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.

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Route, timetable, options and fares of Istanbul-Sofia Express (Sofia-Istanbul) train

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Cover photo by Onur Uysal