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First let me say that I have read through this entire and very useful thread:

My husband and I are foolish enough to be planning a round-trip train trip from Bucuresti to Istanbul’s Halkali train station.  We have a Eurail pass because we’re doing extensive train travel in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Romania.  So while I know I could just pay for the Bucuresti-Istanbul tickets out of pocket since they’re not that expensive, I’d prefer to use the Eurail pass to subsidize the cost as much as possible since we’ve already got the pass. (We are getting our money’s worth out of all the rest of the travel we’re doing, but since we’ve got the pass and the travel days, why not use it for this part of the trip as well?)

The Eurail site shows the Bosphorus Express is running between Bucuresti and Istanbul. And it says that the trains in both directions are part of the Eurail network and seat reservations are required. But the Eurail site also says that “Seat Reservations are not available”.     From what I’ve read elsewhere, I know that tickets for the Bosphorus Express need to be bought either through the Romanian train system or the Turkish train system.  The Romanian train system’s web site for international journeys (https://bileteinternationale.cfrcalatori.ro/en/booking/search) lets me find the trains I want to take and would allow me to buy tickets (to be picked up at the Bucuresti Nord train station), but it only has the full price fair listed. And I can’t seem to find any way to apply a Eurail pass to the search request or to the purchase of the tickets after I select the appropriate trains.

Anybody have any ideas?  

Or are we just going to have to trust the websites that say these tickets don’t sell out and that they can be purchased even on the day of travel?

It seems CFR is now got so extremely modern there is a way to REServe only-for domestic (the usual way is not to fear so much and do it local at counter=the old fashioned way of doing things).

Yes, at very busy days the few cars that are shunted into the main Sofia overnight can get all taken-but chances that this happens week ahead are 0. All reports till now all tell that people were easily getting space on the day or a very few days ahead. Is it for an immediate transfer from a train from Bp in HU? IF you stay the odd day in ROmania, then leave it till then. {PLus do now that out of IST by train this is also the only way-and it only runs summertime.

Don’t worry, this train route is not so busy and you can easily get the reservation on the spot in 99% of the cases.

I used it in May in the reverse direction and was the only person going all the way from Istanbul to Bucuresti… (the direct carriage (summer only) was not running, but the trains which take it were running)

It seems CFR is now got so extremely modern there is a way to REServe only-for domestic (the usual way is not to fear so much and do it local at counter=the old fashioned way of doing things).

Yes, at very busy days the few cars that are shunted into the main Sofia overnight can get all taken-but chances that this happens week ahead are 0. All reports till now all tell that people were easily getting space on the day or a very few days ahead. Is it for an immediate transfer from a train from Bp in HU? IF you stay the odd day in ROmania, then leave it till then. {PLus do now that out of IST by train this is also the only way-and it only runs summertime.

We will be spending 2 nights and the day in-between in Bucharest.  We have reservations on an overnight Vienna to Bucharest train departing on July 16 and arriving on July 17.  We are hoping to take the train from Bucharest to Istanbul on July 19 (arriving in Istanbul on July 20). So you think we’ll be able to just buy the ticket when we get to Bucharest without any serious problems?

We considered going through Sofia.  But the only routes I can find between Vienna and Sofia all seemed to go through Bucharest anyway or they have a train transfer with a long, middle of the night layover in Craiova. So it looked like I’d have to use 3 travel days instead of 2 to get from Vienna to Istanbul.

We will be spending 2 nights and the day in-between in Bucharest.  We have reservations on an overnight Vienna to Bucharest train departing on July 16 and arriving on July 17.  We are hoping to take the train from Bucharest to Istanbul on July 19 (arriving in Istanbul on July 20). So you think we’ll be able to just buy the ticket when we get to Bucharest without any serious problems?

That should be OK. Just buy your reservation to Istanbul as soon as you arrive in Bucharest.

It seems CFR is now got so extremely modern there is a way to REServe only-for domestic (the usual way is not to fear so much and do it local at counter=the old fashioned way of doing things).

Yes, at very busy days the few cars that are shunted into the main Sofia overnight can get all taken-but chances that this happens week ahead are 0. All reports till now all tell that people were easily getting space on the day or a very few days ahead. Is it for an immediate transfer from a train from Bp in HU? IF you stay the odd day in ROmania, then leave it till then. {PLus do now that out of IST by train this is also the only way-and it only runs summertime.

We will be spending 2 nights and the day in-between in Bucharest.  We have reservations on an overnight Vienna to Bucharest train departing on July 16 and arriving on July 17.  We are hoping to take the train from Bucharest to Istanbul on July 19 (arriving in Istanbul on July 20). So you think we’ll be able to just buy the ticket when we get to Bucharest without any serious problems?

We considered going through Sofia.  But the only routes I can find between Vienna and Sofia all seemed to go through Bucharest anyway or they have a train transfer with a long, middle of the night layover in Craiova. So it looked like I’d have to use 3 travel days instead of 2 to get from Vienna to Istanbul.

Hello, I am travelling the other direction, from Bucharest to Vienna next week. But because they only have paper seat reservations, I cannot book my room on the train. Have you made your Vienna to Bucharest trip yet? Was it very busy? Were you able to get accommodation on the train a few days before/day of?

 

Thank you in advance for your help,

 

Donncha

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