Turkey Travel International
AIR: Turkey's national airline is Turkish Airlines (TK) (website: www.turkishairlines.com). Other airlines serving Turkey include Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and Swiss.
Approximate flight times: From Istanbul to Frankfurt/M is two hours 45 minutes, to London is three hours 30 minutes and to New York is 11 hours.
International airports: Ankara (ESB) (Esenboga) is 35km (22 miles) northeast of the city. THY buses go from the city one hour 30 minutes before domestic flights and two hours 15 minutes before international flights. There is a taxi service available into the city. Airport facilities include incoming and outgoing duty free shops, bank/bureau de change, and restaurants and bars.
Istanbul (IST) (Atatürk, formerly Yesilkoy) is 24km (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 include 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 one hour 15 minutes before departure. Airport facilities include bank/bureau de change, bar and restaurant.
Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) is 40km (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 include duty free shops, bank, ATMs, business centre and restaurants/cafes.
There are other international airports at Adana, Antalya, Dalaman and Trabzon.
Departure tax: US$50 is levied only on Turkish nationals, not resident overseas departing from Turkey.
SEA: Major ports are Antalya, Bandirma, Istanbul, Izmir, Marmaris and Mersin. Turkish Maritime Lines (TML), the national shipping organisation, and a number of cruise lines run services to Turkey, including: Costa, CTC, Epirotiki, Golden Sun Cruises, 'K' Lines, Linblad Expeditions, Norwegian 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: Akcay, Alanya, Anamur, Antalya, Ayvalik, Bandirma, Bodrum, Botas (Adana), Canakkale, Cesme, Datca, Derince, Didim, Dikili, Fethiye, Finike, Giresun, Güllük, Hopa (Artvin), Iskenderun, Istanbul, Izmir, Kas, Kemer, Kusadasi, Marmaris, Mersin, Ordu, Rize, Samsun, Sinop, Söke, Tasucu (Silifke), Tekirdag, Trabzon and Zonguldak.
RAIL: Train journeys can be made to Istanbul via some of the major European cities. The journey from London takes three 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); website: www.tcdd.gov.tr).
ROAD: There are roads from Bulgaria, the CIS, Greece and Iran. 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, France, Germany, Greece and Switzerland, as well as Jordan, Iran, 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; website: www.eurolines.co.uk). |
