Izmir Transportation

For transportation in Izmir, you need to get Kentkart which you can use in boats, metro and buses. Tokens are not used anymore in Izmir and if you would like to use public transportation, you need to get kentkart from various outlets available in the city. You can follow the link provided below for the fares with kentkart.

There is now a fast train from Izmir to Ankara. The train i took was the 09.15 am to Istanbul by train and ferry. Buses go from the otagar outside city centre.See my Istanbul page for info and pictures on Train Izmir to Istanbul As of 2011 i notice that trains from Izmir now go from Alsancak station in Izmir and not Basmane

Opened in 2000, Izmir has a metro but it only consists of a single line with 10 stations running from Bornova through Basmane and Konak to Ucyol. I found it to be useful but expensive when I travelled from Basmane to Konak where it cost me TL3.

Izmir has two railway stations: Basmane (built in 1876) in the city centre is the major terminal for intercity trains, and Alsancak, built in 1858, where the first railway line in the Ottoman Empire ran to Aydin but was closed in 2006.

The main intercity services include: Ankara (Mavi Tren is the fastest at 14 hours), Denizli (3 express trains daily, 5-6 hours) and Isparta (9 hours). Trains for Istanbul connect with a ferry at Bandirma.

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Turkey has an excellent bus network so you can easily reach IZMIR from many other cities across the mainland. The bus station is 7km away from the city in a huge building. You can go there by taxi (around 15 TL to the center) but every company has free mini shuttle buses for the city every 30’. You just show your bus ticket.

I was surprised of how many bus companies there are there. Unfortunatelly there isn’t any central Info point so you have to ask for timetables and prices in each one. The companies have more or less the same prices but not the same services. My favorite company is Pamukalle, an excellent company with modern buses, polite stuff, free tea/coffee and biscuits (!) for journeys that last more than 3 hours!

Bodrum-Izmir costs 20 TL (12euro) and takes 4 hours
Marmaris-Izmir costs 22TL (13 euro) and takes 4,5 hours
Istanbul-Izmir costs 40 TL (22 euro) and takes 10 hours

Adnan Menders airport is the city’s airport, 15km away from the center. It has many connections to other Turkish cities or international destinations. If it happens to be in Istanbul/Ankara/Antalya you can choose one of the daily flights but there are connections with other turkish cities too.

There two bus lines to the city from the airport, one for Alsancak and one for Karsiyaka. I’n not sure about the company but I think it’s Havas that has great service in Istanbul airport too. Taxi is expensive, try to avoid it.

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Izmir is situated 337 km from Istanbul. It has an airport Adnan Menders, a ferry terminal Alancak, a railway station Basmane Gari and the main bus station Buyuk otogar.
There are 5 flights from Ankara, 5 flights from Antalya and 5 flights from Istanbul everyday.
You may get to Izmir by train from Ankara for 15 hours and from Denizli for 6 hours.
You can also reach Izmir by bus from Istanbul (every hour for 10 hours), from Ankara (11 times a day for 8 hours).
We got to Izmir by excursion bus on our way from Selcuk to Bergama.

You can watch my 3 min 43 sec Video clip Izmir around by bus with Turkish pop music by Izel – York Yere.

You may watch my high resolution photo of Izmir on the Google Earth according to the following coordinates 38° 25' 11.15" N 27° 7' 37.91" E or on my Google Earth Panoramio Konak Iskele .

At the Izmir otogar there is a left luggage service, open 24/7 it is at the down floor where long distance busses are. I left there my luggage for about 10 hrs but I m afraid I don't remember exactly what I paid. I think it was about 10 ytl or something close.