Turkey Transportation-Driving!

Ataturk International is the main airport in Istanbul and the busiest in Turkey. Istanbul’s newest airport, Sabiha Gokcen International, is located on the Asian side of the Bosporus. If you fly into this airport, there are many transportation links to take you into the city.

Most of the larger cities have airports, with the exception being Bursa, which is approximately 3-5 hours from Istanbul across the Marmara Sea.

What do you know about Turkey Transportation-Driving

Most cities have fairly large bus terminals, which would be the best means of travel from city to city. The larger bus stations will have several companies running every hour of the day or every other hour. Smaller stations will have a kiosk attached to the station where you can purchase your ticket.

Turkey has invested lots of money recently in transportation infrastructure and construction. Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa and Izmir all have inexpensive, efficient metro-systems and should be the primary means of travel within the city. Turkey also has many mini-bus options or dolmus, that can travel within the city as well as to little towns or villages outside of the metropolitan area. Some cities have also incorporated shared-taxis or taksi dolmuses, which can be a more comfortable, but sometimes more expensive means of traveling within cities.

Taxis should be a last option. Prices can be sky-high and as is the case in many places, drivers look to take advantage of travelers and tourists. If you do need to take a taxi, try to have someone who can speak Turkish (if you are staying at a hostel or hotel, the people are usually very helpful in helping to establish set prices) to negotiate a set price ahead of time. Lastly, always make sure that taxis have an up-to-date rate monitor.   

Turkey Transportation-Driving can be dangers 

During the past two decades, the Turkish government has made huge efforts to decrease traffic accidents. The old two-lane highways are slowly being transformed into safer, four-lane highways (not otoyols/expressways).

In addition, the government has installed traffic control cameras (MOBESE) and officers are regularly monitoring the cameras to punish any driving offenders.

The fines for traffic violations are expensive. In the event of an accident, alcohol breathalyzer tests are mandatory for all drivers.