We are planning a trip to Europe next year, in about May. We plan to fly from New Zealand to Istanbul, then want to go to Venice, Paris, and the UK before returning home. What is the best way to get from Istanbul to Venice? Or is there a better and more economical way to do this trip? Any advice would be appreciated.
2
If you want to try and do it by train, recreating some semblance of the old Orient Express train, have a look here are some different routes:http://www.seat61.com/Turkey.htm
Not ultra cheap or fast, though.
3
The train ride is easy: leave Istanbul at 10pm, go out of the train with all your luggage at the Bulgarian border at 3am, queue during 1 hour in the free air in order to get the Bulgarian stamp in your passport and reboard the train at 4am. Then you can remain in your wagon until the arrival at Beograd at about 8pm (with train stops of 30 to 60 minutes at Dimitrovgrad, Sofia, Kalotina Zapad and Nis.The direct Beograd - Venice train leaves Beograd at 15.25 and arrives at Venice at 7.16 (day 4), with Slovenian border controls between midnight and 1am.
With a big portion of chance, you may catch at Beograd the 21.40 train, change trains at Ljubljana and Sezana and arrive at Nova Gorica at 11.10, cross the border by bus and/or taxi, leave Gorizia Centrale at 13.40 and arrive at Venice at 15.56 (day 3).
4
If you get a train from Istanbul, you should be aware that they can sell you a through ticket in the Istanbul station, and they can book you onto a couchette for the Istanbul-Sofia section. However, they cannot do reservations for couchettes beyond the first night.The guy at the Istanbul station is rude and only speaks Turkish - I've seen many pissed-off travellers at the sales window because he won't explain this properly.
