Istanbul to Vienna by rail

How long is your trip going to be?

Hi TLCh,
Sorry for not clarifying in my message. It will be around 12 days and we are hoping to stay 1-2 days at each stop. It's flexible as the overall trip is 20 days, but we plan to spend 4 days in Istanbul before traveling to Eastern Europe and 4 more days when we return to Istanbul.

Sound reasonable?

Thank you!

I'm puzzled as to how you are planning to fit Cyprus in; are you intending to fly there from Istanbul?

HI! So cyprus was totally a random suggestion based on its proximity to Turkey I thought it may be easily accessible via ferry. Flights were kind of expensive. But totally can avoid it! Im looking for the best bang for my buck in cities experienced on the way to Vienna and then back to Istanbul. Do you have any suggestions on which routes? Thanks!

Sorry one more thing! Heres more clarity on the cities I would like to see in the balkans.

Mostar, Bosnia
Kotor, Montenegro
Lake Ohrid, Macedonia
Sofia Bulgaria
Dubrovnik, Croatia

It's not necessary to hit every single one but just an idea of what would be great. Do you think a rail journey through these cities is feasible? Please let me know!

You've no chance of doing even half of what you are asking in 12 days and stopping over for a couple of days in places,especially by rail as it will be very slow and take all your time,you wont get anywhere near Vienna in that time if you stop off at more than a couple of places.
It's a totally unrealistic journey in your time frame and stopping off at Mostar,Kotor,Dubrovnik are way out of line with the direction you are going.
Why do you want to go to Vienna?,it's too far from Istanbul and back in 12 days.
If you want to go to Vienna,the best I can advise you is to forget rail and go by bus,Istanbul-Sofia-Bucharest-Vienna,that's about all your time gone.
Coming back,you could do Vienna-Dubrovnik-Ohrid-Sofia-Istanbul............but even that might not be possible as bus connections might not suit your timescale.I would forget Vienna and concentrate on some places nearer.

hallo
There are no trains on Dubrovnik kotor Ohrid So you should go by bus if you want to go there
12 days for such an itinerary and 2 days in each town ...very difficult
Look and check but when I was in IST last september the train station in IST SIrkeci was closed . They build a new lane I guess

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for your help it means so much. I was afrad it would be too ambitious. How about if I limit it to the balkans area?

Does a train from Istanbul to Sophia pair well with a bus to Dubrovnik? And from Dubrovnik to Ohrid and kotor? would this be a comfortable journey? It is so difficult finding information on what is practice and also makes for a partly comfortable trip. I really don't want to stay on a bus for more than 10 hours as its not as comfortable as a train.

Olilux - I am not sure if it is but I can ask someone in turkey. I was hoping it would be open!

Would anyone mind providing me a recommendation on how I can navigate through Ohrid, Kotor, and Dubrovnik and how long to stay in each city? I would really appreciate it and really appreciate all of the help you guys have provided!

Thank you so much.

Take the bus from Istanbul to Sofia,then you can take the Matpu bus from Sofia-Ohrid,last I heard it left at 1900 Daily.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-eastern-europe-the-caucasus/croatia/dubrovnik-to-kotor-8fe31d8e-4089-46f9-8826-fa6e82e75a6e?page=1#post_21953184

Post 3[flumy] on the above link deals with Kotor-Dubrovnik.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-eastern-europe-the-caucasus/macedonia-the-former-yugoslav-republic-of/ohrid-to-podgorica?page=1#post_22563165

Above it says Galeb Bus operate Ohrid-Podgorica direct,from Podgorica it should be simple to get to Kotor,but we can check that later.The direct route will be better than the changes of bus that the other post gives.
If that sounds OK to you,we can try to double check these buses and see if they are still ok and what times they are.

Coming back,you can do a bus from Podgorica to Nis,change in Nis for Sofia,and then back to Istanbul.Spend a couple of days in Sofia on your way back,and the rest of the days you have on the outward run split between Ohrid/Kotor/Dubrovnik...........but you still have your travel time to add on,so you won't get longer than a couple of days in each.