Turkey
Turkey is where the railway map of Europe runs out — and then keeps going. Istanbul's Sirkeci station was the eastern terminus of the original Orient Express, and the country has been a rail crossroads ever since. Today TCDD runs sleek high-speed trains between Istanbul, Ankara and Konya, and the Marmaray tunnel carries trains under the Bosphorus from Europe into Asia.
But the journeys people cross the world for run east, into Anatolia. The Doğu Ekspresi takes well over a day to haul itself from Ankara up onto the high, frozen plateau at Kars — a sleeper so beloved that its winter tickets vanish in minutes. Its quieter sister, the Van Gölü Ekspresi, runs to the shore of a vast soda lake near the Iranian border. Both are cheap, slow, sociable, and unforgettable.
Rail journeys in Turkey
Doğu Ekspresi
Turkey's great overnight train — a day and more of Anatolian steppe, frozen rivers and snowbound villages. Winter tickets sell out in minutes.
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Güney Kurtalan Ekspresi
Ankara to the black basalt walls of Diyarbakır in a night and a morning — on the train Barış Manço named his band after.
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Marmaray
Istanbul's commuter line under the Bosphorus, Europe to Asia in four minutes — and digging its station uncovered the city's lost harbour and 37 ships.
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Karaelmas Ekspresi
A Friday-night sleeper from Ankara to the Black Sea coalfield, through a steel town the railway itself called into being.
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Tuz Ekspresi
A Saturday train out of Ankara to Çankırı, where the day's destination is a salt mine worked for some five thousand years.
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Van Gölü Ekspresi
The Doğu Ekspresi's quieter sister — twice a week, a day and a night across Anatolia to the shore of a vast blue soda lake in the far south-east.
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Ankara–Konya YHT
Ankara to Konya in two and a quarter hours — to Rumi's tomb, in a city whose great week marks his death and calls it his wedding night.
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Is Turkey easy to explore by train?
Increasingly so. TCDD's high-speed trains link Istanbul, Ankara, Konya and Sivas quickly and cheaply, and the Marmaray tunnel runs under the Bosphorus. The east is a different pace entirely: long, slow overnight trains like the Doğu Ekspresi, which is the whole point of taking them.
Do I need to book Turkish trains in advance?
For the eastern night trains, absolutely. The Doğu Ekspresi is famous for selling out within minutes of the booking window opening, especially for winter dates — TCDD added a separate touristic service purely because the regular one was impossible to get on. High-speed and regional trains are much easier.
When is the best time to visit Turkey by rail?
It depends what you want. Eastern Anatolia in winter is the reason the Doğu Ekspresi became a phenomenon — deep snow, frozen rivers and Kars at −30°C. From May to October the same country is green and walkable, and far more comfortable. Istanbul and the coast are best in spring and autumn.
What are Turkey's best scenic railways?
Two overnight trains dominate: the Doğu Ekspresi across Anatolia to Kars and the ruined Armenian city of Ani, and the Van Gölü Ekspresi to Tatvan on Lake Van. Both climb from the Anatolian steppe into genuinely remote highlands — some of the least-visited and most spectacular country in the Middle East.