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image credit: Flickr - MichaelLynnBorich
orient express 2025
London - Istanbul August/September 2025
Possible Dates: Saturday 23rd August - Friday 12th September
A two-week Pan-European train adventure
This is a 'bucket-list' trip, postponed for years, now to become a reality.​ An InterRail Global Pass at a great price provides 7 days (in a month) of unlimited rail travel across the entire European network. The objective is to visit some of the most iconic and 'must-see' capitals and major cities between London and Istanbul. Although not quite the route of the legendary 'Orient Express' of years since, this trip pays tribute to the principle of travelling long distances through Europe by train in comfort and style.​
Europe now has an increasingly widespread network of high-speed lines, and with the recent re-introduction of many overnight sleeper trains, major European cities are well-served by fast daytime, or comfortable overnight services. Even London could become better connected soon if proposals to increase high-speed services directly to other major European destinations come to light. With all point-to-point rail fares covered by the InterRail Pass, all that remains is to book seat and sleeper reservations and enjoy the ride.
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Commencing at London St.Pancras International, I'll visit Berlin, Salzburg (for a small diversion to Ingolstadt Audi), Vienna, Prague, Krakow, Budapest and Bucharest, finally arriving more than two weeks later at the crossroads of Europe and Asia that is Istanbul.
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Notable high spots will be a visit to the Audi Museum and factory at Ingolstadt, attending a classical music concert in Vienna to commemorate the bicentenary of Richard Strauss, and learning more about East-West Cold War tensions in Berlin. From Krakow, I'll take a trip to the memorial to human suffering that is the museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and in Bucharest, I'll visit the heaviest building in the world, the gigantic Palace of the Parliament, previously home to the brutal, Ceaucescu regime of Romania in the 1970s and 80s.​
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The travelling will be a mix of day-time, short-ish trips, saving the overnight sleeper services to cover some much longer distances. Highlights are expected to be travelling through the spectacular Austrian Alps, especially the astonishing feat of engineering that is the Semmering Bahn route with its multitude of viaducts and tunnels. Ahead of that, the efficiency of the DeutscheBahn high-speed network will be tested on the trip north to south in Germany from Berlin to the Audi Complex at Ingolstadt, at well over 500km.
The route
London -> Brussels -> Berlin
Adventure Days: 1...2, 3
The Great European Rail Adventure to Istanbul heads out from London St.Pancras International on a lunchtime Eurostar heading for Brussels to arrive late afternoon - just a short, two-hour trip (allowing for the time change, Europe = UK time +1 hour).
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Exploring Brussels will have to wait for another time, although it should be possible to squeeze in a brief metro ride to Grand Place in the city's centre to at least grab an early evening meal - my onward journey departs at 19:03 on the NightJet sleeper service to Berlin. I'll watch the Belgian countryside slip by as twilight descends, before settling down in my 1st class sleeper berth to be gently rocked through the night. This will be the first of several night-train experiences throughout the trip, so it remains to be seen if a proper sleep is possible. By breakfast-time the following morning I will be deep in Central Europe with the rest of the adventure to look forward to.
Arriving in Berlin I will have a couple of days to explore the city. Of special interest are memorials of the years of Cold War tension between the Soviet Union and the West - within living memory for me. Also, I'll visit the stunning Reichstag - the German Parliament building; and take a trip to the legendary East Side Gallery, a vaste collection of poignant artwork​ painted across a remaining section of the old Berlin Wall. The paintings commemorate the fall of the wall, the reunification of Germany, and the end of the Soviet era.
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For evening entertainment, I'll try to find the ZigZag Jazz Club in the Freidenau district, reputed to be one of the best live music venues in the city. The Berlin jazz scene has a reputation for being lively, so it could be an interesting gig.
London 13:01 | 16:06 Brussels 18:48 | 08:26 Berlin
Berlin -> Audi@Ingolstadt -> Salzburg
Adventure Day: 4
An early, 08:12 departure from Berlin will follow the mostly high-speed line nearly 450km south to Nurnberg, scheduled to be covered in well under three hours. So from my 1st class seat, I'll witness the German countryside flying by.
After a short, further high-speed hop to Ingolstadt I plan to fulfil a personal desire to visit Audi Forum, the innovative museum and exhibition centre for all things Audi. Loyalty to the brand is evidenced by my own modest 'garage' - the TT, the S1 and the A2 - all interesting and quite collectable examples of the Audi marque.
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Numerous examples of Audi machinery are on display in the museum, spanning some 80 years of manufacturing in the auto industry from the 1920s to the 2000s. In addition to exploring the exhibits and memorabilia, the visit will include a tour of the adjacent car plant to witness modern Audis being constructed from start to finish.
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Apparently all can be seen and experienced in a few, short hours, so by late afternoon I'll be catching another high-speed link from Ingolstadt to Munich, changing onto the Austrian Railways service to Salzburg for a welcome overnight stop. Salzburg is reputed to be a typical Austrian small town and although my visit will be all too brief, there should be time to explore just a little: after breakfast, perhaps there will be time to take a hike up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress ahead of my lunchtime, onward train.
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Berlin 08:12 | 11:32 Ingolstadt 17:02 | 19:32 Salzburg
Salzburg -> Vienna
Adventure Days: 5, 6
Today's trip follows what promises to be an extraordinary, scenic route through the foothills of the Austrian Alps from Salzburg in the west to Vienna in the east. The more direct route would be more efficient and much shorter time-wise, but today is all about the train journey rather than the quickest route point-to-point.
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After a brief look around Salzburg this morning, I board the midday EuroCity service heading for Graz to travel along one of the most scenic railway routes in Europe. I'll be leaving the Salzburg-Graz train at Leoben however, changing to the Vienna service from Graz for a highlight of the trip, which is this train's route along the Semmering-Bahn. This is said to be a spectacular, 41km section of track which includes 16 gorge-crossing viaducts and 15 tunnels. It is a tribute to the amazing feat of 19th-century engineering required to complete the line in 1854, six years after ground was first broken. The section of track has UNESCO World Heritage status.​
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I arrive in Vienna early evening to check-in to my accommodation and find somewhere for dinner. After breakfast the following morning, I have a whole day of sight-seeing, in this, one of Europe's most beautiful cities. On the itinerary will be at least the Hofburg Palace and St.Stephen's Cathedral, and I want to allow time to meander through the 'Innere Stadt' to soak up some Vienna-Vibes.​
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This evening could be concert-time, not least as in 2025 Vienna celebrates the bicentenary of the city's most famous pop star of his time, Richard Strauss, King of the Waltz. If I can get a ticket, attending a concert at one of the stunning, Viennese classical music venues would be well worth it.
Salzburg 12:16 | 15:28 Semmering 16:33 | 18:26 Vienna
Vienna -> Prague
Adventure Days: 7, 8, 9...
After lunch on my final morning in Vienna following a last look around, perhaps for some souvenir-hunting - my trip heads north towards Prague on the afternoon train. Prague is also reputed to be one of the most charming European capitals with a delightful medeival old town and plenty of history. After finding my accommodation I'll start exploring, ahead of dinner.
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The following morning, I'll cross the Charles Bridge to explore Prague Castle; try to find the amazing moving statue of Franz Kafka, one of Prague's many 'causes célèbres', and visit the stunning Spanish Synagogue, making sure there's plenty time for a coffee or perhaps lunch in one of the Old Town Square cafés.
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After an all too brief visit to this historical central European capital city , I'll head back to the station to board my second overnight sleeper service, the Chopin Express, eastwards to Krakow in southern Poland. First class travel on my InterRail pass should ensure a decent night's rest. (An alternative, is to take the day train 'Cracovia' service, departing Prague 10:19 to arrive in Krakow 16:52);
Vienna 13:10 | 17:13 Prague
Prague -> Krakow
Adventure Days: ...10, 11, 12...
​If I've arrived from Prague on the overnight sleeper this will be just before 7, and means another early breakfast. A twenty-minute walk from the station will bring me to Rynek Glówny - the main square in the old city with apparently more than 30 cafés and restaurants to choose from. Fed, coffeed and rested a little, I'll have the most part of the day to explore Krakow, not least to visit Wawel Castle - a renowned site of national heritage for the Polish peoples - and also to explore the stunning St. Mary's Basilica. (If I've arrived on the day service, I'll be checking in to my accommodation, and then back to Rynek Glówny to look for dinner and soak up the evening - perhaps I'll find some more jazz?).
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Krakow is the closest major city in Poland to Auschwitz-Birkenau and this is the main reason for coming here. The human suffering that was a despotic regime's attempt at the genocidal eradication of a complete race should not be forgotten. 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of its liberation by the Russian allies (at the time) towards the end of WWII. Visiting the holocaust museum will be a harrowing experience but it is a lesson from history that everyone should know. This will be an all-day excursion on the second day of my time in Krakow, not least because a slow, local train ride to Ośweięcim is required, the being the closest town to the museum, some 60km to the west.
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On my last day in Krakow there is still plenty to do and see. Beneath the Cloth Hall in Rynek Glówny - now a market bazaar itself worth a visit - is an underground multimedia museum to immerse the visitor in medieval Krakow. Also, there will be Schindler's Factory to visit to find out more about the astonishing benevolence of this wartime individual, who almost single-handedly saved countless persecuted Jewish souls from extermination in the nearby camps. I may even take another short trip out of town to the Weiliczka Salt Mine, no longer working, but now bursting with underground galleries, eating places and labyrinthine tunnels following more than 700 years working the salt.
I have the whole day at hand, as my onward train to Bucharest will be aboard the EuroNight 'Ister' sleeper service, departing after dinner at 22:35.
Prague 22:14 | 06:37 Krakow
Krakow -> Budapest
Adventure Days: ...13, 14, 15...
The towering Tatra Mountains form a significant part of the southern border between Poland and Slovakia, with Budapest in Hungary even further south. The overnight service from Krakow skirts around this significantly high terrain. So the route from Krakow heads back into Czechia (the Czech Republic) before swinging south through Bratislava in Slovakia, and onwards to Hungary. The train is scheduled to include sleeper cars that run the complete, 650km to Budapest, and as all three countries are within the Schengen Zone of the European Union, no sleep-interrupting border control checks should be experienced.
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Assuming I have a restful night rocking through the East European countryside, my arrival in Budapest is scheduled for 08:27 the following morning. So again, first stop is a decent breakfast, and then a gentle meander throughout the city. Perhaps I'll take a walk up to Buda Castle and the Royal Palace ahead of checking in to my apartment later in the afternoon.
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The Hungarian capital is also reputed to be a charming city with the usual attributes of an interesting old town, a huge cathedral, and beautiful, restful squares to enjoy. And as Budapest stradles the mighty Danube, scheduling in a river trip to see the city from the water may be well worth considering.
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After my second night's accommodation and a further day exploring the city, I'll head back to the station for the next overnight sleeper service, onward to Bucharest, departing early evening.
Krakow 22:35 | 08:29 Budapest
Budapest -> Bucharest
Adventure Days: ...16, 17, 18...
Now I'm really heading into the heart of south-eastern Europe. Romania is a similar-sized country to Poland and is known partly for the mysticism of Transylvania, Dracula's haunt (Bran Castle) and legends of vampires, but more latterly for the brutal, ruling communist regime of the Ceuacescus, eventually displaced as a consequence of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
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The overnight sleeper service from Budapest travels south east into Romania through Arad and on towards Brasov, close to Bran Castle. The route then skirts the northern edge of another huge mountain range - the Carpathians - ahead of arriving in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. The train timetable suggests it will be perfectly feasible to break my Krakow to Budapest journey in Brasov at breakfast-time and take a short bus ride to visit Dracula's Castle. Once done, it will be possible to rejoin a late afternoon train for the onward leg to Bucharest.
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As the penultimate stop before Istanbul, and aside from being en-route, to visit Bucharest is to experience a couple of days in a truly distant-from-home European capital, here on the eastern fringes of the European Union. The city has plenty to see and do, not least there is the astonishing Palace of the Parliament to visit - previously Ceaucescu's residence - which is apparently the heaviest building in the world. I'll also visit the Romanian Atheneum, built towards the end of the 19th century as a public library and centre for the arts and music; and I'm especially looking forward to meandering down wide, tree-lined boulevards gazing at grand, Belle Epoque buildings in this eastern city, often referred to as 'Little Paris'.
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At coffee-time on my final day in the city I depart Bucharest on the lengthiest rail journey of the whole trip, in time at least. The Bosphorus Express so-called 'overnight' service actually pulls out of the station mid-morning to take an obviously rather leisurely route through the southern Romanian countryside, into and across Bulgaria, and on towards Turkey.
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Budapest 19:10 | 08:50 Brasov 14:49 | 17:05 Bucharest
Bucharest -> Istanbul
Adventure Days: ...19, 20-22
Bucharest to Istanbul is the final leg of my 'tribute trip' to the historic and romantic 'age-of-the-train' original route of the Orient Express, now sadly displaced (as a direct service at least) by the predominance of low-cost air travel throughout Europe.
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The service from Bucharest departs late morning to thread its way through the Carpathians into Bulgaria, where in the late evening at Dimitrovgrad in the south, it will be connected to the Sofia Express service which arrives from Bulgaria's capital, continuing together as one train to Istanbul. After leaving the European Union at the border crossing with Turkey - sadly requiring a disturbance in the middle of the night for passport-checking - the train threads its way to Istanbul-Halkali, arriving for breakfast. At the moment, the service terminates here due to the ongoing redevelopment of Istanbul's central station Sirkeci, on the shores of the Bosphorus. Eventually international trains will arrive here at Sirkeci, in the centre of the city. Halkali is well-connected however, and a short, 20-minute ride on the local metro will see me arrive in the Sultanhamet district of this amazing city to check in to my accommodation, and spend a few days of R&R at the end of my trip.
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But aside from a well-earned rest from the excitement of a fortnight's travelling, there is plenty to see and do in Istanbul. I aim to visit (and re-visit) many of the city's most well-known attractions. There's the Blue Mosque; the Hagia Sofia; the Grand Bazaar; the Topkapi Palace; the Galata Tower; the Basilica Cistern; the Dolmabaçhe Palace; ... an almost endless list of amazing places to go see.​
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After nearly three weeks of InterRailing throughout Europe and a short stay in Istanbul, the 4-hour flight home will, no doubt, be a rueful anticlimax.
Bucharest 10:47 | 06:34 Istanbul
Train Itinerary
Trip Day# | arr | Location | dep | Train# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - | Botley | 09:31 | |
1 | 11:04 | London | 13:01 | Eurostar 9132 |
1 | 16:06 | Brussels | 18:48 | OBB NightJet 425 |
2 | 08:26 | Berlin | - | |
3 | - | Berlin | - | |
4 | - | Berlin | 08:12 | ICE 1003 |
4 | 10:56 | Nurnberg | 11:02 | ICE 527 |
4 | 11:32 | Ingolstadt | 17:02 | ICE 789 |
4 | 17:44 | Munich | 17:49 | WB 983 |
4 | 19:21 | Salzburg | - | |
5 | - | Salzburg | 12:16 | EC 217 |
5 | 15:28 | Leoben | 16:33 | D 738 |
5 | 18:36 | Vienna | - | |
6 | - | Vienna | - | |
7 | - | Vienna | 13:10 | RegioJet 256 |
7 | 17:13 | Prague | - | |
8 | - | Prague | - | |
9 | - | Prague | 22:14 | EuroNight 433 (Chopin) |
10 | 06:37 | Krakow | - | |
11 | - | Krakow | - | |
12 | - | Krakow | 22:35 | EuroNight 407/422 (Chopin) |
13 | 08:29 | Budapest | - | |
14 | - | Budapest | - | |
15 | - | Budapest | 19:10 | EuroNight 473 (Ister) |
16 | 08:50 | Brasov | 14:49 | 532 |
16 | 17:05 | Bucharest | - | |
17 | - | Bucharest | - | |
18 | - | Bucharest | 10:47 | EC 461/463/465/493 (Bosphoros Express) |
19 | 06:34 | arrive Istanbul (Halkali) | - |