Sweety0024

How many days does it take to take the euro train from Istanbul, Turkey to Athens, Greece? Also, how many days does it take to take the euro train from Athens to Rome?

PalenQ

Well for Athens to Rome the quickest route is to take a train to Patras, on the sea and then an overnight ferry to any of several Italian ports - Bari or Ancona are good and hop trains from there to Rome - lots quicker than taking a train all the way up and around the sea into Trieste and Venice and you save on a night in a hotel - cheap sleeping options on board and you can, if young, sleep on the deck in deck chairs or in the lounge, etc.

If you have a Eurailpass valid in both Greece and Italy the boat is fully covered except a minor port tax and in peak summer season a small surcharge.

For lots of info on these boats and trains in those areas I always sp[otlight these IMO fantastic sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

Istanbul to Athens is a long haul by train - sometimes you have to bus across the Turkish-Greek border due to ill relations between the two countries - buses may even be a better bet - if you have lots of time take a bus from Istanbul down to ancient Troy - Ephesus - then take a boat to a Greek island and use boats from there to Piraeus, port of Athens. You could stop at Rhodes, Mykynos, Kos, Santorini, etc and make a beautiful trip out of it rather than one straight through heck of a long train and or bus trip.

Bedar

You'd better get a map and take some geography and history lessons.

neckervd

If you absolutely want to do as much as possible by train, you may check the following:

train from Istanbul to Edirne
taxi from Edirne to the border and from the border to Nea Vissa. Nea Vissa dp by train 4.58 and 12.04 - Athens ar 20.24 and 5.01, change at Alexandroupoli and Thessaloniki.
The direct bus would of course be faster and cheaper.

Athens dp 22.55 - Strymon ar 9.07
taxi from Stymon to Kulata border (a few minutes)
local trains Kulata dp 14.10 - Sofia ar 18.35, changea at General Todorov and Blagoevgrad
overnight train Sofia dp 20.30 - Beograd ar 5.30
fast train Beograd dp 10.30 - Villach ar 22.32
overnight train Villach dp 0.06 - Rome ar 9.22
The usual itinerary (bus to Patras - fery to Bari - bus to Naples - train to Rome is of course much faster and cheaper

PalenQ

How long do you have to do those two segments - you want to go straight thru - if so long long hauls and I would look at cheap flights - but either routing if you have time you could stop at some lovely places - like taking boats up the Dalmatian Coast, stopping at Dubrovnik, Split, Havr (island) to Rijeka just a few miles from Trieste, Italy and the Italian train system.

thursdaysd

There are still NO international trains across the Greek border.

For trains from Turkey see: http://www.seat61.com/Europe-train-tickets.htm#Turkey

For train timetables see: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

For cheap flights see whichbudget.com or skyscanner.net.

clausar

Flying from Athens to Rome can be much cheaper than a train-boat-combination, plus it only takes 90 minutes.

There are no international trains from Greece at the moment, and this has nothing to do with the relations between the two countries. ( which are excellent in general)

The Greek Railways will eventually start the international connections next year again.

PalenQ

Flying from Athens to Rome can be much cheaper than a train-boat-combination, plus it only takes 90 minutes>

not necessarily if one has a Eurailpass that would give basically free trains and boats and also save on the night in a hotel as you sleep on board - now this type of travel is fine for younger folk and I did it several times when young and loved the boat ride - you can get off at Corfu for a few days and be in a real paradise and gathering point for younger folk - known for snorkling and water activities.