Turkey onwards - Bulgaria / Greece???

Hallo everyone,

A couple of quick questions about Turkey, getting into Istanbul (in mid October) and will be spending a few days there, would then like to head off to another country

Bulgaria seems easy to get to - are there any problems getting in, is it a cool place, how easy is it to get home (to the UK)?

Greece - would like to go for a bit of a relax, only fear is that the boats might not be running, or might only be once a week, and I won't have time...

Other ideas include heading across to Albania through Macedonia? Again, how easy is this, am a UK citizen...

Many thanks!

If you are a UK citizen then you have an EU passport so getting into either Bulgaria or Greece will be very easy. I don't know about Albania or FYROM though. I recomend Greece because there are more things to see, check out worldreviewer.com to get a few ideas of museums and cool places to visit in Athens. Look around for Turkey as well, if you don't have a plan already. I believe that there is a train that runs from Istanbul to Thessaloniki and then Athens. But the weather is still pretty good around mid October so there will be boats at least once a day. Again check that website and you can find some interesting sites on some islands.
Have fun on your trip and good luck!

With a UK passport you will have no problem getting into any country in this region. There is a 10 euro entry fee when you enter Albania, but that's just a formality.

Obviously going to Albania will mean a longer trip to get there in the first place - you didn't mention how much time you have so I don't know if that is an issue. Apart from that, there is nothing particularly difficult about it. It will involve you mainly in bus travel, whereas for Greece and Bulgaria you have the option of train or bus, if that matters. You could go via Lake Ohrid in Macedonia which is a great place to stop on the way.

Maybe the way to start would be to see where you can get a one-way flight back to the UK from and plan around that. Not all these countries have many direct flights from the UK, especially out of season. E.g. there are none from Macedonia and from Albania there is just the British Airways Tirana-Heathrow flight. Although BA's return fares are quite reasonable, that might not be the case for one-way.

All four countries mentioned have plenty to see, it depends on what you are interested in. If you're worried about ferry timings in Greece, there is plenty to see on the mainland too.

Crossing the Greek or Bulgarian border with an EU passport will be very easy. Major Bulgarian cities are easier to reach than some of the major tourist stops in Greece (bus from Istanbul to Sofia= 9 hours, bus from Istanbul to Athens = 22 hours). Bulgaria is also very cheap if your budget is limited (and there's no shortage of cool stuff to see, for instance there's a fantastic classical theater in Plovdiv, just 7 hours from Istanbul).