Bodrum to instanbul
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bodrum to instanbul
We arrived in bodrum this morning and are staying until Monday.we need to be in Istanbul by Saturday 27/9. Can anyone suggest an intinary to get there including a trip to Ephesus and a trip to Gallipoli along the way. Have thought about basing ourselves around canakkale and then getting the ferry from bandirma to Istanbul or is the bus a better way to go .i don't really want to take a day out of our Istanbul initinary to go to Gallipoli as I would rather pens a day during princes island trip. Any suggestions would be appreciated . Thanks Bernadette
#2
Hello Bernadette,
Get to the "Otogar", the bus depot and ask for bus to Selcuk, pronounced "Selchook". There should be a number of them.
Possible Bus companies will be Truva, Metro, Ulusoy, Varan.
Take a morning bus and spend day getting there plus visiting Ephesus, Saint John's, Museum, etc.
You can then either stay the night there at somewhere simple like Nazhan or Bella to leave early the next morning to either Bergama or Assos by another bus. Again Truva, Ulusoy or Metro likely.
Pergamom (Bergama) has two lovely locations to visit as does Assos (smaller) You may be able to do both on the same day and spend the night as Assos Port (Kervansaray possibly) or at the village on the hill (Behram Kale) which has some excellent B&Bs.
You will need to take Dolmus (minibus) from Kucukkuyu before Assos or from Ayvacik, after Kucukkuyu, and on the hill)
The next morning, take dolmus to Ayvacik to take bus or minibus to Troy if you wish or bus to Canakkale.
If you cross the straits to Eceabat (closer to the sites than Gelibolu) and take tour or dolmus to the battlefields and memorials, it makes more sense to take direct bus from Eceabat to istanbul or Dolmus eceabat to gelibolu and bus to istanbul than to backtrack to Canakkale, spend another night there and make it to the 5PM ferry at Bandirma. (Bandirma-Istanbul ferry runs late afternoon and evening.
You can organize all bus trips on your first visit to Bodrum Otogar. just give enough time for Dolmus since they may not be all that frequent. The Dardannelles ferries run every 15-30 minutes. In case you wish to stick to your idea of the Bandirma-Istanbul ferry, check the time schedule at www.ido.com
Of'course, you can rent a car and do all that the fun way. Car rental prices are not that bad but istanbul return may be a hefty fee which can be negotiated. A diesel will not cost much to run. Check Sixt, Thrifty, Avis, etc. and you may even have time to try some brokers like economy rentals or rentalcars.com
If you have a rental car, you may even be able to stop at Sardis on the way to Pergamon, extending your trip from selcuk by possibly just one extra hour.
The next morning you will need to take a
Get to the "Otogar", the bus depot and ask for bus to Selcuk, pronounced "Selchook". There should be a number of them.
Possible Bus companies will be Truva, Metro, Ulusoy, Varan.
Take a morning bus and spend day getting there plus visiting Ephesus, Saint John's, Museum, etc.
You can then either stay the night there at somewhere simple like Nazhan or Bella to leave early the next morning to either Bergama or Assos by another bus. Again Truva, Ulusoy or Metro likely.
Pergamom (Bergama) has two lovely locations to visit as does Assos (smaller) You may be able to do both on the same day and spend the night as Assos Port (Kervansaray possibly) or at the village on the hill (Behram Kale) which has some excellent B&Bs.
You will need to take Dolmus (minibus) from Kucukkuyu before Assos or from Ayvacik, after Kucukkuyu, and on the hill)
The next morning, take dolmus to Ayvacik to take bus or minibus to Troy if you wish or bus to Canakkale.
If you cross the straits to Eceabat (closer to the sites than Gelibolu) and take tour or dolmus to the battlefields and memorials, it makes more sense to take direct bus from Eceabat to istanbul or Dolmus eceabat to gelibolu and bus to istanbul than to backtrack to Canakkale, spend another night there and make it to the 5PM ferry at Bandirma. (Bandirma-Istanbul ferry runs late afternoon and evening.
You can organize all bus trips on your first visit to Bodrum Otogar. just give enough time for Dolmus since they may not be all that frequent. The Dardannelles ferries run every 15-30 minutes. In case you wish to stick to your idea of the Bandirma-Istanbul ferry, check the time schedule at www.ido.com
Of'course, you can rent a car and do all that the fun way. Car rental prices are not that bad but istanbul return may be a hefty fee which can be negotiated. A diesel will not cost much to run. Check Sixt, Thrifty, Avis, etc. and you may even have time to try some brokers like economy rentals or rentalcars.com
If you have a rental car, you may even be able to stop at Sardis on the way to Pergamon, extending your trip from selcuk by possibly just one extra hour.
The next morning you will need to take a
#3
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 645
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Definitely rent a car. We drove from Bodrum to Ephesus and return without any issues. Lovely scenery and you will gain so much time not being constricted by bus schedules. And you will have the added bonus of having someplace to store your stuff.
#4
Great advice as usual by OC. We rented a car while in Turkey. We used AutoEurope and had a car from Budget. We picked up and returned the car to Izmir flying there from Istanbul and back to IST. I enjoyed the freedom of having our own schedule and to go where we wanted. You can click on my name and find my TR on our 25 days in Turkey.
#5
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 8,306
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Do as OC told you.
Rent a car if you want to visit other gems along the itinerary, like Milet, Priene, Didim,Pergamon, Assos ....
It's also possible to reach the Ephesos area by boat:
Turgutreis dp by catamaran Monday 10.00 - Leros (Greek Island) ar 11.20, dp by ferry Tuesday 6.55 - Pythagorio (Samos Island) ar 13.00, taxi to Vathy, dp by ferry 17.00 - Kusadasi ar 18.30
http://www.feribot.net/feribot/?lang=en
http://www.anekalymnou.gr/en/%CE%B4%...%B9%CE%B1.html
Rent a car if you want to visit other gems along the itinerary, like Milet, Priene, Didim,Pergamon, Assos ....
It's also possible to reach the Ephesos area by boat:
Turgutreis dp by catamaran Monday 10.00 - Leros (Greek Island) ar 11.20, dp by ferry Tuesday 6.55 - Pythagorio (Samos Island) ar 13.00, taxi to Vathy, dp by ferry 17.00 - Kusadasi ar 18.30
http://www.feribot.net/feribot/?lang=en
http://www.anekalymnou.gr/en/%CE%B4%...%B9%CE%B1.html
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for all your replies. We have decided to go to kusadasi for 3 nights and then fly from Izmir to instanbul a few days earlier than planned. This will enable us to do Gallipoli from there and still allow us enough days to do the other things we have planned in instanbul.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
kmh7
Europe
15
Jul 11th, 2012 10:51 AM