Sofia - Istanbul - Sofia by train

We've got lots of good stories and pictures saved up from recent travel, but first a post on logistics. I've enjoyed the help of many from Seat61 (train advice), Lonely Planet and Rick Steves' discussion forums, and thought I would share a little bit of logistics for those that are curious or could use the info.

We traveled by train from Sofia, Bulgaria to Istanbul, Turkey and back for the American Thanksgiving weekend. It was also over the major Muslim holiday of Kurban Bayrami.

We left from the impressively "Brutalist-style" Soviet-era central train station in Sofia at 19:10 Wednesday evening (25 November). I believe there is also a morning train to Istanbul, but am not confident of this (Bulgarian Railways train info). The train station is located next to the much newer (and much more heavily used) central bus station. We did not purchase tickets ahead of time but had no problems getting them less than one hour before departure. We did have a hard time finding the ticket office (downstairs, turn left, look for "Rila" ticket office). Tickets were 58 Bulgarian leva per person (about 30 Euro or 45 US Dollars at current exchange rates), including the sleeper car upgrade. You could get just the plain seat ticket (no bed for you) and save yourself 20 leva, but that seems like a terrible idea. For reference, you can also take the bus to Istanbul for about 40-50 leva one-way (several companies offer this, and I believe the trip is about 8-10 hours).

The train trip is scheduled for 13 hours arriving around 8 am. This seems sort of painful compared to 8-10 hours by bus, or 7-8 by car (it's less than 600 km/370 miles), but we decided we'd rather spend 50% longer on a train and be able to sleep a little than be crammed into a tiny bus seat all miserable night. This transit time for both train/bus includes 2 painful hours for the multiple-step border crossing.

The cabin in the Bulgarian sleeper car that we were in had 3 fold-down single bunks (for the two of us), luggage space, and a small sink. They had fitted the beds with fresh sheets and lots of blankets were available. The rooms lock from the inside, but there is no key to lock from the outside if you're off wandering the train. The cars were heated by a central coal-fired heater, which certainly cranked out the heat but left us breathing in a little more coal dust than we would have liked. The cabins were small and old, but overall in decent shape. Our only real complaint was that there was not a good seating option, especially for a group (although it was not hard to head down to the chairs-only part of the train if you wanted to sit up and socialize.

We got to the first of our border crossing stops about 2 am. Bulgarian border police come through, knock on doors, ask to see your passports. About 15 minutes later, we come to the border crossing itself (located between Edirne, Turkey and Svilengrad, Bulgaria). Everybody off the train, bleary-eyed into the cold night air!

We stood in line for a bit to get our passports stamped before we realized we needed to go to a different window first to get a visa. I don't know about other nationalities, but for citizens of the USA, you can get your visa at the border by paying $20/15 Euro. Note that you have to pay in dollars or euro, not Bulgarian Leva or Turkish Leva. (This is somewhat akin to requiring you to pay in Japanese Yen or Australian Dollars at the US-Canada border, but I digress.) There is not an ATM at the border, or a currency exchange (at least not one open at 2 am). Several ill-informed travelers were doing informal currency trades with other train passengers, trying to get their visa money. The visa is good for 90 days, and you get it from a office on your far left if you are looking at the station from the train. Once you have your visa, go to an office basically straight in front of the train to get your passport stamped. The guy in this office should be awarded a medal for his passport-stamping gusto -- he really gives it a good SLAM!

Passport stamped (Welcome to Turkey!), get back on the train, and you can go ahead and lay down again. Don't get too comfortable though, as you will be woken up at least twice more and asked to show your passport. I'm not sure, but I think this was customs and maybe also Turkish border police. They pound on your door, and you can just open it and shove you passport towards them without leaving bed, although they usually shine the flashlight at you and scrutinize your passport photo a bit.

This whole process took 2 hours. I have no idea why. Apparently it is a similar amount of time if you travel by bus. There were only maybe 30 people total on our train (half that coming back), so I imagine if you're traveling during a busy period it could be much slower.

Once we started moving from the border it was about 4 more hours to Istanbul, and we arrived roughly on-time. The station in Istanbul is much more appealing and welcoming than the one in Sofia, and the international ticket office (for our return trip) is very obvious and easy to find. If you're not carrying too much stuff, I would say that all of Sultanahmet (the "old city" of Istanbul, where most of the tourist sights are) is within a 30 minute walk from the train station. There is also a tram (1.50 lira) that picks up right outside the station to take you around the old town.

We did not buy round trip tickets because there was no discount (over 2 one-ways) and we had heard rumors of an impending train workers strike in Turkey. These rumors were unfounded, so we bought our return ticket Saturday night in Istanbul (once again, no problem without a reservation). We paid in Euro (same price as in Sofia), but they also took Turkish lira and credit cards. If you buy your ticket in Istanbul, you get put on a Turkish sleeper car instead of a Bulgarian one. I would have to say I like the design of the Turkish one better (2 bunks instead of 3, no coal-heat, and chairs in addition to beds), but our cabin was in poor shape. The whole thing smelled kinds moldy/mildewy and the bunk wouldn't stay latched up if we were trying to use the seats. Be sure to get on your assigned train car, because at some point in the middle of the night, half the train splits off and heads to Romania!

The return trip took 14 hours, departing at 22:00 (10 pm) and arriving 1 hour late to Sofia at 12:00 noon. This time the border brouhaha was from 3-5am, but a similar process (although we didn't have to wait for a visa this time).

I had a hard time figuring out what would be open or closed for Kurban Bayrami. This holiday is somewhat similar to American Thanksgiving, in that it is a family holiday with a feast, and offerings are made to the poor. Many things are closed for this holiday. Our first day there (Thursday, 26 November, although the date of this holiday changes from year-to-year) was Kurban Bayrami Eve (known as "Arife Gunu"). Everything we tried to do was open regular hours that day, although the markets seemed really packed for a Thursday night to me (though it was our first time there).

The only major sights that we found to be entirely closed because of the holiday were the Grand Bazaar (Kapali carsi) and the Spice Market or Egyptian Bazaar (Misir Carsisi). These close all 4 days of Kurban Bayrami, in this case Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, (27-30 Nov). Many shops and all banks were also closed during this period. We had no trouble finding plenty of tourist-oriented restaurants, guided tours, and gift shops open the entire time we were there, often until 10pm or later (there is a major tourist infrastructure in Istanbul). On the first day of Kurban Bayrami (Friday 27 November 2009), most of the tourist sites close during the morning (Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, most museums, etc.). Dolmabahce Palace was closed all day Friday, as well. We did not have any problems with ATMs running out of money or being shut down, although I've heard this might be a problem on the 3rd and 4th days of the holiday, as the banks are shut and don't service the ATMs as often.

I hope this helps some poor confused travelers out there. It was fun to take the night train, and Istanbul was an amazing place to visit. We'll be back soon, I'm sure.