Shrink

Hi All
In June we will be in Istanbul. Our hope is to go from there to Athens - somehow. One option are ferrys through the Greek Isles leaving from somewhere down the coast from Istanbul (or Istanbul itself if possible). The other is a train around the sea to Athens. I know very little about how to get around in this area. I have a Eurail pass if that helps. Please advise as to which way to turn in planning this. Thanks again.
Shrink

thursdaysd

The Greek government has canceled international train service, you'll need to fly or take ferries. I don't think the Eurail pass will help with Greek ferries. You can leave Turkey from Marmaris to Rhodes, Bodrum to Kos, Kusadasi to Samos, or Ayvalik to Lesvos. You might find this site helpful for figuring out the next steps: http://www.athensguide.com/greek-isl...rry-schedules/

cnote

Hi Shrink,

Another great source for information about travel in & to Greece is Matt Barrett's site:

http://www.greecetravel.com/ferryboats/

Kalo Taxidi!

CNote

laurie_ann

Have you considered the bus? I ask because at least within Turkey long distance busses are popular. A quick internet search indicates it may be possible to take the bus from Istanbul to Athens. See this link: http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/g...st_athens.html

Fodorite014

Hi Shrink,

For train travel in Europe in general the German Railway's (Deutsche Bahn) web site is usefull for train schedules since they have times for a lot of trains in most countries in Europe.

Link: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

If you want to use your eurail pass going from Istanbul to Thessaloniki you will have to go through Sofia which is very slow, it takes more than 30 hours.

thursdaysd

hoxa61 - did you bother to read my post???

International train service to Greece has been canceled. See http://seat61.com/Greece.htm#By%20tr...ll%20the%20way and http://gogreece.about.com/b/2011/02/...in-service.htm

worldinabag

Hi

We flew Istanbul to Athens using Olympic Air. Check airfare sites like www.kayak.com