How To Travel Around In Turkey
Turkey attracts thousands of tourists from all parts of the globe. It is a major tourist hub because of the existence of great many places of historical importance as well as sites of natural, scenic beauty. There is so much of diverse stuff to do and see here. Tourists thus require traveling a lot around the nation. Air transport, huge fleet of bus services, trains, taxis, and ferryboats are present for the utilization of the tourists.
Air: - Turkish Airlines, Istanbul Airlines, and Onur Air are the three major airlines which serve in the domestic sector. Tickets are usually reasonably priced. These can be bought conveniently from Istanbul domestic terminal or local ticketing offices of Turkish Airlines, Onur Air, Pegasus Airlines, Fly Air, and Atlasjet among others. Several of the large cities have daily flight connections while some others have flights on specified days only. On your arrival at the regional airports, you may take the connecting Havas bus which is a cheaper option than taking a taxi. You may also opt for minibuses available in plenty.
Buses: - Turkey has a good internal long distance bus network service. The buses are air - conditioned, have reserved seats, and the major operators offer good service. Presently only two bus companies in Turkey - Ulusoy and Varan do sell return tickets. Usually you are offered free drinks and snacks at regular intervals. The bus also halts every two and a half hours at good road restaurants.
Dolmus: - This is quite a cheap and interesting mode of transport within Turkey. It is a good option if you intend to get a close encounter and feel of the natives. The Dolmus has the name of the destination written clearly on the front. It will stop for you on the way and you might have to squeeze in. This can be a little tricky particularly if you have a lot of luggage to handle. Another disadvantage with Dolmus is that it also generally does not run for late hours in the evening.
Trains:-Trains offer cheap but slow mode of travel within Turkey. TCDD (Turkish Republic State Railways) provide passenger trains throughout the country. However Turkey has less than 11,000 km of rail network. Thus several tourist spots and cities remain away from rail coverage. Istanbul - Ankara and Istanbul - Edirne lines are electrified, whereas the rest of the areas are served by diesel trains. Istanbul - Ankara rail route is among the busiest of the routes. There are different daily train services on this line. You can find several direct trains connecting many cities and towns in Asian Turkey from Istanbul's Haydarpasa station.
Taxis:-Taxis are available in plenty in Turkey. However you have to ensure that the meter is working properly and zeroed before you head for any destination. There are two kinds of rates - one for the day, and the other for the night. The day rate generally varies a bit in every town. The present starting price in Ankara for day rate is 200,000 TL.