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[timnonis]

Hey guys, im looking to travel by train from Athens to Thessaloniki, then from there to Istanbul.

Does anyone have any idea about how long the journey is from Athens to Thessaloniki? and what about prices? I tried the website for the railway but it was all greek to me hehe

Thanks

[wakingdream]

Hiya,

Found this in a quick search;

By Train
Rail services link Thessaloniki with, Athens and the towns of Macedonia and Thrace. The line through Yugoslavia provides connections with Central and Western Europe when there is not a war. The line through Bulgaria connects to Eastern Europe and the line through Istanbul, Turkey with the countries of the Near East. Information: State Rail ways office at No 18, Aristotelous St. tel.2310 276.382 and the new railway terminal, tel. 2310 517.517.

Or visit www.athensguide.com/practicalinfo where you can find more information on the troubled National Train System of Greece. They have just received a large EU Grant for improving train service on the Athens-Thessaloniki line, among others. Be aware that there are express and local trains and the locals make a million stops and take hours longer to get between Athens and Thessaloniki.

According to the schedule I have there are trains from Athens to Thessaloniki at:
6:50(IC), 7:50(ICE), 9:54, 10:50(IC), 13:23(IC), 14:50, 16:24, 19:22(ICE), 20:40(IC), 22:57 and 23:55.

Costs
The slow trains cost 15 euros and take 6 hours and the fast trains(ICE) cost 50 euros and take 4 hours and 20 minutes. There is something in between(IC) that takes 5 hours and costs 36 euro.

Hope that helps out a bit.

[timnonis]

Hiya,

Found this in a quick search;

By Train
Rail services link Thessaloniki with, Athens and the towns of Macedonia and Thrace. The line through Yugoslavia provides connections with Central and Western Europe when there is not a war. The line through Bulgaria connects to Eastern Europe and the line through Istanbul, Turkey with the countries of the Near East. Information: State Rail ways office at No 18, Aristotelous St. tel.2310 276.382 and the new railway terminal, tel. 2310 517.517.

Or visit www.athensguide.com/practicalinfo where you can find more information on the troubled National Train System of Greece. They have just received a large EU Grant for improving train service on the Athens-Thessaloniki line, among others. Be aware that there are express and local trains and the locals make a million stops and take hours longer to get between Athens and Thessaloniki.

According to the schedule I have there are trains from Athens to Thessaloniki at:
6:50(IC), 7:50(ICE), 9:54, 10:50(IC), 13:23(IC), 14:50, 16:24, 19:22(ICE), 20:40(IC), 22:57 and 23:55.

Costs
The slow trains cost 15 euros and take 6 hours and the fast trains(ICE) cost 50 euros and take 4 hours and 20 minutes. There is something in between(IC) that takes 5 hours and costs 36 euro.

Hope that helps out a bit.

yes it does. now im wondering about "troubled" National Train System.... hahaha.
wow its not that expensive.

[timnonis]

Your questions brings up such memories! This is the trip that my wife and I wanted to take, but didn't due to strikes and Greece trains' poor scheduling.

The short version is that we were told we could take the morning train out of Thessaloniki and connect with another train at the border. But our train arrived two hours after the connecting one had left. So we spent an unforgetable 12 hours at the border town.

You can read about our misadventure on our blog. Start here: http://parosparadise.blogspot.com/2008/11/...-adventure.html
Then continue to the next two posts for the actual rail journey.

I must say that if you take the night train there are no connection problems but there is also no scenery.

The best site for Europe train information is The Man in Seat Sixty-One

Cheers,

oh my. hahaha. all part of traveling i guess. (being positive here).. yes i was considering the night train too but i want to enjoy the scenery .

thanks for the link. i will need all the information i can get, planning is actually pretty exciting.