Paris to Istanbul in 55 Hours: The Ultimate Night Train Experience
Good evening, folks, and welcome to Paris-Est station! In this week's video, I will be traveling to Istanbul in Türkiye using three different night trains. Please note that all of these videos are available separately on my YouTube channel. The first leg of this journey will be onboard the famous Nightjet. It is operated three times a week by the Austrian National Railway ÖBB, in cooperation with the French National Railway SNCF. There are plans to increase this train's frequency to daily in the future. Once ÖBB gets enough of the new Nightjet trains to cover more routes, the tri-weekly Nightjet (Paris-Berlin, Paris-Vienna, Brussels-Berlin, Brussels-Vienna) will become daily.
You know my love for night trains—it's such a pleasure to see one at Paris-Est! The train is composed like any other Nightjet, with some couchette cars, some seat cars, and the most expensive accommodation, the sleeping car. The French National Railway SNCF doesn't have any bi-frequency engines (FR-DE) for the operation, so they had to rent some BR185s from MRCE. Still a really nice-looking train!! Departure at 18:58.
That feeling of being the first to board the train For today's ride, I will be traveling on the Nightjet, in the cheapest accommodation: the seat car. I paid €19 with an Interrail Pass—€19 is the price of the seat reservation. As a regular ticket, you can find tickets for around €50 one way, which is a fair price since you're staying around 16 hours on the train. Quite surprised to see an attendant for the seat car! That's my seat! Each compartment comprises six seats that you have to share with strangers. Each compartment features two power outlets and is equipped with A/C. The seats are VERY comfortable. And to be fair, it's easy to have a good night's sleep in these seat cars. The key is to have only three passengers in the compartment.
Each seat can slide, and if you do that with the other seat in front of you, you can have a full "bed." Plenty of luggage room! Ready for departure! We left around 19:30 due to some braking issues on the engine, but it's fixed now! Let's take a look at the stats for our journey toward Istanbul... Two passengers are with me, one from Austria and the other from Brazil! I showed them the bed trick—they were super happy! The train doesn't stop until Strasbourg, so it's a quiet and relaxing ride across Eastern France until late at night! The BR185 is still hauling us well! The engine will be changed in Karlsruhe for an ÖBB Taurus (this was in 2022, now in 2024, the BR185 will go to Mannheim) Strasbourg, first and last stop in France! We all went to sleep after Strasbourg! I briefly woke up in Germany around 5:00...
I woke up near Passau at the Austrian/German border around 8:00 in the morning. ÖBB Taurus ftw The mighty Danube River. This is how we all slept! And we all slept pretty well! Linz Hbf, we're still perfectly on time! DB KISS ex-Westbahn—if you're curious, I have a video on the subject.
So does the Railjet. 200 km/h on the famous Westbahn line. Let's take a closer look at our train, shall we? This is the seat car... And the sleeping car, where a random dude is doing his yoga in the middle of the corridor, lol.
Again, if you're curious to see what it's like to travel on Nightjet's most expensive accommodation, I invite you to watch our video linked up there. Welcome to the couchette accommodation, where you can sleep on a real couchette but still be in a compartment with three or five strangers! If you want my advice, book the four-couchette-per-compartment accommodation when booking. Six per compartment is WAY too much! A light breakfast is included when traveling in a couchette. And this is the best part about traveling in a classic train with coaches and an engine... The rear view We arrived in Vienna right on time! This gives me plenty of time to go and explore the city before coming back later for my next train toward Bucharest in Romania. Good afternoon, folks, and welcome to the wonderful train station of Vienna Hauptbahnhof! My next train on this journey will be the EuroNight Dacia, straight to Bucharest.
Feel free to pack some drinks and food for this long journey! We have more than 20 hours of train travel, so pack ahead! Vienna Hbf has a lot to offer. My train is already delayed by 30 minutes, lol... :-( Scheduled departure at 19:42. Vienna Hbf is honestly a fun place if you love trains while waiting. You'll see dozens of train departures in a 20-minute frame. For example, this Nightjet to Rome! My train arrived at the station one hour later than its scheduled departure. Not fun, but at least it's not canceled, so it's a win! I was originally booked in a couchette compartment since the sleeping cars were fully booked. But upon boarding, I checked with the attendant if there was an empty compartment...
...and lucky me, there was one available. I had to pay an upgrade of €90, totaling €149 in seat reservations. That's the correct price according to Interrail. Heading east toward Hungary... Gotta love the flat wheel on my sleeping car, hehe. Each sleeping car compartment is fitted with two beds. You might have to share with a stranger, but I've booked solo occupancy. It's equipped with A/C.
I've booked the deluxe compartment, which is a compartment equipped with an ensuite shower and toilet... but unfortunately, the shower didn't work. You'll also find one power outlet in the bathroom. All in all, not the fanciest compartment I found, but it will do the job greatly. And I'm super excited to spend the night here! I'm already tired. Welcome to Hegyeshalom, the border station of Hungary. Since it's Schengen, we won't have any passport control. I will sleep in the upper bed tonight. Why? Because why not ??
The train stops for quite some time in Budapest-Keleti station. Feel free to step out if you feel like it. Time to hit the sack! The bed quality is very good, and so is the pillow! I will sleep like a baby tonight. During the night, we crossed the Romanian border, which is not in the Schengen area, so you have to show your passport. The operation is super quick! You'll have to show your passport in Hungary and Romania, so be ready to be woken up twice. But after that, you'll have plenty of time to sleep again... And good morning from Romania! During my ride on the EuroNight Dacia, our train got diverted through Timișoara instead of Brașov! But this diversion will give us some stunning views later along our river friend, the Danube! There's no breakfast or coffee included in the fare (!!), so it's crucial to bring some food and drinks on this journey.
On the other side of the river, this is Serbia! Romanian railway at its finest! I went to the couchette coach to have a good view of our consist and open the window freely. Quick view of our sleeping car in the back. No platform, no problem! After spending quite some time in my compartment, I realized that it was quite dirty, dusty, and broken... Don't tell the US that Romania has petrol... Craiova, Romania's sixth-largest city.
Quick walkthrough of our train—this is the sleeping car. There's also a communal shower but like mine, it didn't work :( There are some communal toilets for passengers who are not in a deluxe compartment. The toilets were quite clean and functional. Good job! The couchette car, the same as the one I had on my journey onboard the EuroNight Ister between Bucharest and Budapest.
Some windows can be opened in this car. This is the seating car... I wouldn't recommend 20 hours here, but if you're low on money, this is what it looks like. This is the dining car. It's not usually attached, but since we were diverted to Timișoara, our train got a dining car attached to our consist! Beers with Theodore, a new friend I just met! (with a copy of my book about night trains) I had lunch at the dining car. It was good, fresh, and affordable. Love it! We're approaching Bucharest, and we're right on time...
Since the train for Istanbul already left five hours ago, an overnight layover in Bucharest is necessary. But it's perfect to take a shower and explore this fantastic city! And good morning folks, welcome to Bucharest North Station (București Nord)! This is our final stretch for our journey toward Istanbul! And unlike all other journeys, this one starts quite early in the day as we will be in Istanbul tomorrow, very early in the morning. Departure at 10:55 from Bucharest. I really love Bucharest North station—no screens, nothing fancy, just some good old railway station vibes! Again, for this journey, pack your drinks and food as there will be no dining car onboard nor any service included with your ticket. An ex-SNCF X72500! If you're curious, I have a video on these wonderful noisy DMUs. And here comes the Bosphorus Express! The train is only composed of three coaches, and only one will go to Istanbul.
The train will be shunted many times in between. A TCDD (Turkish railway) attendant is here to welcome me and check my ticket... and there's good news! I will be the only passenger to Istanbul today... the whole coach to myself! We left Bucharest right on time! The TCDD couchettes are fitted with four couchettes per compartment. To my surprise, they are quite modern and super spacious! Of course, it's equipped with plugs and A/C. Climate control and announcement volume buttons.
The bed can be flipped easily. This will be my bed for tonight. It looks very comfortable! You can open the window a bit... First stop of the day in Videle.
Welcome to Giurgiu, the last stop in Romania. Here, the Romanian border police will come onboard and collect the passports for inspection. We're now ready to continue and cross our river friend, the Danube, to finally arrive in Bulgaria. This is the "Friendship Bridge" over the Danube.
Welcome to Ruse, our first stop in Bulgaria. This is the northbound Bosphorus Express. The Bulgarian electric engine will take over our train, while the Romanian diesel engine will take over the other train! In Ruse, you'll have to give your passport again to the Bulgarian border force. Our Turkish coach is getting attached to another train bound for Sofia. Ready for departure once the border police hands out the passports again. Our train is shunted again in Gorna Oryahovitsa and put on a local train bound for Dimitrovgrad.
Since I had quite some time in Gorna, I was able to get a sandwich from a local "bakery" in front of the train station! Not the tastiest, but this will do. During the rest of the afternoon, our train crossed the Balkan mountain chains, and it was breathtaking. Enjoy the scenery, folks! The BDZ (Bulgarian railways) class 44 is still hauling us with strength across the mountains! Onto a very unique toilet experience! Each couchette car is equipped with one regular toilet and one Turkish-style toilet! It was perfectly clean! (Duh, I'm the only one here.) But quite funny to see that on a train.
Completely empty coach! By the way, folks, be careful—this service (Bucharest - Istanbul) only runs during the summer months. The only year-round way to get to Istanbul is via Sofia! Out of the mountains and sunset in Tulovo. Last sunset—tomorrow we will be in Türkiye.
It's time to sleep, folks. Be ready—you'll have to get up at around 2:00 in the morning for passport control in Kapikule to enter Turkish territory. My advice is this: set an alarm and be ready with your luggage to get out in Kapikule. I was the third in line for passport control, and I was able to get back to sleep after 15 minutes. I was able to sleep for a few hours before waking up 20 minutes before arriving at the station of Halkali, the end of this journey. Keep in mind that Halkali is quite far from the city center of Istanbul, so you will have to take a taxi or the subway to get where you need to be! That's the end of this four-day journey, and what a trip! It was simply outstanding—not the fastest, but I will remember this journey until my last day on this planet. I hope you liked this video, folks. It was a bit different from the usual style, and I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to drop a comment and follow for more train travel content each week!
2024-09-03 09:16
