Tunbridge Wells To Istanbul By Train With Interrail
Index Digital publisher Stephen Gurney immerses himself in the sights and sounds of a trip overland via train through Hungary and Romania to Turkey.
Images Index Digital
Everyone that I talk to about Interrail says they used it on their travels as students – but they did not imagine that it was something for later in life!
Well, that is a misconception. It is a fantastic way to travel around Europe and the main benefits, I would say, are that you can move about easily, the scenery is ever-changing and you arrive right in the middle of your destination city. Then add to that the fact that most European trains have Wifi and that offers the ability to book your accommodation on the train as you move about – which is exactly what I did. The whole concept gives you great freedom if you like to be able to have this flexibility.
Getting the train pass is easy – just Google Interrail and choose which pass you want, simple as that! I chose the 10-day global pass allowing you 10 days’ travel in 2 months which means from the day I start my journey I have 2 months in which to use my 10 days. The price is good – but sometimes it’s worth researching buying direct tickets for some of your journey as it may be cheaper on some lines, especially further south into Europe.
The next thing to do is to go to the Interrail app and reserve your Eurostar seat on your chosen start date (costing around 25 Euros) – and then once you have done this you are good to go!
If you are travelling in shoulder seasons (April-May and September-October) it’s easier to be flexible and book as you go without all the complexities of pre-arranging the whole trip. It’s also easy to book accommodation on the go as well, as usually there's lots of availability during these seasons.
For this trip I decided to try to get straight to Budapest, Hungary in one hit, which involved five changes and taking an overnight sleeper. I bought the sleeper ticket (a couchette – a basic padded bunk) at Stuttgart station which took me on the last leg to Budapest. I left Canterbury at 5.45am and arrived in Budapest 9am the following day – I was tired but well on my way!
I ended up in couchettes for either four or six sleepers. It offered a great way to meet people, but I would look at getting actual sleeping beds ideally for at least some the trip. (Unfortunately I did not find any available for all four parts of my trip).
During my travels I met a French girl who was travelling solo from Paris to Thailand overland via Istanbul, Georgia, Russia and then on from there – making my little adventure seem quite tame!
Budapest’s main highlights for me were the spas – I tried Lukacs Thermal Bath (a hospital spa) with around 10 pools all varying in temperature from 22C to 40C – the mainline railway station with its wonderful building and architecture and the sweet chimney cakes!
Next I booked an overnight couchette from Budapest to Bucharest in Romania. I had pre-booked this on the Interrail website as it seemed easy to do and was around an extra 45 Euros for a four-bed couchette. It was the only sleeper I was able to pre-book on my trip – most seemed to be easier to book at the mainline stations.
The overnight leaves Budapest (Keleti) at 7.15pm and arrives the next day at Bucharest main station at 11.30am. Again a great way to meet and chat with people – I shared my couchette with three French scientists who were travelling overland to Afghanistan.
The city itself feels pretty safe, although some people appeared a touch aggressive in manner, and the main highlight for me was the Palace of Parliament – ordered by Nicolae Ceaușescu, the president of Communist Romania at the time, it was constructed between 1984 and 1997.
I did struggle with Transport cards though. I bought one online for 24 hours and used it all the time – only to realise I had bought one for a completely different city! Mostly checks are done randomly though and luckily I avoided them. Bucharest does have the feel of an up-and-coming city with a vibrant atmosphere around the centre and is not too touristy, which I always prefer.
Probably a few days in Bucharest is enough time to explore it, but I would also definitely allow some time to visit Transylvania to the north of Bucharest and make a visit to Bran Castle – Dracula’s castle, one of Romania’s top tourist attractions.
In deciding to move on from Bucharest I wanted to go by train direct to Istanbul, Turkey – but unfortunately they only run from May to September. So instead I opted to take a train to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and then from there take another night train to Istanbul.
Luckily it was a day train to Sofia so made a much nicer journey – I don’t see the point of missing all the amazing scenery and sleeping on trains unless the countryside is boring, which it wasn’t! So my day time was spent enjoying the travel, and night time was for dinner, heading to the hotel and getting some sleep!
Sofia is a very walkable city with many interesting buildings – I would describe it as beautiful with a studently vibe and not too touristy. You can easily walk the centre in a few hours and the main highlight for me was the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral as well as some great little cafes.
Next up was the night train to Istanbul, Turkey – well I’m not going to moan on about night trains but this one was tough! We left Sofia around 6pm and were woken at 12midnight to get off the train for passport and bag checks and then allowed back on at 1.15am. The train arrived in Istanbul around 6am so needless to say I was tired. My data roaming also switched itself off (probably because I left the EU or I signed up to a terrible phone company) – still in the days without phones and internet we managed!
Finding no one who spoke English at the train station outside of Istanbul I jumped on the first train that appeared – part panic and part guesswork! I then jumped off at a place that sounded about right (Uskudar) and found the nearest hotel to the station.
It turned out Uskudar is on the Asian side of Istanbul across the Bosphorus River and actually my guesswork paid off – I ended up in a really good hotel and Uskudar is much more authentic and less touristy than the European side. I could have gone one stop further on to Kadikoy – which is probably the place to stay if you visit and like a younger, more bohemian vibe full of bars and restaurants.
I felt pleased with myself for making this journey, but Murder On The Orient Express it was not – not in comfort or thankfully murder! It proved very interesting to go off grid slightly and see cities like Bucharest and Sofia.
Probably the best time to take this train trip would be September/October when there is a direct link from Bucharest to Istanbul – however you would miss Sofia and I think you'd still need to take a night train anyway.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: A Spectacular Train Odyssey through Enchanting Central Europe
A good source of knowledge here is the Man in Seat 61 which you can find if you Google “London to Istanbul by train”. He covers it in much more detail than I have and is very useful.
In Istanbul, the highlights for me were the fabulous food (especially the kebabs) and travelling repeatedly across the Bosphorus River on the ferries (especially around sunset) with my newly-acquired local transport expertise!
The Hagia Sofia is somewhere I would recommend you take a visit to – the building’s architecture is amazing. I also enjoyed just walking around and people watching (many of which were avidly taking pictures).
However, the main bazaar and the European side was not for me as it was absolutely packed with tourists.
I would probably recommend spending five days in Istanbul and doing some research before you get there. Getting around the main districts is a must and if I went again I would take a boat trip to the Black Sea.
I finished this trip in Izmir on the Ionian coast. From talking to some of the local people a really good trip would be to Interrail around Turkey and especially the middle and eastern areas which are much less touristy. The trains seem pretty good.
My next trip is to head back home via Athens to London overland. Keep your eyes peeled it will be coming soon…..
#TrainJourneysAroundEurope #EuropeanTravel #Interrail #TravelInspiration #IndexDigital
