Istanbul's mammoth Büyük Otogar(Main Bus Terminal) serves all of Turkey, plus Greece, Bulgaria and the Balkans, and central Europe.
The International Istanbul Intercity Bus Terminal (Uluslararası Istanbul Otogarı) is 10 km (6 miles) northwest of Sultanahmet Square near the district of Esenler.
You can travel between the 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.
With 168 ticket offices and gates, its own Metro station, shops, restaurants, hotel, police station, clinic and mosque, the BüyükOtogar 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.
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. Here are some major routes and travel times.
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...
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