Vangölü Ekspresi ("Lake Van Express") departs from Istanbul’s Asian station (Haydarpaşa) twice a week on Mondays and Fridays at 10:55PM and arrives in Tatvan station after a 40-hr journey, on Wednesdays and Sundays at 2:17PM. This train also calls at a number of cities and towns across Asian Turkey, including Eskişehir, Ankara, Kayseri, Sivas, Malatya, and Elazığ among others. Inter Rail pass is accepted in this train. See Turkish railway authority’s website for detailed information.
There is also another train from Elazığ, passing Muş on the way, which operate at least once weekly. It arrives at Tatvan at Tuesday evenings.
Train station is in the upper part of the town (northwest of downtown), about 20 minutes walk away from the town centre. It's off the main highway to Bitlis, but its entrance is not immediately visible from the road because of some buildings and trees inbetween—you may have to ask around.
The station lies at the end of a spur line—the main line normally heads straight to the train ferry harbour. All passenger trains to the area do make the de-tour and call at the station, though.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Tatvan
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Tatvan - updated May 2024
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Tatvan Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
