Check out a Balkan Flexi or European East Pass
Although Turkey and Slovakia cannot be travelled with a Eurail Pass, we have 2 other passes that can take you there! The Balkan Flexi Pass includes Turkey, plus Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. Select from 5, 10 or 15 days of rail travel within 1 month.
In Turkey, the Istanbul train station is central, with international routes to/from Beograd – Serbia, Thessaloniki – Greece, Bucharest – Romania, and Sofia – Bulgaria. It is said that train travel in Turkey’s rail network is somewhat limited but with a Balkan Flexi Pass you can find great value in exploring the seven countries mentioned above, with good international connections to Turkey. For travel within Turkey, you can count on main routes such as Istanbul to Ankara, Turkey’s capital, or Istanbul to Konya, Kars or Pamukkale. Plus there is much anticipation for the brand-new high-speed line from Istanbul to Ankara, where journey time will be reduced to 3 hours by 2013 – stay tuned!
And if it’s Slovakia you’re interested in visiting, and have since discovered that Eurail doesn’t have a pass that includes Slovakia, you’ll be happy to learn that a European East Pass includes Slovakia, plus Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. The European East Pass is valid for 5 to 10 flexible days of travel within 1 month in first or standard class.
Slovak Republic Railways runs an efficient national rail network, where the most important railway track is the northern transversal from Bratislava over Žilina and Poprad to Košice. International train routes connect Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital city, with Prague – Czech Republic (4½ hr, 6 daily departures), Budapest – Hungary (3 hr, 7 daily departures), Vienna – Austria (1 hr, 30 daily departures) and Warsaw – Poland (10½ hr night train).
Read more about the European East Pass and the Balkan Flexi Pass.