Travelling Overnight from Istanbul to Sofia by Train

Istanbul can be a convenient city to travel from when visiting the Balkans. The city has one of the largest airports in this corner of Europe and is a great place to spend time, whether it’s a few days or even a week. One of the most interesting options for getting to the Balkans is to travel from Istanbul to Sofia by train.

The train route between Istanbul and the Balkans is one of Europe’s most famous. If you’re interested in travel or pop culture, you’ve heard of the Orient Express. That famous train service no longer exists, but one of its routes did connect Sofia and Istanbul.

Travelling between the two cities today by train has none of the glamour of the Orient Express. But it does provide an interesting option for people travelling the region. I was very curious to experience this daily train service on my latest Bulgarian trip. My other experiences with Bulgaria’s border crossings have been eventful, so how I could resist sharing with you what it’s like?

Where to get tickets in Istanbul

One of the first tricks to going from Istanbul to Sofia by train is understanding where to get your tickets. You cannot book tickets for this train online.

In Istanbul, you need to head to the ticket office inside Sırkecı station in Cağaloğlu, near Gulhane Park. If you’re sightseeing in Sultanahmet or Eminönü, this is pretty easy to do.

At the ticket offices, you’ll find an international counter on your left tucked around the corner. In the window, they’ll have the latest train information posted for the Istanbul train to Sofia. Departure time in 2023 was 8 pm and I believe that’s also the case for 2024.

This is where you buy your tickets and it’s best to do this a day or two in advance just for peace of mind. Interestingly, the Istanbul-Sofia train cost is displayed in Euros and then converted into lira. I assume this is because of the continuing inflation of the Turkish lira.

Tickets range from around 29€ for a bed in a 4-sleeper, 34€ for a 2-sleeper, and 63€ for a 2-sleeper for yourself. The exchange rates make it hard to give firm numbers. You can pay by credit card.

I’m a light sleeper (and a bit precious), so I got the private cabin, thinking it would help. The train turned out to be very empty, but I think they were still pairing people up in 2-sleeper cabins, so it was worth it.

Where to board the train

Where you buy your tickets for the Istanbul-Sofia train is not where you board the train. You need to know and understand this!

The overnight train does not run from Sırkecı station. Instead, it leaves from Halkalı Train Station, a station a long way from Istanbul’s city centre out in the city’s west. I believe Sirkeci used to be the main train station for Istanbul until they relocated to Halkali.

To get to the train, you need to take the B1 suburban train line from Sırkecı station. Ride the train to the end of the line at Halkali. Once there, walk out of the suburban station and into the main train station. There you show your international train ticket at a booth to check in and they’ll wave you through to the platforms.

When I arrived at Halkali, the night train from Istanbul to Sofia was the only train at the platforms. Hard to miss, especially as it has a sign by each door saying “Istanbul – Sofia” on it. This reflects the feel of the station – it was super empty with nothing nearby.

The train departs at Halkali at 8 pm, but they ask you to be there by 7.30 pm to check-in. Like clockwork, the train left on time, which isn’t often the case in Europe.

What the train and cabins are like

Stepping onto the train, it’s immediately obvious that the overnight train from Istanbul to Sofia is of an older vintage. I’ve travelled on older trains in Europe though, so I wasn’t too bothered by its condition.

Staying in a 2-person sleeper, I was impressed with what I found. Fold-up bunk beds mean that there’s a lot of space in the cabin, especially for one person. Overhead luggage storage as usual keeps your bags out of the way, but there was also a cupboard across from the boards, with a useful flat surface on top. The room even has its own sink.

One benefit of taking the 2-sleeper is that your room even comes with a fridge. Inside were a nice selection of snacks: small water, pretzels, juice and a chocolate bar. For one person, that’s not too bad. I had brought my only food and water, so I felt well-supplied.

Having beds that fold down makes it quite comfortable when you want to sit up at the start and end of the trip. As with most night trains, you’re provided with linen, a pillow, and a blanket. My experience with train blankets has always been below average, but all the provided things seemed as nice as can be expected.

If you’re travelling solo, you’ll be pleased to know the compartment doors lock properly. The staff never entered on their own, always knocking at the borders, often several times.

What to do on the night train from Istanbul to Sofia

The journey from Istanbul to Sofia takes around 13 hours, most of which is nighttime. However, I was travelling in late spring, which meant that it was light outside for quite a while. So at the start of the ride, I just spent my time looking out the window and admiring the Turkish countryside.

Ideally, you want to spend most of the trip sleeping if possible. It’s unlikely that you’ll drift off immediately, so having books, music, podcasts, or Netflix ready is a good idea. If you’re a more social kind of person, you may find other travellers out in the corridor looking for a chat.

Sleeping on a train, even in a private cabin with sleeper beds, is never going to be equal to a hotel bed. But I was pleasantly surprised by how well I slept on the train. It helps that the journey is relatively straight and flat, except for a winding section or two in Bulgaria.

I slept better on this train than I have on almost any other night train or bus I’ve been on. Maybe this was because I had a cold from the flight, but I think got half a night’s sleep, which isn’t bad.

Late-night border crossing

If you do get to sleep, you’ll be woken as the train rolls to the stop around 1 am. Knocks and shouts are the sign that you’ve reached the first border – Kapikule. This is where you’ll go through the Turkish border control with your passport near the station.

I’ve read that you get your bags x-rayed coming into Turkey. That doesn’t happen leaving Turkey though.

There are two things worth knowing here. Even in June, it was quite cold outside at night here and the crossing involves standing around a while so bring a sweater/jacket. The other is that it’s a long wait, roughly an hour, but you can get back on board once you’re done with immigration.

It was only at the border that I realized just how few people were on the train. There were only 10-20 people on the entire, long train. Based on accents, quite a few were also fellow Australians funnily enough.

When the train does start to move again, it’s only to get across the border to Kapitan Andreevo on the Bulgarian side. This time you stay onboard the train as the Bulgarian border control comes aboard. They look around the train’s compartments and then collect passports.

Do not worry! This is completely normal in parts of Europe. They take them, stamp them, come back and hand them out again. Expect another long wait of up to an hour.

When the train starts to roll again, that’s it. This is now the best time to sleep, with 5-6 hours until Sofia. The train does stop in Plovdiv on the way, but that barely registered to me in a half-asleep stupor.

Morning arrival in Sofia

According to the train timetable, the overnight Istanbul train to Sofia is meant to arrive at 9.40 am. The last part of the journey seemed to take an eternity as we slowly crept through the outskirts of Sofia. Still, I think we arrived ahead of schedule by 10 minutes.

Sofia Station feels much busier when you arrive compared to leaving Istanbul. It’s also incredibly more convenient. I walked to my hotel near Lavov Most in 10 or so minutes, but you have trams and the M2 metro line available to you.

Getting into Sofia at this time of day, you’re arriving as the business day has started. This is useful for public transport, but also for doing things like getting money out or exchanging it. The bus station area on your left as you leave the train station has exchange places.

Once you’ve got your hotel, you can leave your luggage and set out into the city. Coffee is sure to be a priority, it was for me, but you then have the day to go sightseeing. Plan to crash in the afternoon though, unless you slept brilliantly.

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Have you ever thought about taking the Istanbul-Sofia sleeper train in either direction? What overnight train journeys have you done and would recommend to other travellers? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.