Onur and Senem had travelled to Sofia and came back to Istanbul by Istanbul Sofia Express on July 2017.
There’s no restaurant car in train. The only food is distributed by TCDD staff, a bottle of water, some fruit juice and biscuit (most probably only for sleepers). Buy what you need before you depart from Sirkeci, since there’s nothing in Halkali yet, and Kapikule is not different in midnight.
In about half an hour after passport check by Bulgarian border police, if you are not in a deep sleep, you’ll recognize that train stops. There is Dimitrovgrad station. Bucharest wagons will leave the train there, and will follow another route towards Bucharest. It takes about 20 minutes. If you cannot sleep, it’s a good time to have some chat.
Read the full story
Route, timetable, options and fares of Istanbul-Sofia Express (Sofia-Istanbul) train
All stories about this train
 Istanbul Sofia train guide for beginners - Onur and Senem had travelled to Sofia and came back to Istanbul by Istanbul Sofia Express on July 2017. There’s no restaurant car in train. The only food is distributed by TCDD staff, a bottle of water, some fruit juice…  To Sofia by Bosphor Express - Teoman Can Tamturk from Turkey, working in tourism industry, decided to travel to Sofia with recently restarted Istanbul-Sofia Express and wrote his experiences in detail. One night on a train from Istanbul to Sofia - Taylor Davidson, an entrepreneur and photographer, took an overnight train ride on the Istanbul-Sofia Express from Istanbul, Turkey to Sofia, Bulgaria. Overnight train from Istanbul to Sofia - Amy, a social media marketer, teacher and traveller with a lust for life, decided to brave the train from Istanbul to Sofia in Bulgaria in August 2015. |
Cover photo by Onur Uysal
