Ankara

By plane

Ankara Esenboğa International Airport ESB is located some 28 km northeast of the city. International flights are rather low in frequency and scope - apart from Turkish Airlines THY, only Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and British Airways offer direct flights to their respective European hubs. Iran Air also has two weekly flights to Tehran. For other carriers flying into Turkey, a flight into Istanbul is necessary, followed by an air transfer to Ankara by Turkish Airlines or Anadolu Jet a low cost brand of Turkish Airlines.

EasyJet also offers discount flights to and from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport SAW and Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in the summer months until October 25th and to and from Istanbul and London Luton airport all year round for fares as low as £22.

The brand-new airport was opened in 2007. It features many more gates, a more orderly parking system, and in general, better traffic flow. The road connecting Ankara's airport to the ring road has also been fully renovated.

Airport buses are operated by HAVAŞ through the city center reaching Ulus the historical center of the city, close to the museums and baths, and AŞTİ where the intercity buses depart from to almost all the cities in Turkey. The price is 10 TL. Also, Ankara municipality offers public bus transports to and from the airport. The bus number is 442 and it stops on multiple locations including Ulus, Kızılay, Aşti. The price is 5.25 TL for bus 442. Bus 442 runs in a loop. It is possible to take this bus from any of its stops back to the airport.

By bus

If you are traveling from places other than Istanbul, you will find buses fast, inexpensive, and modern. Watch out for the drivers spraying your hands with lemon cologne if you do not like it.

The buses terminate at the bus station otogar named AŞTİ pronounced ush-tee and almost exclusively known as such locally; Ankara Şehirlerarası Terminal İşletmeleri standing for "Ankara Intercity Terminal". Most of the cities in Turkey have direct buses to the capital of Turkey, and buses are much faster than trains in Turkey. From Istanbul to Ankara, the bus trip takes around 5 hours and one way fare is about 35 TL.

AŞTİ is connected to the Kızılay Square and a number of other central locations by a metro line. There are also free of charge shuttle buses to Kızılay and a number of other locations run by the AŞTİ administration. They depart from behind the main building.

By train

Being in a central location in Turkey, Ankara is also the centre of the Turkish rail network and can be reached from many cities. The train trip from Istanbul to Ankara takes around 5 hours and 36 minutes and most but not all daytime services involve changing from one of the older express trains from Istanbul to Eskişehir onto the new high speed rail link to Ankara. Night trains, on the other hand, are direct from Istanbul with no transfers to high speed trains, however, these slightly older trains are still comfortable and up to Western European standards. Also, internet connection exists certain wagons of train. Tickets are cheaper than the bus and the journey is more comfortable.

The overnight train to and from Istanbul is surprisingly affordable and saves the cost of a night's lodging. Reserve a cabin in advance if you prefer sleeping in a bed to sleeping in a seat.

The train station is located north of Kızılay Square, which it is connected to by a wide number of public buses which stop at right in front of the station. About 10 minutes of walking away from the station, on the northern corner of Gençlik Park, is a metro station which has services to a number of central locations in the city in addition to Kızılay.

Some popular destinations include:

City Duration Price TransferIstanbul 5:36 TL 32 Eskisehir High Speed RailEskisehir 1:28 TL 20 Direct High Speed RailKonya 1:30 TL 25 Direct High Speed RailBursa 4:00 TL 32 EskisehirKonya 1:45 TL 22 Direct High Speed RailIzmir 11:47 TL 27 DirectAdana 12:24 TL 22 Direct