Eastern Express Train 2027: Tickets, Prices, Route and Kars Stops

The Eastern Express train for winter 2026-27 leaves Ankara for Kars on 21 December 2026, and individual tickets for the touristic sleeper go on sale through TCDD Taşımacılık on 26 October 2026. A two-person sleeper room on the Touristic Eastern Express has been reported at 15,000 to 20,000 TL depending on date and direction, and the trip takes about 32 hours with long sightseeing stops on the way.

If you want the train without the paperwork, we fold it into our Turkey tour packages: Istanbul first with one of our Istanbul tours, then the sleeper east, a private day at Ani with our Ani Ruins and Kars private tour, and a flight back. The rest of this guide is what you need to book it yourself.

Dates come from the Ministry of Transport schedule as reported by Karar on 9 October 2026. Prices were not printed in every report, so treat them as a guide until you see them on the booking screen.

Eastern Express train 2027: what was announced

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announces the schedule each autumn, and the 2026-27 timetable follows the pattern of the last two winters. The touristic train runs Ankara to Kars on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and comes back Kars to Ankara on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The first eastbound departure is Monday 21 December 2026 at 13:55. The first westbound departure is Wednesday 23 December at 21:05. The last trains run on 10 March (eastbound) and 12 March 2027 (westbound).

Some reports put the season at about 70 departures in both directions, against 60 in winter 2025-26. Sales for individual travellers open on 26 October 2026 through the TCDD Taşımacılık website, the mobile app and station ticket offices. Tour operators with an authorised allocation sell package trips separately, usually with hotels in Kars and a tour of Ani included.

The train has run as a separate touristic service since 29 May 2019. By October 2025 it had carried 81,026 passengers, according to the minister. That is a small number for a route that now trends on every social platform each December, which is why the seats go so fast.

Touristic Eastern Express vs the regular Doğu Ekspresi

Two trains use the same line, and many first-time bookers buy the wrong one.

The regular Doğu Ekspresi is the original public train. It is cheap, it is mostly used by local passengers, and it gets you to Kars faster. The views through the window are identical. What you do not get are the long platform stops, the private room and the photo-friendly timing.

The Touristic Eastern Express is the one people mean when they say "the Eastern Express" on Instagram. It is built for travellers: every car is a sleeper, and the timetable is arranged so that you reach the most scenic stretches along the Euphrates gorge in daylight.

If you are on a budget, the classic train in a couchette at 1,585 TL per person is the cheapest way to see the snowy plateau. If you want sleep and a door that locks, pay for the touristic room.

How much does the Eastern Express cost in 2027?

For the touristic train, reports in October 2026 put the two-person sleeper room at 16,500 TL on eastbound dates from 21 December to mid-January and 20,000 TL from mid-January to 10 March. Westbound rooms were reported from 15,000 TL. Last winter the same room cost 14,000 TL in the low period and 17,000 TL in the high period.

At roughly 44 TL to the US dollar, the rate quoted in late summer 2026, that is about $340 to $455 per room, or $170 to $230 per person if you share. A solo traveller pays for the room.

The price includes the room for the whole journey, bed linen, towels and slippers. It does not include meals in the dining car, the sightseeing at the stops (you walk or take a taxi), hotels in Kars or anything you do there.

For the classic Doğu Ekspresi, the published 2026-27 fares are 920 TL for a Pullman seat and 1,585 TL for a couchette berth in a shared four-person compartment.

Budget a further 1,000 to 2,000 TL per person for meals on board over two days, depending on how often you use the dining car. Many passengers bring food from Ankara; the rooms have a small fridge.

Prices change by season and demand, and the figures above are as reported, not from a TCDD price list we could verify line by line. For a trip with hotels, Ani and flights included, write to us for the price on your dates.

How to book Eastern Express train tickets as a foreigner

Foreign passport holders can buy individual tickets on the same channels as Turkish residents. The TCDD Taşımacılık site and app accept a passport number in place of a Turkish ID number when you add a passenger.

What works in practice:

1. Create the account before sale day. Register with your passport details and check that your card goes through on a cheap domestic ticket first. Some foreign cards fail the Turkish 3D Secure step.
2. Know your dates. Eastbound trains leave on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only. If you want a westbound return by train, it leaves Kars on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
3. Be online when sales open. In past seasons the best December and January dates were gone within minutes of release. Weekdays in February go slower.
4. Check again 48 hours before departure. Cancelled rooms return to the system, and travellers regularly pick them up at short notice.
5. Print or screenshot the e-ticket. Staff check the name against your passport at boarding.

If the online sale beats you, an authorised agency package is the usual fallback. These come with a fixed room, often a Kars hotel and an Ani tour, at a higher price than the bare ticket.

The route: Ankara to Kars stop by stop

The line covers about 1,360 km, climbing from the Anatolian steppe at Ankara to the high plateau around Kars at roughly 1,750 metres. Most of the long stops happen in daylight.

Eastbound: Ankara to Kars

You leave Ankara station at 13:55 and run east through Kırıkkale and Kayseri in the afternoon and evening. Overnight the train crosses the Sivas plateau.

The first long stop in the 2025-26 timetable was Erzincan, for about 2 hours 30 minutes. That is enough for a taxi into the town centre and a meal, but not for anything further out.

The second is Erzurum, about 4 hours. This is the stop worth planning. The Çifte Minareli Medrese (Double Minaret Madrasa) and the Yakutiye Madrasa are both a short taxi ride from the station, and the cağ kebabı restaurants near the centre open at lunchtime.

You arrive in Kars late on the second day. The Karar report gives the eastbound journey as 31 to 32 hours.

Westbound: Kars to Ankara

The return leaves Kars at 21:05 and stops for longer at three places. In 2025-26 these were İliç (3 hours), a small station in the Euphrates gorge where passengers walk down to the river, Divriği (2 hours 30 minutes), home to the UNESCO-listed Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği, and Sivas (3 hours), with its Seljuk madrasas next to the main square.

The westbound journey is a few hours shorter, about 29 hours. Divriği alone is a reason to consider the train in both directions.

What the sleeper rooms are like

Each two-person room has a lower bed that converts to a sofa, an upper bunk, a small desk, a wash basin, a mini fridge and a power socket. Fresh linen, towels and slippers are provided, and heating is adjustable in the room.

Toilets are shared, at each end of the car. There are no showers on board, so plan to wash in Ankara and again in Kars.

High-power appliances are banned on board: kettles, coffee makers, hot plates and hair dryers.

The 2025-26 train ran with 10 sleeper cars and a dining car for 160 passengers. The dining car serves hot Turkish meals and breakfast, and it gets busy around the scenic stretches.

Couples with tall luggage should note that the rooms are small. A carry-on and a backpack each fit; two large suitcases do not without blocking the floor.

Is the Eastern Express worth it?

For most travellers who already know Istanbul and want something different, yes, once. You get two days of landscape that you cannot see any other way: frozen rivers, villages under snow, the Euphrates gorge after İliç.

It is less worth it if:

• you have under a week in Turkey, because the train plus Kars takes at least four days door to door from Istanbul;
• you dislike shared toilets and no shower for 32 hours;
• you were hoping for luxury. This is a clean, warm, practical sleeper, not the Orient Express.

A common complaint in traveller reviews is the timing of the stops. They are long, but some fall in the dark, and in January the light goes before 17:00.

Our advice: take the train one way only. Ride east to Kars, spend one or two nights there, then fly back to Istanbul in about two hours.

Getting to Ankara from Istanbul for the train

The touristic train starts in Ankara, not Istanbul. There are three practical ways to get there.

• High-speed train (YHT): about 4.5 to 5 hours from Istanbul's Asian side (Söğütlüçeşme or Pendik) to Ankara station, next to the main station the Eastern Express leaves from. Take a morning YHT and you have time for lunch before the 13:55 departure.
• Flight: about 1 hour 10 minutes from Istanbul Airport (IST) or Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) to Ankara Esenboğa, then 40 to 60 minutes by taxi to the station.
• Overnight in Ankara: the safest choice in winter, when snow can delay flights. The Anıtkabir and the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations fill a morning.

If you are flying into Istanbul on your way to the train, our private Istanbul airport transfer can take you straight to Söğütlüçeşme or Pendik for the YHT.

Things to do in Kars and Ani when you arrive

Kars is a small city of wide streets and stone buildings from the Russian period of 1878 to 1918. Give it at least one full day, plus a day for Ani.

Ani is the reason most people make the trip. The medieval capital sits about 45 km east of Kars on a plateau above the Arpaçay river, which forms the border with Armenia. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016 and received about 450,000 visitors in 2025, according to local reports in 2026. In winter you may have the site almost to yourself.

Inside the walls you walk between the Cathedral of Ani (completed in 1001), the half-collapsed Church of the Redeemer, the Church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents with its painted interior, and the Manuchihr Mosque, often called the first Turkish mosque in Anatolia. The walk is about 3 km on rough paths, slippery with snow.

In Kars itself, the castle gives the best view over the city and the old stone bridge. Below it, the Fethiye Mosque was built as a Russian Orthodox church and still looks like one. The Kars Museum covers the region from the Bronze Age to the Russian era.

From January, horse-drawn sleighs run on frozen Lake Çıldır, about 70 km north. In January 2026 the ice was reported at 20 cm thick at Taşbaşı village, and sleigh owners told reporters they expected to work until March. Sarıkamış, an hour west, has the Cıbıltepe ski slopes in pine forest.

Eat goose (kaz) with bulgur, buy aged Kars gravyer cheese and local honey, and keep cash for small cafés.

Our Ani and Kars private tour

Our Ani Ruins and Kars Full-Day Private Tour takes about 7 hours with hotel pick-up and drop-off in Kars, a private van and a licensed guide. It covers the Ani ruins (Cathedral, Church of the Redeemer, Manuchihr Mosque and the Russian-period buildings) and then Kars Castle, the Fethiye Mosque and the Kars Museum.

Museum tickets, meals and tips are not included. Ani is a Ministry of Culture site, and its foreign-visitor fee is set in euros; we did not find a verified 2026-27 figure, so check muze.gov.tr before you go. Free cancellation applies up to 7 days before the tour.

The price depends on group size and season, so we quote it on request. Send us your train arrival date and we will time the pick-up to the station or your hotel. If you want to see more of the east, our Mardin and Midyat tour from Istanbul and the Göbekli Tepe tour from Istanbul combine well, and our Eastern Turkey destination page lists every tour we run in the region.

A 6-day plan: Istanbul, the Eastern Express and Kars

This is the plan we suggest for a first winter trip. It assumes an eastbound Monday train; shift it by two days for a Wednesday departure.

You can add Cappadocia before or after. Kayseri, the airport for Cappadocia, is on the Eastern Express line, and our Cappadocia winter tour guide explains what is open in the snow months. For a ready-made itinerary across several regions, see our multi-city Turkey packages.

Travelling from abroad

Most travellers reach Kars through Istanbul. Turkish Airlines, Pegasus and AJet fly Istanbul to Kars in about 2 hours, so a one-way train ticket plus a return flight is the simplest plan.

US and Canadian citizens have been visa-free for tourist stays of up to 90 days since 1 January 2024, and so are UK, Australian, Saudi and UAE passport holders. Most Indian adults can use the e-Visa only if they hold a valid US, UK, Schengen or Irish visa or residence permit; otherwise they apply at a consulate. Rules change, so check our Turkey visa guide by country before you book.

Pack for the cold. Night temperatures in Kars regularly fall below minus 20°C in January, and the station platforms at Erzurum are exposed. Thermal layers, waterproof boots and a hat matter more than anything else on the packing list.

Frequently Asked Questions