Touristic Dogu Express will restart service on Ankara-Kars route as of 15th of December.
Touristic version of popular Ankara-Kars train (Dogu Express), which consists of only sleepers and gives long stops for excursions, will restart service on 15th of December after a suspension of 1.5 years due to Covid19.
The first train on Ankara-Kars direction will depart at 15:55 on 15th of December. Trains will depart every Wednesday and Friday, giving 3-hours excursion stops at Ilıc and Erzurum. The travel time on this 1300-km-stretch will be slightly less than 32 hours.
First train on opposite direction, Kars-Ankara will depart at 22:20 on 17th of December. Trains will depart every Friday and Sunday from Kars. On return, there’ll be 3 excursion-stops, at Erzincan, Divrigi and Sivas. Total travel time is around 33 hours.
This new concept of train with excursion-stops is being organized in cooperation with TCDDT and Ministry of Tourism. First train had departed on 29th of May 2019. Within one year until it was suspended due to pandemic, 3 departures were organized every week in each direction and Touristic Dogu Express carried 37k passengers. More routes are being evaluated with same concept to Zonguldak, Diyarbakir, Van and Pamukkale regions.
Cover photo: TCDD
Categories: Passenger
Rail Turkey En 
And departed from Kars..?
Yes, see details on text.
Tickets are sold out. This is the fourth time this has happened… The tourism companies buy up all the tickets and only live a few for citizens to purchase.
Though you have right in general especially for Dogu Express, the tickets for Touristic Dogu Express is not on sale yet. The capacity for Dogu Express was limited, since it’s subsidized by government, but Touristic Dogu Express is not, thus TCDDT announced that they can increase the capacity according to demand for Touristic Dogu Express. The reservations from agencies will be accepted until 23/11, so I expect tickets for individual travellers will be on sale very soon.
Where can I buy ticket?
Online. But tickets of this train is not on sale yet.
are tickets on sale
it seems that the tickest till 9th of january now on sale but all days the train ist marked as ” full train” – are there realy no places for individual tourists? Wahlt can I do. (I need the train for the 26 of january)
Unfortunately, both individuals and tours buy the seats very fast. There seems no solution other than being very fast and try to buy the ticket as soon as it’s on sale, right after midnight.
I checked website, and seems that there is no tickets for Touristic Dogu Express for whole next month. Surprising, there is a lot tickets for “regular” Dogu Express. Ok, I’m planning to travel Kars-Ankara in September, but as I checked, it’s easier to get regular than touristic tickets, even in completely low season. So, is there any chance to buy these tickets through travel agency? Sure, it will be more expensive, but still pretty good deal. 40 euro for 32 hours in double compartment? Even 60 would be OK 🙂
Most probably, the available tickets belong to seats, not couchettes. There’s a big demand for couchettes of classic Dogu Express and sleepers of Touristic Dogu Express. Travel agencies are selling whole packages including hotel, city tours and return flight, but I suggest you to bargain with them. Another possibilty is to check availibity in last day. It seems there are some people and/or companies manage to reserve in first day and release in last day.