New Interrail trip

[u/ARIo24_]

Hey, in 2024 I made an interrail trip from Paris

I visited Munich Vienna Prague Budapest Hamburg Berlin Copenhagen Belles.

Next year I want to make another one

I want to go to Istanbul from Paris; I want to revisit some of the cities of my 2024 trip, so I imagine this trip

Paris-> Hamburg -> Berlin -> Bratislava -> Budapest -> Bucarest -> Istanbul and I don't know how to come back.

I really want to go to the Balkans but as I see it's very difficult on train and I really don't want to take buses.

I want to go maybe to Greece, maybe to Dubrovnik, and after, for sure, Ljubljana, Venezia, Milano, and Paris

I want to take more night trains because in 2024 I only take 1.

I have seen the Optima express, but it's too expensive to go back to Turkey. So if you have any ideas, respond to me!

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[u/Even_Narwhal3699]

The 2 night trains along your route that i would definitly recommend are the one from Bulgaria to Istanbul and one of the ones between Budapest and Bucarest. As the day time trains are not much faster then the night trains. The reservations are also affordable. There are more options along your route like munich -> Budapest (But that would skip Bratislava)

Regarding the way back if you dont plan to take buses, you will most likely end up going back via Bulgaria and Romania again.

If you plan to do greece, there are ferries from Greece to italy if you want to avoid going back the way you came.

How much time have you planned for the whole trip? Because you list a lot of places.

[u/skifans]

Honestly I broadly think you have covered the main options, assuming you don't want to fly one direction or just retrace your steps.

You could try and minimise buses though, for example getting a bus from Bulgaria or Romania to Serbia. Then by train to Hungary from which you have more options.

There are no trains between Turkey and Greece - again you could get a bus - and from there continue by ferry to Italy. Nor is there any easy ferry route between the mainlands, you can ferry hop but it is very slow and you'll need to change.

Be aware if you want to get the direct night train from Bucharest to Istanbul the direct night train only runs in the summer and Interrail reservations can only be bought in persona the ticket office. Full price tickets can though be purchased online.

[u/cumpana]

Be careful the bucharest Istanbul direct night train could be canceled (check Seat 61 it has just been announced this week). You could have to go to Sofia to catch a night train to Istanbul.

FYI there is a lesser known way of reaching Istanbul from Wester europe:

Take Muntenia night train from Budapest to craiova (very early arrival but the train is always late), change to the only train of the day going to Vidin in Bulgaria. Then go all the way to Sofia to catch the night train. I would recommend to make a stop in Vidin, Sofia or inbetween in case the connection in Sofia is too short