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Bucharest to Istanbul ALONE in a Turkish Sleeper Train
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Bucharest to Istanbul ALONE in a Turkish Sleeper Train



iyi eğlenceler!

Welcome to this new video where I will travel between Bucharest the capital of Romania and Istanbul Halkali station onboard a TCDD couchette car! Guess what, I had the whole car for myself 😎

Enjoy 🙂

– TRIP INFORMATION –
RECORDED IN JUNE 2022
Railroad company: TCDD in cooperation with CFR and BDZ
Train type: TCDD TVS 2000
From: București Gara de Nord to istanbul halkalı
Time: 19 hours + 3hours delay
Price: 51,2€ – $55

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00:00 : Intro
01:26 : Gara de Nord
03:06 : Arrival of the Bosphorus Express
03:49 : Boarding
04:21 : Departure from Bucharest
04:55 : Compartment tour
06:20 : Across Southern Romania
07:28 : Giurgiu, last stop in Romania
08:21 : Crossing the Danube
09:02 : Ruse, first stop in Bulgaria
10:54 : On many trains!
12:08 : Mid roll ads
12:41 : Across the Balkan mountains chain
13:35 : Bulgarian engine
13:54 : A very special Toilets Time
14:43 : Walkthrough
15:10 : Still in the mountains
17:55 : Sunset and waiting in Tulovo
18:51 : Nighty night
19:12 : Turkish border
19:54 : Waking up in Turkey
20:32 : Istanbul Halkalı
20:50 : Outro

46 Comments

  1. Reza Alan

    What a great trip. The route is scenic with huge field of countryside, Danube, and Balkan mountains. Also it's not forget to mention, some of former rolling stocks from Western Europe parked at some station. Based on what i watched on another video, Bosporus Express between Sofia – Istanbul and Bucharest – Istanbul is joined in the city called Plovdiv. I think the Sofia – Istanbul route is very pleasant since you only need to get off for Passport Control only between Bulgaria and Turkiye, but the experience about crossing Danube is only can be found on Bucharest – Istanbul route. Nice BDZ Locomotive on Tulovo and also nice locomotive for TCDD, overall nice trip without problems along the way.

  2. Alex Boromisa

    This through car seems to suffer from the poor routing via some local passenger trains, plus having to wake up at 1am defeats the purpose of a sleeper train. Plus it is probably very expensive for that part of world.

  3. Chris McMahon

    It is sad that there's no other 11:01 usage continues.

    BTW, do you really have to have passport control at the Romania-Bulgaria border?

  5. IGGO Caliente

    The video was nice, and you made a lot of effort to present it, nicely.

    But let's be honest here.

    Nobody wishes to travel on this train. No online purchases. No on-board food. Isolated locked wagons in the entire country of Bulgaria with no option to talk to other people. Why ?

    Nasty islamic toilets, with a hose to clear your butt. They send a waggon all the way to Europe, Romania, to attract who ? Apparently European passengers. And what they give to them ? A beautiful ottoman muslim toilet. Hahahaha turks !

    Old tracks. Four passport controls. In the middle of the night. Why so suspicious ? Why to catch this train and be treated as a criminal. Not to mention the technicalities, about stopping, starting, and changing trains so many times. Disastrous expirience.

    I traveled from Sofia to Bucharest in 1981. Today we are in 2023. How many years ? 42 ! Nothing changed in the border Russe Giurgiu. Bulgaria Romania. Nothing. Except maybe searching your belongings.

    Witch they did on me (1981), by the Romanians as they wanted to tax me, for a battery calculator I had with me, for calculating between currencies. I opened the window and throw the thing into Danube river. The reaction by the Romanian Customs gangster was hilarious. He left my compartment without a word.

    And the same thing, even today is practiced by the turks uppon arriving to their side. Instead of securing their borders with Iran and Iraq, they sniff the undewears of Europeans. What a joke country they are !

    I wish YouTube algorithms could enter the accounts of those operating these medieval trains, and present them trains from Japan, China, Europe, etc. And maybe afterwards kill themselves.

  10. Randall

    I assume you one can pay for the four berths to assure privacy, no? Great that the window opens a little. Are they going to restore service to the city centre station?

  15. Manos Men

    THE ONLY PASSENGER!!!! WOW THIS IS A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE!!!! VERY BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩. Beautiful sunset in Bulgaria!!!!

  17. Tumken

    Train traveling in Eastern Europe is always full of adventures and old-school climate, which I love so much!
    15:29 concrete catenary poles are very common in many former communist states, since concrete back then was very cheap and in extremely massive production.

  18. Giuseppe Masciale

    I wonder what is the usefulness and convenience of a similar service nowadays! A modern motorcoach would make the same route in less time and even more comfortably. Don't get me wrong, I like trains too, but that they perform a fast, comfortable and competitive service, otherwise they become just an attraction for some enthusiastic railfan.

  24. CK

    Wonderful video!!! Spectacular scenery!!! Thank you for taking us along!!!

  25. Lukas Markech

    The BDŽ locomotive was indeed rebuilt. There is a plaque visible even it got attached to the consist that reads "ŽOS Vrútky" which is a repair shop of sorts in Slovakia

  26. Alt Pfurz

    Thank you for your video. I'm sorry, I did not understand was the turkish style toilet vacuum or gravitational?

  27. Kole Rusinov

    Awesome video. I've been on the Sofia-Istanbul sleeper and indeed it was a great experience apart from the Turkish border control. It's a lot busier than Bucharest-Istanbul seems to be – I wanted to book a ticket in early may and they were sold out for a few weeks ahead and they run more carriages from Sofia.

  32. Hugo

    Is there anyone who could answer my question on why there are no tree branches that hit the train? Who cuts them?

  33. K I

    13:41 This is a part of a contract from 2019 with a Czech and a Slovak factories for practically re-building of 20 Skoda locos. from 44 series.

  34. KXY5

    I don’t know why would anyone take the train when they are way too overpriced and take way longer than airplanes. In addition, the look of these train doesn’t want to take them either.
    When Ryanair can take one in less than 2 hours to Brussels for 35€, why would anyone bother themselves on these old trains?

  37. Crisan Tiberiu

    Just asking, I dont know: can't you attach an external microphone to your camera so you wont pick up the "wind" when you film from the windows? (keep the microphone inside and the camera can film normally without the annoying wind?) would be a better experience…
    other than that, "like"

  41. Wouter Paap

    Thanks again! Your remark on concrete catenary poles reminded me of the route from Utrecht to Hilversum (NL). In 1938 it was decided that this track had to be electrified. The work was done in 1941 and 1942. Due to shortage of steal during WW II, the poles were build in reinforced concrete. They are still there and are now a monument. When in 1994 5 poles were torn down by a crane, they got rebuilt in the same style and in the same way. Have a look whenever you happen to be there. I live in a village near that track.

  44. Max

    I traveled the Sofia-Istanbul direct one back in 2010 to the old main station in istanbul. The border control in turkey wasn’t that complicated back then as far as I remember. Also there were several cars not just the one today.
    Did Interrail from Munich to Istanbul via Zagreb & Sofia and back via Greece and the ferry to italy. fun times
    good old times

  45. yogiaol

    Why you do not take video from Veliko Tarnovo? From this train this old mountain city looks amazing.

  46. Ahmet Kaan Sarı

    ne trenleri güzel, ne rayları güzel hepsi eski püskü, bir de bizi beğenmeyip Avrupa Birliği'ne almıyorlar gıcık oluyorum…

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