daeijan asked:
I am from Turkey, and I have schengen visa for 5 days for France. I am going to go to Paris by train from Istanbul. but I dont know how can I do that! specialy I don’t have any info. about visa for countries where I have to pass to go to Paris? do you have any idea about this!? thanks
I am from Turkey, and I have schengen visa for 5 days for France. I am going to go to Paris by train from Istanbul. but I dont know how can I do that! specialy I don’t have any info. about visa for countries where I have to pass to go to Paris? do you have any idea about this!? thanks
December 7th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: Istanbul |
Filed under: Istanbul |
December 8th, 2007 at 7:14 am
No, as far as I know you don´t need visa for transit, but just in case ask in the embassies in your country. There is no direct train from Istanbul to Paris, you must change at least three times of train (there is direct train from Wien to Paris but not from Istambul to Wien).
December 10th, 2007 at 12:40 am
YIKES!!! Well, last year I was trying to get from Athens to Istanbul, and thought I would just go by train….the more I researched it (and it’s hard to get info) I realized what a pain it would be. To get from Istanbul you’ll have to go through Greece, and that train ride is INFAMOUSLY the WORST throughout all of Europe. It would have taken me 2 and a half days to get from Athens to Istanbul, or vice versa.
I would recomend taking the train from Istanbul to the eastern-most city of Greece (Alexandroupulis), if you need help on how to get the train ticket just ask, but they should be able to help you at the main train station there on the water. Then you can fly (go to to get this fare) from Alexandroupulos to Franfurt for 174 euros and then take a bus from Franfurt to Paris. I know it’s a pain and everything, but trust me it will save you a lot of both time and money if you do it this way!!
Good luck, message me if you have any more questions.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Your Schengen visa is only valid for 5 days? You should really try and find a good airfare from Istanbul to Paris. You’re going to waste a lot (maybe 30-50%) of your time in transit if you take the train to Paris from Sirkeci. I highly recommend that you look into airfares!
Here’s a link to a site that explains train travel to/from Istanbul (to Paris/London):
As far as visas go, if you plan on traveling by train you should arrange it through a travel agent and they can help you with that.
I really think you should fly though! Give yourself more time in Paris, it’s beautiful!