My friends, bus rides are the way to travel around Turkey, aside from airplanes. Bus rides. Who knew?
Bus Depots are alive and well in Turkey! They are what Greyhound was fifty years ago, a means to traverse large distances relatively inexpensively. But these days while Greyhound seems to be dwindling somewhat in the US, Bus travel in Turkey is thriving. That's because Turkey is vast. And it is not connected by a train system. Airplanes fly all over the country, sure, but a newbie to travel isn't going to want to mess with the rental car system/driving in Turkey. SO buses.
I traveled from Izmir to Bodrum by bus. It took around four hours in a comfortable, assigned-seating bus with in-seat entertainment systems. (Sure, it was all in Turkish, but it was still entertaining. Maybe more than normal.) I'm convinced that if I'd been in a car the trip would have only taken two hours. And if it'd been in the US, it probably would have been a 75 minute trip. Yah. But so it is.
We made one stop along the way, a literal five-minute pit stop (squatter bathrooms). Heaven help the person who misses a bus there! We were somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. In the mid-section of Turkey, somewhat inland away from the coast. Until the moment I stepped off of that bus I thought I'd experienced heat. I've traveled to Egypt and Jordan and the Caribbean, for pete's sake. Nothing had ever prepared me for the breath-robbing wall of heat that met me when I stepped out of the air-conditioned bus. Dry and hot, like standing over a roaring pit-fire, the temperature of this place could be seen in waves rising off of the ground. I got back on the bus and away we went.
An hour later, the bus turned slightly to the right and we made for the southern coast of Turkey. Gone was the oppressive heat, replaced with cool salty breeze mingled with a Mediterranean blue sea and bright pink bowers of bougainvillea.
A year or so ago, while I was visiting Karchner Caverns outside of Tucson, Arizona, I met a British couple traveling across the US. We began to chat about travel, as travelers do, and when I mentioned that I was planning to visit Turkey soon, they gave me heaps and loads of suggestions. Do, they said, travel by bus! It's cheap and easy and quite comfortable. See Bodrum and Pamukkele and Ephesus and Kas and dozens of other little places along the way. Well, I didn't make it inland to Cappadocia or far South to Kas (Was SORELY dissappointed to miss seeing the sunken city there), but I can definitely confirm that bus travel in Turkey is indeed the way to go! Alas, I'll be back again to see the rest.
Tips:
-Book ahead. At least three days to a week. You'll probably have trouble with same-day tickets. Especially in the tourist season.
-Book directly, in-person at the bus depot. It'll save you time and money and runaround. Turkey is full of "middlemen" who are quite happy to help you out, for a price.
-TIME. As in, you need it if you go to Turkey, time to see everything. You could make a good go at Turkey in two weeks by bus. Three would be best.
Bus Depots are alive and well in Turkey! They are what Greyhound was fifty years ago, a means to traverse large distances relatively inexpensively. But these days while Greyhound seems to be dwindling somewhat in the US, Bus travel in Turkey is thriving. That's because Turkey is vast. And it is not connected by a train system. Airplanes fly all over the country, sure, but a newbie to travel isn't going to want to mess with the rental car system/driving in Turkey. SO buses.
I traveled from Izmir to Bodrum by bus. It took around four hours in a comfortable, assigned-seating bus with in-seat entertainment systems. (Sure, it was all in Turkish, but it was still entertaining. Maybe more than normal.) I'm convinced that if I'd been in a car the trip would have only taken two hours. And if it'd been in the US, it probably would have been a 75 minute trip. Yah. But so it is.
We made one stop along the way, a literal five-minute pit stop (squatter bathrooms). Heaven help the person who misses a bus there! We were somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. In the mid-section of Turkey, somewhat inland away from the coast. Until the moment I stepped off of that bus I thought I'd experienced heat. I've traveled to Egypt and Jordan and the Caribbean, for pete's sake. Nothing had ever prepared me for the breath-robbing wall of heat that met me when I stepped out of the air-conditioned bus. Dry and hot, like standing over a roaring pit-fire, the temperature of this place could be seen in waves rising off of the ground. I got back on the bus and away we went.
An hour later, the bus turned slightly to the right and we made for the southern coast of Turkey. Gone was the oppressive heat, replaced with cool salty breeze mingled with a Mediterranean blue sea and bright pink bowers of bougainvillea.
A year or so ago, while I was visiting Karchner Caverns outside of Tucson, Arizona, I met a British couple traveling across the US. We began to chat about travel, as travelers do, and when I mentioned that I was planning to visit Turkey soon, they gave me heaps and loads of suggestions. Do, they said, travel by bus! It's cheap and easy and quite comfortable. See Bodrum and Pamukkele and Ephesus and Kas and dozens of other little places along the way. Well, I didn't make it inland to Cappadocia or far South to Kas (Was SORELY dissappointed to miss seeing the sunken city there), but I can definitely confirm that bus travel in Turkey is indeed the way to go! Alas, I'll be back again to see the rest.
Tips:
-Book ahead. At least three days to a week. You'll probably have trouble with same-day tickets. Especially in the tourist season.
-Book directly, in-person at the bus depot. It'll save you time and money and runaround. Turkey is full of "middlemen" who are quite happy to help you out, for a price.
-TIME. As in, you need it if you go to Turkey, time to see everything. You could make a good go at Turkey in two weeks by bus. Three would be best.
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