TR Türkiye: how to get around

The four biggest bus companies are:

• Metro Bus
• Pamukkale
• Ulusoy
• Kamil Koç - Flixbus
• Sorgulamax

Although, even the smallest company can nowadays be booked via a streamlined website of that bus company. All of them demand a Turkish phone number, but you might just fill in a fake one such as "531 123 45 67" or so. But the email address should work, to get the ticket. All companies accept foreign passengers and passports. In high season it might make sense to book ahead—just check out the situation a couple of days ahead online. You can also use websites that accumulate all the connections, like obilet or metabilet—check both, they have different companies. Buses are reliable and will pick you up—remember Istanbul has at least 3 bus stations.

Otherwise, bus tickets can also be bought inside of bus terminals. Often checking out several ticket booths will give you a better price, since some specialize on certain bus companies and others do not.

Be careful, scammers will be waiting for you in and before bus stations, and some may assist you in buying a ticket to a bus that won't depart in the next two hours. Sometimes there simply is no other bus, but on other occasions you will be sitting there while other buses with the same destination start well ahead. If you have some time to spare: check the departure (and arrival) times of other companies, that may save you time overall. Still, if you indicate you really want to leave now (use phrases like "hemen" or "şimdi", or "acelem var" - I am in a hurry ), people will realize you are in hurry, and off you go on the next bus departing for your destination.

If you have several operators to choose from, ask for the number of seats in the buses you compare. Roughly, a larger capacity implies a greater comfort (all bus-seats have approximately the same leg-room, but larger 48-seat buses are certainly more comfortable than a 15-seat Dolmuş, which may be considered a 'bus' by the company selling the seat). Also, the bus company with the largest sign is usually the one with the most buses and routes. If possible, ask other travellers you meet about their experiences with different operators: even big operators have different standards of service, and even with the same operator the standards may vary from region to region.

Don't be surprised if halfway to some strange and far-off destination you are asked out of the bus (your luggage will often be already standing next to it) and transferred to another. The other bus will "buy" you, and will bring you to the destination. This may even happen for 'direct' or 'non-stop' tickets.

Sometimes long-haul bus lines will leave you stranded on some ring-road around a city, rather than bringing you to the center. That can be annoying. Inquire ahead (and hope they don't lie). On the other hand, many companies will have "servis aracı" or service vehicles to the center, when the Otogar is on the periphery of a city, as they nowadays often are. In some cities these service vehicles are used by many companies combined, and a fleet of them, to different parts of the metropolis, will be waiting. The company may also choose to combine the passengers of multiple buses; meaning that you may have to wait until another bus or two arrives before departing. Keep your ticket ready as proof you were on a bus (though most of these services are run on good faith). In some cities (including Ankara, excluding Istanbul), the municipality have prohibited the use of service buses due to their effect on traffic. In that case, you might have to take a public bus or metro to get to your destination. One should probably avoid using taxis (at least departing from the Otogar) since they usually tend to abuse their monopolistic position by refusing to go to closer destinations, behaving rudely towards the passenger, charging on the night tariff, etc. If you have to take a taxi, it is usually suggested that you do it from outside the bus terminal.

Seating within buses is partly directed by the "koltuk numarası" or seat number on your ticket, partly by the ritualistic seating of women next to women, couples together and so forth. So don't be too annoyed if you are required to give up your seat. In general, as a foreigner, you will have the better seat much of the time. It is often easiest to take a seat in the back, whatever the number of your koltuk, and not be bothered for much of the ride. This is particularly true if you travel alone, and want to keep it that way, even though the last row may be reserved for the driver-off-duty, who wants to sleep. And remember: many buses pick up short-track fare along the ride, and park them in the last two or three rows. The back of the bus may be more noisy than the front, since that is where the engine is located.

If you have a bicycle it will be transported free of extra charge. In most buses it fits in the luggage area of the bus. Make sure you have the tools to fold your bike as small as possible (height matters most)

Fez Bus. This is another alternative, a Hop on hop off travel network that links Istanbul to the most popular tourist destinations in western Turkey, and a few other destinations. The buses runs hostel to hostel and have an English speaking tour leader on board. The pass can be purchased for a few days or all summer. Departures are every other day. More expensive than local buses, but could be far less hassle, and offers a different experience. The main office in Istanbul is in Sultanahmet next to the Orient Youth Hostel on Yeni Akbiyik Cd. [1]

Mainline train services in Turkey fall into three categories: very fast and modern, slow and scenic; and suspended long-term for rebuilding or for other reasons. The train operator is TCDD, Turkish Republic State Railways, visit their website for timetables, fares and reservations. This option only opens 15 to 30 days in advance. International trains (uluslararası) can be booked by other methods (below) but not via the website; and regional (bölgesel) trains are not bookable. The trains are inexpensive, but they often sell out.

Most cities in Turkey have a rail connection of some sort, but not the Mediterranean and Aegean holiday resorts, which have been built from the late 20th century and are hemmed in by mountains. For some destinations, connecting buses meet the trains, e.g. at Eskişehir for Bursa.

The very fast, modern trains are called YHT: yüksek hızlı tren. These serve a trunk line from Istanbul via Eskişehir and Ankara to Sivas, and a branch line via Konya to Karaman, and the network is gradually extending. They are clean, comfortable and modern and keep to time. Thus, from Istanbul it’s under 5 hours to Ankara or Konya. Because journey times are short, YHT trains only run daytime, and have only snack-catering.

Conventional trains are slow and scenic, with the emphasis on slow: they often are diesel-hauled and run on single track, so they generally start on time but become delayed along the route — often for several hours on long-haul routes; settle on a relaxed schedule for the successive steps of your trip. Most run overnight, with journeys from Ankara to eastern cities taking 24 hours. They are infrequent, at best daily. The typical train set includes a sleeping or a couchette car, and open saloons, plus a buffet that may or may not have any food and may or may not honour your payment card, so plan on bringing cash and your own food. How clean and comfortable the trains are depends on how busy. They are difficult for anyone with impaired mobility to use, and station re-building makes access worse. Nominally these trains are non-smoking, but there’s often a smell of tobacco smoke aboard.

Tourist trains operated by TCDD run several long-distance routes, e.g. Ankara to Kars. These cost about twice the normal fare; they make a few 2-3 hour stops for tourist excursions, so the total running time is a little longer. You're tied to the tourist itinerary without flexibility of stopover. The accommodation is the same as on conventional trains: indeed the rolling stock has been provided by pulling sleeping cars off the conventional trains, so the travel experience on these has been degraded. Some popular lines include the Eastern (Doğu) Express and Van Express.

The Inter Rail Global Pass and Balkan Flexipass are valid for all trains within Turkey and the trains to & from Europe, but you may still need a seat reservation. There are discounts for those under 26 and for those over 60.

Tickets can also be bought from the stations, from travel agents, or from PTT post offices. The main stations (including Sirkeci) accept credit cards and can book you onto any bookable train, but they’re unlikely to accept non-Turkish cash.

Like all of its neighbours, except Cyprus off its southern coast, driving is on the right side of the road in Turkey.

Driving in Turkey is usually a tense experience. The local drivers are often badly trained and sometimes reckless, particularly near and within the larger cities and in the southeast. However, the road manners are not entirely different than in the Balkans or parts of Mediterranean Europe, and are a whole lot easier to negotiate than in, say, South Asia. Regardless, never assume the next driver will stick to any rules you would expect, e.g. use blinkers when they are about to change the lane or turn, or give way when they really should. So, always drive defensively.

Having received generous funding from the government in the first two decades of the 2000s, most highways in the country are of quite good quality, often dual carriageways with wide alignments and hard shoulders. Also smaller roads can be expected to be free of pot holes. Hence, driving at night is not an issue like in many eastern European countries where corruption prevents proper road quality.

It is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving. Maximum permitted amount of alcohol in blood for drivers is 0.05 mg per ml (0.05%), similar to most European countries. A pint of beer enjoyed right before driving might get your licence temporarily confiscated in case of police checks. A 2019 law has made smoking inside a car by any of the occupants a fineable offence, but enforcement is sporadic. The use of seat belts both at the front and back line is obligatory, but, although failing to use one carries a penalty, this is not always adhered to by locals, including the drivers themselves.

Unless stated otherwise, the speed limit for automobiles is 50 km/h and 70 km/h on single and dual carriageways, respectively, within inhabited locations, 90 km/h and 110 km/h on single and dual carriageways elsewhere, and 130 km/h on motorways, except O-5, O-6, O-7, O-21 (Ankara–Niğde section), and O-33, where it is 140 km/h. Speed traps, both stationary and mobile concealed within police cars, are common, particularly in the northwest. By law, they are always indicated within the last kilometre or so, but these signs are sometimes tiny and easy to miss.

Watch out for speed bumps as they might not always be indicated, especially around cities. Also, pay attention to one way lanes or prohibited road access—Turkey uses traffic spikes which block a certain direction.

It's best to refrain from pulling up in signposted no parking zones. Not that the fines are very hefty, but towing is possible. In case that happens, expect little official information to whereabouts of your car, and be ready for a lot of searching in dismal parking lots, usually out in the suburbs.

Turning right at the red light is forbidden unless there is an additional red or yellow flashing arrow, in which case you should stop, give way to any oncoming traffic, including pedestrians, and then proceed carefully. Even when turning right at a green, be mindful of pedestrians, who may also be given a green light at the same time; such junctions are often indicated by signage.

Since the refugee crisis started in 2015, and the coup attempt in 2016, any significant Turkish city has checkpoints on the approaching highways, where cars may be indiscriminately stopped for document checks (IDs, driver licenses, car registration & insurance); these might be accompanied by sobriety checks especially during weekend nights. Getting stopped by law enforcement every so often apparently without any wrongdoing can be off-putting but is the general procedure.

Unless instructed to do so over the loudspeaker, a police car tailing you with the emergency lights on does not mean you are expected to pull over.

Turkish road signs are almost identical to the ones used in Europe, and differences are often insignificant. The place names written on green background lead to motorways (which you should pay a toll, unless it is a ring road around or within a city); on blue background means other highways; on white background means rural roads (or a road inside a city under the responsibility of city councils); and on brown background indicates the road leads to a place of tourist interest, such as an ancient site (these signs used to be on yellow background previously, so still there is a chance of unreplaced yellow signs existing here and there). These signs are sometimes not standardized.

Roundabouts as understood internationally have started to appear in the latter half of the 2010s or so. As such, most Turkish drivers are yet to have a grasp of how to use them (with the remarkable exception of those in the most of Aegean Turkey), despite the (often huge) signs reminding them of the basic "give way to those already within" rule, and act on assumptions on which approach should have priority — always proceed with caution.

Most intercity highways avoid city centres by circling around them. If you'd like to drive into the centre for shopping, dining, and the like, follow the signposts saying Şehir Merkezi, which are usually on white background, and are accompanied by no further translations though you can still spot some old signs saying "Centrum" besides Şehir Merkezi. City centres typically have two or more entrances/exits from the ringroads that surround them.

As Turkey uses the metric system, all distances on the signboards are in kilometres, unless otherwise stated (such as metres, but never in miles).

In winter, it's not uncommon that many roads, including the major motorways near the sea level, are subject to closures due to heavy snow, which may take hours to clear – or days, particularly in the east.

See also the #Driving and road safety section below.

There are no fees to use the highways except intercity motorways (otoyol). While Turkish highways vary widely in quality and size, the toll motorways mostly have three or four lanes and are very smooth and fast. Motorways are explicitly signed with distinct green signs and given road numbers prefixed with the letter O. The motorway network consists of the routes stretching out from Istanbul to the west (towards Edirne), south (via Bursa to Izmir) and east (via Ankara and Adana all the way to Urfa in Southeastern Anatolia), and an isolated stretch in Eastern Thrace, crossing the Straits of Dardanelles by the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, to the east of Çanakkale (will be connected to Thracian network in 2027). There are also regional mini-networks connected to the main one in the Istanbul metropolitan area, in Central Aegean fanning out of Izmir, and in the Eastern Mediterranean around Adana.

Many motorways no longer have toll booths (although some of the newer parts of the network, e.g. O-7 the third beltway of Istanbul and O-6 crossing the Dardanelles, are exceptions that you can still pay in cash to a booth attendant) and instead have lanes automatically scanning the windowpane for the RFID stickers -HGS- while accessing and again exiting the motorway. They are easy to use and allow you to install as much liras as you need. To buy an HGS sticker, look for the service buildings at the major toll stations. They are also available in postoffices.

In addition to the distance driven, motorway tolls also depend on the type of your vehicle. The newest additions to the network, such as the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Osman Gazi Bridge (crossing the Bosphorus and the Gulf of İzmit, respectively) tend to be much more expensive per km. Check the up-to-date rates from the website of the General Directorate of Highways (KGM).

Expect fuel prices to be about a third cheaper than the Western European average, a little less than that of the Balkans, and much higher than the Middle Eastern.

Petrol stations (benzin istasyonu) are frequent along the highways; virtually all are open round the clock and accept cards (go to the service building after placing your order, as swipe machines are almost always there). Self-service is practically nonexistent. All stations offer unleaded gasoline (kurşunsuz benzin), diesel (dizel or motorin), and LPG (liquid petroleum gas - otogaz). However the rare fuel stations in the backcountry often only have diesel, used for running agricultural machinery. So keep your gas tank topped up if you are going to stray away from the main roads. Also the petrol stations along the toll motorways are less frequent than the other highways, usually only about every 40-50 km or even further apart at places (the distance to the next station is usually indicated at the associated signage), so don't get too low on these roads either. Biofuels are very hard to come by for the casual driver.

Electric vehicle charging stations, although covering the main intercity routes without running out of range, especially if you don't stray too far into the east, seems possible. Eşarj, ZES, Voltrun, CV Charging Vehicles and DMA maintain relatively wide networks of charging stations; see their websites for the associated maps. You'll need company-issued charge cards which may not be compatible with each other. Petrol stations also tend to host e-chargers, especially in major highways.

Fuel stations will have free toilets and sometimes free çay.

In any significant community, you can expect to find repair shops, usually clustered together in the areas called sanayi sitesi ("industrial zone") or oto sanayi sitesi ("auto industrial zone") in the outskirts of the towns. The shops are specialized in parts of the vehicle (e.g., engine, electrical system or bodywork) and the level of skill in solving the problem varies, but the service is often quick with the caveat that, without Turkish language skills, you are almost certain to need a translation app or to use a lot of body language.

In cities and major towns, there are also big 3S businesses (sales, service, spare parts). These are more corporate than sanayi sitesi and are called oto plaza, but may entail getting lined up in a queue, which may take days to process.

You may rent a car to get around Turkey from an international or local car rental agent. The main airports all have car rental desks.

It is a good idea to rent a car locally to explore the region for a couple of days. However, doing all the kilometers of Turkey in a rental, can be exhausting and also expensive if you rent at one place and give it back at another one.

Instead of wasting money on the common big car rental companies, local rental companies can be trusted and found through Google Maps. Contact them via WhatsApp. They will speak sufficient English to get the deal done. It is important to rely on their online rating and reviews (at Google Maps) to make sure to avoid the bad sheep—they will not want to jeopardise a good rating. Sometimes they will not even demand a deposit for their rental. However, make sure to understand whether there is a mileage limit, cleaning necessity or restriction on any roads. Contracts will usually be in Turkish with local companies.

Taxis are plentiful in cities and resort towns. Unless you have your own wheels, they are often the only way to reach remote sites – best to negotiate a price for a return trip and waiting time before hopping on to avoid unpleasant situations later.

Perhaps not all of them deserve this kind of "recognition", but taxi drivers in larger cities are notorious for taking their passengers along a route longer than needed, especially when they see you are new to town; see Istanbul#Taxi drivers for some tips to cope with potential scams.

The major ride-hailing companies are; Martı, Uber and Bitaksi.

The minibüs is a small bus (sometimes a car) that will ride near-fixed routes. The ride may be from the periphery of a major city to the centre or within a city, but may also take three to four hours from one city to the next, when demand along the route is not sufficient to justify large buses. They sometimes make a detour to bring some old folks home or collect some extra heavy luggage. All during the journey people will get in and out (shout inecek var — “someone to get off” — to have it stop if you’re in). The driver tends to be named kaptan ("captain"), and some behave accordingly. The fare is collected all through the ride. In some, by a specially appointed passenger who will get a reduction, in others by a steward, who may get off halfway down the journey to pick up a dolmuş of the same company heading back, but mostly by the driver. If the driver collects, people hand money on from the back rows to the front, getting change back by the same route. On some stretches tickets are sold in advance, and things can get complicated if some of the passengers bought a ticket and others just sat inside waiting, for maybe half an hour, but without a ticket.

The concept of dolmuş in Istanbul is different than the rest of Turkey. The vehicles are different and they take a maximum of 7 sitting passengers, with no standing. They do not tend to take passengers along the way, they depart immediately when they are full, and many of them operate 24 hours a day. The name derives from dolmak, the verb for “to fill”, as they usually depart only when they are full, though they sometimes start at fixed hours, whatever the number. Pretty much a quasi-ride-sharing.

Fast ferries (hızlı feribot) are fast (50-60km/hour) catamaran-type ferryboats that connect for instance Istanbul to the other side of the Marmara Sea. They can cut travel time dramatically. Again for instance leaving from the Yenikapı jetty in Istanbul (just a bit southwest of the Blue Mosque) you can be at the Bursa otogar in two hours, with less than an hour for the actual boat ride to Yalova. Similar services are operated to connect several parts of Istanbul with the Asian side, or places farther up the Bosporus. This type of fast ferry is increasingly seen all over the country wherever there is sufficient water.

All inhabited Turkish islands have at least one daily sailing to the nearest mainland city or town during summer. During winter, expect less frequent departures, and disruptions in the schedule, due to the bad weather.

Perhaps one of the best cruising grounds in the world, Turkey offers thousands of years of history, culture and civilization set against a stunning mountainous backdrop. The coastline is a mixture of wide gulfs, peaceful coves, shady beaches, uninhabited islands, small villages and bustling towns. Many of these locations are still only accessible by boat. Rare in the Mediterranean, one can still find some seclusion on a private charter in Turkey. Turkey has more coastline than any other Mediterranean country. The best way to see Turkey is from your own private yacht on your own schedule. Turkey offers some of the most exquisite yachts in the world, known as gulets.

Simply put, long distance cycling in Turkey is burdensome, mainly for two reasons: most of the country's terrain is hilly, and intercity bike paths are basically non-existent, albeit with some noteworthy exceptions (such as a section of EuroVelo 8 across Izmir Province or the lane down from Arsuz towards the Syrian border). That being said, many cities nowadays have cycling lanes of varying shapes, lengths and interconnectedness (often along the esplanades of the coastal cities; these were mostly built with the purpose of a leisurely ride in mind than serious transportation) and most highways built after the turn of this century or so have quite wide and well surfaced shoulders, which can double as bicycle lanes.

Even so, if you have already decided to give cycling a try in your Turkey trip, always stay as much on the right side of the roads as possible, avoid night cycling out of cities or along unlit roads, do not be surprised by drivers hooting at you, and do not go on the motorway, as it is forbidden. You might prefer rural roads with much less traffic, but then there is the problem of freely roaming sheepdogs, which can sometimes be quite dangerous. The signage on the rural roads is also much more erratic, turning them into a labyrinth, in which it is easy to get lost even for non-local Turkish people without a detailed map.

Air can be pumped into tyres at any petrol station without charge - but, since the old facilities in most cases have been replaced by "digital" ones, that's quite risky. Bicycle repair-shops are rare in cities and often in hard-to-locate places; you could try a motorcycle repair shop, however they are very reluctant to repair a bicycle if they are already busy with their specialization.

Many towns operate bike sharing programs, but they might be hard to use without Turkish language skills, or without a Turkish mobile number. Cycling in areas where motor vehicles are restricted is enjoyable, but there are few: Istanbul's Princes' Islands are a prime example.

Ebikes with removable batteries are manufactured and sold at reasonable prices, but check first with your airline if you plan to fly with it. As elsewhere, ebikes with non-removable batteries are strictly forbidden on all flights.

"Thumb up" is the hitchhiking gesture universally understood by the Turkish drivers. Avoid using any other signal which might be understood to be indicating a danger ahead. In addition to the thumb, having a signboard with the destination name certainly helps. Waiting for a ride generally doesn't exceed half an hour, though this dramatically varies depending on the density of traffic (like elsewhere) and the region; for example, it usually takes much longer to attract a ride in Mediterranean Turkey than in the Marmara Region. The best hitchhiking spots are the crossroads with traffic lights, where bypass roads around a city and the road coming from the center intersect. Don’t be so away from the traffic lights so drivers would be slow enough to see you, make up their minds and stop, but be sufficiently away for traffic safety. Hitchhiking along the motorways is useless; no one will be slow enough to stop, and the pedestrians are forbidden anyway.

Don’t start to hitchhike until you are well clear out of the city traffic which has the tendency to spread over the suburbs, and if not in hurry, avoid hitchhiking after nightfall, especially if you are a lone female traveler. Although most drivers have little if any intentions beyond having a chat during their long journey, always watch out and avoid sleeping.

On some occasions, you may not be able to attract a ride directly to your destination, so don’t refuse anyone offering a ride, which may come across as impolite, unless they are going down only a few kilometres away and are branching off into a road different from your destination in a coming fork. You may have to change several cars even on a route barely 100 km long, in each town after town. However, because of the enormous numbers of trucks carrying goods for the foreign markets, you may also score surprisingly long-haul trips. Drivers staying in the area may point downwards (to the road surface) or towards the direction they’re driving or flash their headlights while passing, indicating that they wouldn't make a good long-haul ride. Smile and/or wave your hand to return the courtesy.

Some drivers may ask for money (“fee”) from you. Refuse and tell them that if you had money to waste, you would be on a bus, and not standing on the side of the road fully exposed to the elements. Except of course, if you're using carpooling apps.

Trail blazing is on the rise in Turkey lately and nowadays all Turkish regions have waymarked hiking trails of various lengths and shapes. Most of them follow a theme, such as connecting to the sites of an ancient civilization, retracing the footsteps of a historical figure or chasing the treats of a specific regional cuisine. The oldest, and the most popular trail is the Lycian Way, which snakes its way over the mountains backing the Turquoise Coast in the southwest. The website of the Culture Routes Society maintains an up-to-date list of the major hiking trails in the country. Guided tours along some of these trails, often involving hiking the most scenic sections and homestays in the villages, are offered by local travel agencies as well as those based in major cities.

Inside the cities, there are white-, or rarely yellow-painted pedestrian crossings (zebra crossing) on the main streets, which are legally pedestrian-priority spots. However, for many drivers, they are little more than ornamental drawings on the road surface, so it is better to cross the streets at the traffic lights. Still, be sure all the cars stopped, because it is not unusual to see the drivers running the first few seconds of the red light. As a safer option, on wide avenues, there are also pedestrian overpasses and underground passages available. In narrow streets during the rush hour, you can cross the street anywhere and anytime, since the traffic moves only intermittently. Also along alleys in the old districts, you need not to worry about keeping on the sidewalk (which is usually too narrow and uneven to be of use anyway); you can walk well in the middle of the street, only to step aside when a car is coming.