Bosphor Express giving service between Istanbul and Bucharest has started.
The overnight train service between Istanbul (Halkali) and Bucharest, Bosphor Express, has started as of 3rd of June.
The train is actually couchette wagons attached to Sofia Express until Dimitrovgrad and then attached to Sofia-Bucharest train. In this way, travellers can travel between Istanbul and Bucharest in same compartment without any interchange.
Bosphor Express has only couchette wagons where each compartment has 4 seats/berths. Travel time is approxiametely 19 hours.
There is neither dinner car nor buffet in train. Travellers have to bring all food/drink with them.
Similar to other international trains, tickets of Bosphor Express can be bought only at stations with international ticket office, Halkali, Sirkeci and Sogutlucesme in Istanbul. No sales via internet or call center.
This train runs only during summer until 3rd of October.
Timetable and more details for Bosphor Exress
Cover photo: Onur Uysal ©
Categories: Passenger
Rail Turkey En 
This is a daily schedule? What do you think the journey time is expected to be (realistically) ?
Yes it’s daily. No idea if travel time announced will increase due to delays; it depends on 2 border crossings and 3 operators.
I will give it a go as soon as I can regardless 🙂
Enjoy. Would be glad if you can share helpful notes after your travel.
Hi, is it possible to travel with the dog in Bosfor express? Is there any special ticket for dog?
Pets are not allowed in sleepers in Turkey. If you will get in from Bucharest, better to ask CFR.
This is a fun train. I’ve gone both ways on a number of occasions. The Turkish conductors are cheerful, and you usually get an entire compartment to yourself. However, the Bulgarian leg of the journey is excruciatingly slow. And the train stops in the middle of nowhere for 3 hours (the conductor told me “they make very good raki in this village”). Also be prepared to be woken up in the middle of the night when you enter Turkey. The officials are grumpy — I guess they’d rather be in bed too.
Hello, I will be going to Bucharest for work in the near future. Which company does this train belong to, is it organized by the Turkish State Railways? When I asked them about this train, they said they didn’t know, there is only a trip to Sofia.
Ask to international ticket office at Sirkeci. You can call or visit. You can find details at Sirkeci station page of Rail Turkey.
Hi, I’m travelling with a interrail ticket from Budapest to Istanbul on the 28th of July. I saw it is not possible to book a seat online or via telephone. Is it realistic to plan to reserve a seat on spot on the same day or is the train often full? Any advice to prevent getting stuck on the in-between? Thanks for the help.
Sorry, no other solution. It was not full in recent years. Due to this no-online issue, I don’t expect any change.