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Istanbul's mammoth Main
Bus Terminal (Büyük
Otogar) serves
all of Turkey, plus Greece, Bulgaria
and the Balkans, and central
Europe.
Here's how to buy bus tickets in Turkey.
This International Istanbul
Intercity Bus Terminal (Uluslararasi
Istanbul Otogari), as
it's formally named, is 10 km (6
miles) northwest of Sultanahmet
Square in the district of Bayrampasa,
near the district of Esenler.
(If you're starting your trip from
the center of Istanbul, you may want
to consider departing from the Harem
Otogar instead. More...)
You can travel between the Büyük
Otogar and Sultanahmet via tram and Metro (map). Click
here for instructions.
You can also get there from Istanbul's Atatürk
International Airport (map)
by Metro. Click
here for instructions.
To travel between the Otogar and Taksim
Square, the most direct way is
via IETT city bus 83-O (Otogar-Taksim),
which runs every 20 to 25 minutes
from
06:30
am to 21:30 (9:30 pm). The trip takes
about one hour. You must buy your ticket
before boarding the bus.
With 168
ticket offices and gates, its
own Metro station,
shops, restaurants, hotel, police
station, clinic and mosque, the Büyük Otogar is
virtually a town in itself.
You can catch a bus to Berlin or Baghdad,
though you're more likely to be looking
for one to Edirne, Ephesus, Gallipoli or Cappadocia.
See my chart of Buses
from Istanbul to Other Cities.
You can usually just show up at
the Büyük Otogar and
catch the next coach to your destination
in less than an hour, except at holiday
times, when many buses may be fully
booked in advance.
Hundreds of companies run thousands
of buses, mostly big, comfortable
and new, day and night. Dozens of
companies connect Istanbul and Ankara,
with a bus leaving at least every
15 minutes, 24 hours a day. More
on bus travel in Turkey...
Major
Routes/Times/Fares from Istanbul's Büyük Otogar
Directory
of Ticket Offices/Gates & Bus
Companies
Harem Otogar
Maps
of Istanbul & Region
Buses
to Athens and Greece
Buses
to Sofia, Bulgaria & the Balkans
Otogar
to/from Sultanahmet by Metro
Otogar
to/from Atatürk Airport by
Metro
Istanbul Transport
Transportation
in Turkey
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