International
airports
Ankara (ESB) (Esenboga)
is 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of the city. THY buses go
from the city 1 hour 30 minutes before domestic flights and 2 hours
15 minutes before international flights. There is a taxi service
available into the city. Airport facilities consist of incoming
and outgoing duty free shops, bank/bureau de change, and restaurants
and bars.
Istanbul (IST) (Atatürk, formerly
Yesilkoy) is 24 kilometers(15 miles) west of the city (travel
time - 30 to 50 minutes). A coach (THY bus) goes every 15 minutes
to the THY terminal. There are taxi services to the city. Airport
facilities consist of incoming and outgoing duty free shop, bank/bureau
de change, bar, restaurant, and car hire (Avis, Budget, Hertz and
Europcar).
Izmir (IZM) (Adnan Menderes).
A THY bus leaves from the city 1 hour 15 minutes before departure.
Airport facilities consists of bank/bureau de change, bar and restaurant.
Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) is 40
kilometers(25 miles) from Istanbul, on the Asian side. There are
shuttle bus services to the city (travel time - 30 to 45 minutes)
and to Atatürk International Airport (travel time - 60 to 70
minutes). Taxis are available 24 hours a day. Facilities consist
of duty free shops, bank, ATMs, business centre and restaurants/cafes.
There are other international airports at Antalya, Adana, Dalaman
and Trabzon.
Departure tax
US$50 is charged only on Turkish nationals, not resident overseas
departing from Turkey.
Sea
Main ports are Antalya, Bandirma,
Izmir, Istanbul, Marmaris and Mersin.
Turkish Maritime Lines (TML), the national
shipping organisation, and a number of cruise lines run
services to Turkey, including: CTC, Costa, Epirotiki, Golden Sun
Cruises, 'K' Lines, Norwegian, Linblad Expeditions and Royal Olympic.
Several ferry routes are available:
To/from Italy: Ferries operate between Venice- Izmir, Venice-Antalya/Marmaris,
Venice-Istanbul via Pireaus, and Brindisi-Cesme. To/from Cyprus:
Three routes exist on which sea buses, together with car and passenger
ferries, operate: Alanya-Girne, Tasucu-Girne and Gazimagosa- Mersin.
To/from Greece: There are privately operated ferry lines between
Turkey and the Greek islands: Lesbos-Ayvalik, Chios-Cesme, Samos-Kusadasi,
Cos-Bodrum, Rhodes- Marmaris, and Sömbeki-Datça.
Note
All ships, including private yachts, arriving in Turkish waters
must go to one of the following ports of entry: Anamur, Alanya,
Akcay, Ayvalik, Antalya, Bodrum, Bandirma, Botas (Adana), Cesme,
Canakkale, Datca, Derince, Dikili, Didim, Fethiye, Finike, Güllük,
Giresun, Hopa (Artvin), Iskenderun, Izmir, Istanbul, Kas, Kusadasi,
Kemer, Mersin, Marmaris, Ordu, Rize, Samsun, Söke, Sinop, Tasucu
(Silifke), Trabzon, Tekirdag and Zonguldak.
Rail
Train journeys can be made to Istanbul via some of the major European
cities. The journey from London takes 3 days:
Eurostar to Paris, Orient Express or EuroCity to
Vienna (overnight), EuroCity to Budapest
and finally the TransBalkan to Istanbul. There
is a weekly sleeper from Moscow. InterRail tickets are available
in the European part of Turkey as far as Istanbul. Other international
rail routes go to Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Germany and Serbia
and Montenegro. For more information contact Turkish
Railways (TCDD) in Istanbul (tel: (212) 527 0050/1 or 520 6575
(reservations)).
Road
There are roads from Bulgaria, the CIS, Iran and Greece.
From London, drivers may either choose the northern route of Belgium-Germany-Austria-Hungary-Romania-Bulgaria,
or the southern route through Belgium-Austria-Italy with a car-ferry
connection to Turkey.
Coach: There are
regular services between Turkey and Austria, Germany,
France, Greece and Switzerland, as well as Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia
and the Syrian Arab Republic. Eurolines, departing
from Victoria Coach Station in London, serves destinations in Turkey.
For further information, contact Eurolines
(tel: (08705) 143 219; e-mail: welcome@eurolines.co.uk).
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