One of rail travel's most storied names is back in Türkiye. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, the luxury train run by UK hospitality company Belmond, is due to arrive at Istanbul's Bakırköy Station at 5:40 p.m. local time on September 30, according to Türkiye's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.
The train reaches Istanbul after a long haul from Paris through Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Passengers step off at Bakırköy, after which the carriages run empty to Halkalı Station on the city's European side, where they stay for two nights for technical and operational checks before returning to pick up new travellers. The return leg leaves Bakırköy at noon on October 2, crossing back into Europe via the Kapıkule border with Bulgaria late that night.
This is the second Istanbul journey of 2026 for the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which runs the Paris–Istanbul–Paris route. The year's first service passed through Türkiye between May 30 and June 1.
The famous blue-and-gold train isn't the only European rail operator heading for the Bosphorus this autumn. Hungary's MAV Passenger Transport runs special tour trains from Venice, Paris and Rome to Istanbul, with six services planned across 2026. Three have already run — Venice to Istanbul on May 16–18, Paris to Istanbul on May 29–30, and a third Venice departure that arrived the day before the minister's statement. More are scheduled for October: two Paris departures on October 10–12 and October 24–25, plus a Rome-to-Istanbul run from October 26–31.
For travellers, this is a rare chance to do Istanbul the old-fashioned way — arriving overland by rail after days of scenery through the Balkans and Central Europe, rather than stepping off a red-eye. The Belmond service is firmly in the bucket-list bracket, with vintage carriages, fine dining and prices to match, while the MAV tours are a more accessible way to ride a special train into the city. Either way, arriving at Bakırköy with the sea nearby and the historic peninsula a short trip away beats an airport queue every time. If you're tempted, the remaining October dates are worth noting now, since these seasonal services typically sell out well ahead.
