Book Train Tickets From Bucharest to Istanbul
DiscoverByRail can book the Bucharest-Istanbul night train, with ticket delivery to your hotel or the station in Bucharest or Istanbul.
Please send an email to tickets@discoverbyrail.com for booking inquiries.
At DiscoverByRail, we can book both regular tickets and Eurail or Interrail passholder fares for the Bucharest-Istanbul train, as well as for the Sofia-Istanbul night train.
If you wish to book tickets from Bucharest to Istanbul, we can arrange delivery to your Bucharest hotel or a handover at the station, subject to prior agreement and email confirmation.
For travel in the opposite direction, from Istanbul to Bucharest, tickets will be handed over by our local agent at Istanbul Halkalı station before the train’s departure.
If you wish to board the Bucharest-Istanbul night train at intermediate stations in Bulgaria such as Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, or Dimitrovgrad we can also arrange tickets (Ruse-Istanbul, Veliko Tarnovo-Istanbul, or Dimitrovgrad-Istanbul).
However, as these tickets can only be purchased in Bulgaria, we require at least 10 days’ notice for our agent in Sofia to obtain them and send them by registered to our local agent in Bucharest, where they can be delivered to your hotel or handed over to you at the station. We can also arrange ticket delivery or collection in Sofia, but not in any other Bulgarian city.
About the Bucharest-Istanbul night train
In the summer season – typically running from mid-June to mid-October (exact dates vary by year) – you can take a direct night train between the Romanian capital of Bucharest and Istanbul in Turkey.
The Bucharest-Istanbul night train runs daily during the summer season, leaving Bucharest Gara de Nord at 10:11 and arriving the following morning at 09:56 at Istanbul Halkalı station.
On the return journey, the train leaves Halkalı station at 20:00 and arrives at Bucharest Gara de Nord at 17:32 local time (although it is often delayed, so avoid planning any tight connections at this end!).
It’s a slow but beautiful journey across the Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria.
En route between Bucharest and Istanbul, the train also stops at the popular Bulgarian destination of Veliko Tarnovo, which is well worth a day’s stopover.
The Bucharest-Istanbul night train only features 4-berth couchettes.
Bucharest to Istanbul outside the summer season
Outside the summer season (from mid-October to mid-June), you can still travel from Bucharest to Istanbul by rail, though it requires a few connections along the way.
By far the easiest and most stress-free option is to travel via Sofia, although this requires spending an extra night in the Bulgarian capital. On day 1, you travel from Bucharest to Sofia (with a change of trains in Ruse), which is a beautiful train journey in its own right. On day 2, you take the year-round Sofia-Istanbul night train. This is the option DiscoverByRail recommends when travelling in the off-season.
Another option is to travel across Bulgaria by daytime trains on the same route as the summer-seasonal Bucharest-Istanbul night train. This means you’ll need to connect in Ruse, Gorna Orjahovitsa, and Dimitrovgrad, where you will board the Sofia-Istanbul Express. The advantage is that you can reach Istanbul in a single night’s travel, but the downside is that some of the connections are quite tight, and you won’t have as long a sleep on the night train between Dimitrovgrad and Istanbul compared to taking this train all the way from Sofia to Istanbul.
The Sofia-Dimitrovgrad-Istanbul train has both 4-berth couchettes and sleepers, which can be booked as a double (if there are two of you travelling together) or as a single for private occupancy if you travel alone.
Travel classes on Turkish night trains
The Bucharest-Istanbul night train only has couchettes, whereas the Sofia-Dimitrovgrad-Istanbul night train offers both sleepers and couchettes.
Each sleeper compartment on Turkish night trains contains two berths – one upper and one lower – and can be reserved either for single occupancy or for two passengers travelling together.
These cosy compartments come equipped with a washbasin and a complimentary minibar filled with snacks and soft drinks
Turkish couchette compartments have four berths arranged as two upper and two lower beds.
You will share the compartment with passengers of the same sex on Turkish sleeper trains, although mixed-gender groups of two to four people can travel together if they book all four berths in the same compartment in a sleeper or couchette, of course.
Bedding, including pillows, sheets, and blankets, is provided in both travel classes.
In sleeper compartments the beds are already prepared, while in couchettes you’ll need to make them up yourself.
Each carriage has two toilets at one end – one western-style and one squat-style.
As there is no dining car on these Turkish night trains, it’s a good idea to bring your own food and drinks for the journey.
Border crossing
The overnight trains linking Sofia and Bucharest with Istanbul cross the border between Bulgaria and Turkey at Svilengrad (the Bulgarian border station) and Kapıkule (the Turkish border station).
If you are heading towards Turkey, you will need to get off the train at Kapıkule, taking all your luggage with you for a security scan and customs inspection, as well as Turkish immigration.
Once you’ve cleared customs and passport control, you can board the night train again.
On the return journey from Turkey to Bulgaria, the process is much easier – you only go through passport control, and your bags can remain safely on the train.
Note that when travelling east from Bulgaria to Turkey, you will need to leave the train at Kapıkule with all your luggage for an X-ray scan as part of the customs check, and go through passport control, both located in buildings along the station platform.
When travelling west from Turkey to Bulgaria, you can leave your luggage on board the train, as you only have to go through passport control in this direction.
Since both Bulgaria and Romania joined the Schengen Zone, there are no longer any passport checks at the Romanian-Bulgarian border when taking the Bucharest-Istanbul train.
That said, it’s not unusual for Romanian or Bulgarian border officers to carry out a brief on-the-spot inspection of passports on the train as it stops at the border stations of Giurgiu in Romania and Ruse in Bulgaria.
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