Greece - no international trains from 2011 through 2012

Due to the dire economic situation in Greece, the Greek government made the decision last year to cut off all train connections linking Greece to the outside world.

This means that all international trains into and out of Greece are cancelled until further notice. This has been the situation since February 2011 and although the problem is described as temporary, there are as yet no signs of service resurrection.

The main routes effected are links from Thessaloniki to Sofia, Bucharest, Belgrade and Istanbul and as a consequence the rest of the European rail network. If you want to reach Greece overland you can take the train to Bari in Italy and then get a ferry across to Patras in Greece for onward journeys to Athens and beyond. There are also ferries which take longer departing from Venice and Ancona.

Alternatively there are stil buses running between Sofia and Thessaloniki if you are determined to go overland. In terms of state-owned regional services these are still running, but unfortunately timetables are no longer available and Loco2 cannot sell train tickets for journeys within Greece.

If you need to book a Greek regional train you can use the website of the Greek Railways. It's in Greek, but with the help of Google Translate, it is possible to book journeys online. Trainose, as it's called has some great advance fares, with Athens to Thessaloniki for example, a bargain at €9.