe.

However, when looking up trains in this area I can barely find any unfortunately. Ive seen some other topics from a while ago about this too, but I find it hard to figure out what I need to do/conclude from it. Is it better to just not go there at all as you need to take busses a lot (and those are not covered by interrail)? I’ve also read some things about there being trains in serbia and North-macedonia but just not internationally registred so it’s hard to know what the schedules are. Are there alternatives that are worth it? F.e. I saw that Romania is accessible still by a night train from budapest, and that it is possible to go from there to Sofia and then a train to halkali (Istanbul-west). Is this doable? Sorry if this is a bit vague but im new to this and really struggling with planning my trip.

Thank you in advance for any help!

Best answer by rvdborgt

Netherlands to Istanbul is possible via Romania indeed. See:

https://www.seat61.com/Turkey.htm

Via Serbia/North-Macedonia there are currently no international trains.

1 reply

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  • Railmaster
  • Answer
  • March 22, 2023

Netherlands to Istanbul is possible via Romania indeed. See:

https://www.seat61.com/Turkey.htm

Via Serbia/North-Macedonia there are currently no international trains.