Airplane: the national Turkish airline is Turkish Airlaines. It flies directly from Istanbul to numerous cities around the world, including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tbilisi, Baku and Tehran. Other airlines that offer flights to and from Turkey include Lufthansa, Germanwings,British Airways and EasyJet.
Airports: the busiest in Turkey airport is the Ataturk International Airport (IST) in Istanbul. He lies on the EuropeanSide of the city, 23 kilometers west of Sultanahmet, the old city of Istanbul. International (d ?? hatlar) and domestic (iç hatlar) terminals are right next to each other at this airport. In Istanbul there is also the smaller Sabiha Gökcen International Airport (SAW), about 50 kilometers east of Sultanahmet and Taskim Square on the Asian side of the city. There are mainly cheap flights from Europe, mostly from Germany. There are other airports in Antalya (AYT), Bodrum (BJV), Dalaman (DLM) and Izmir (ADB).
Ship: Car ferries run between Italian, Greek and various Turkish ports, but not Istanbul. There are also some routes through the Black Sea. There is a lot of information about ferries in the region on the Ferrylines website.
Private ferries connect the Turkish Aegean coast and the Greek islands. From there travelers can continue to Athens by ship or plane. The ferries run daily in the summer months, several times a week in spring and autumn and mostly only once a week in winter.
Marmara Lines ferries connect Brindisi and Ancona in Italy with Çe? Me. Turkish Maritime Lines also operates ferries between Brindisi and Çe? Me twice a week.
According to Petsinclude, the main connection between Northern Cyprus and Turkey is Ta? Ucu (near Silifke) and Girne on the north coast of Cyprus. The Akgünler Denizcilik ferry company operates between the two places. Another travel option is the company Fergün Denizcilik, which connects Alanya and Girne. Turkish Maritime Lines also brings travelers from Mersin to Gazimagusa (Famagusta) on the east coast of Cyprus.
There are ferry connections between Turkey and Russia several times a week between Trabzon and Sochi. There is a weekly ferry connection between Ukraine and Turkey between Odessa and Istanbul. Another weekly ferry operates between Sevastopol and Istanbul. There is also a ferry connection between Istanbul and Yalta.
Rail: Crossing the national borders by bus or train is quite straightforward. However, travelers should expect delays of one to three hours due to the entry formalities and possible baggage checks.
The Bosporus Express runs daily from Istanbul to Bucharest. There are opportunities to continue your journey to Chisinau (Moldova) and Budapest (Hungary). When stopping in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, there are connections to Sofia (Bulgaria) and on to Belgrade (Serbia). The Bosporus Express provides separate carriages for travelers to Budapest, Sofia and Belgrade and finally to Chisinau.
The Trans-Asya Ekspresi regularly brings travelers from Tehran to Istanbul. Intermediate stops are Tabriz, Van and Tatvan. Once a week there is a train from Tehran via Van and Malatya to Damascus (Syria). The Toros Express runs between Istanbul and Syrian Aleppo.
Car: depending on which of the eight neighboring countries travelers want to cross the border to Turkey from, they should inform themselves in advance about the visa and entry requirements. Crossing the border with your own vehicle is relatively straightforward. No special documents are required for importing a vehicle for a maximum period of six months. If the deadline is exceeded, however, very high customs duties (up to the full sales value of the car) must be expected.
Istanbul is easily accessible from European cities by car, bus and train. The trip often leads via Bulgaria. There are three border crossings between Turkey and Bulgaria; the most important one is the widely used oneKapitan – Andreevo / Kap? Kule, 18 kilometers west of Edirne. The E5 runs through it. The nearest town on the Bulgarian side is Svilengrad, ten kilometers from the border. The second border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey is Lesovo-Hamzabeyli. It is located 25 kilometers north of Edirne. However, there is no public transport service there. The third border crossing is Malko Tarnovo-K? R? Kkale, about 70 km northeast of Edirne and 90 kilometers south of Burgas. The main border crossing between Turkey and Georgia is at Sarp on the Black Sea coast. Another is near Posof.
An alternative route from Western Europe to Turkey is via Greece. The most important border crossings are Kipi-Ipsala, 43km northeast of Alexandroupolis, or Kastanies-Pazarkule, near the Turkish city of Edirne. The E80 motorway leads across the Balkans to Edirne and Istanbul and finally on to Ankara. Those arriving from Italy or Greece by ferry can save a lot of time. However, the journey is then more expensive.
There are two border crossings between Iran and Turkey – the busy Gürbulak-Bazargan crossing, near Dogubayazit (Turkey) and Sahabat (Iran), and the Sero Esendere crossing, southeast of Van (Turkey). Recently, travelers have been increasingly using the second border crossing, which can, however, be temporarily closed in winter. There are eight crossings across the Syrian-Turkish border. The busiest is at Reyhanl? -Bab al-Hawa.
Bus: buses run several times a day between Sofia and the Bulgarian coastal cities of Varna and Burgas and Istanbul. There are also daily connections to Skopje, Tetevo and Gostivar in Mezedonia and to Constanta and Bucharest in Romania. More than six bus companies offer their services in this sector. These include, for example, Drina Trans, Metro Turizm, Öz Batu and Özlem.
Buses operated by the Turkish companies Ulusoy and Varan Turizm regularly bring travelers from Germany, Italy, Austria and Greece to Istanbul.
Buses from the Gökta company ? Ardahan operate regularly between the Georgian Tbilisi and Istanbul. Buses run from Trabzon in Turkey to Tbilisi several times a day. There travelers have the opportunity to continue to Baku (Azerbaijan). There is a direct bus connection between Van (Turkey) and Orumiyeh (Iran). There are also regular buses from Istanbul and Ankara to Tabriz and Tehran. Buses also connect Antakya in Turkey with the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Damascus.
