Trabzon Flights

The bus or the plane leaving from Istanbul or Ankara
It is better to stay in Ankara one night if you go there whith a bus, otherwise the trip is too long
The minibuses get's almost everywhere, they are not expensive
Don't hitchike in this region if you are a lonely girl people might think you are one of the many prostitutes ( their sign is the same as hitchiking !)

I used buses from Trabzon to Samsun, Erzurum, Istanbul (a mammoth 22 hours!!), Hopa and Ayder, via Pazar. Almost every destination is offered by various bus companies...you can either go straight to the bus station (a couple of kms from the centre of town) and run the gauntlet of ticket touts on arrival ('where you go, mister?'), or take advantage of the companies' city centre offices, most of which have free minibus services for their passengers to the bus station in time for your bus. To get to Sumela, ask around at the travel agents...the cheapest tour I could find was with the well-known bus company Ulusoy, leaving every day from their Ataturk Alani branch at 10am, returning at 2pm...this allowed more than enough time to climb up the mountain to the monastery and back, and write a few postcards in the cafes at the base of the mountain.
The dolmuslar in Trabzon are unlike dolmuslar in other cities...instead of using minibuses holding 12 or more passengers, they are shared taxis running on pre-determined routes, taking only 4 passengers, and charging much the same as the minibuses in other cities...because they take less time to fill up, you never have to wait long at any of the terminals. Regular taxis are plentiful, although they tend to charge on the basis of how foreign you look, rather then what the meter would say if they happened to remember to turn it on! I preferred to walk most of the time though!

There are ferries in summer to Istanbul, via Rize, Giresun, Samsun, Sinop and Zonguldak (although my friend seems to think his only stopped at Samsun and Sinop). Leaving Trabzon on wednesday evenings, it takes two days to reach Istanbul, and would be an excellent way to return there, if only it ran all year round...the service stops abruptly in September, and unfortunately I was a week late! Fares are ridiculously cheap...from Trabzon to Istanbul, my friend paid 13 million lira ($10?) for what he thought would be a pullman seat...it turned out to be deckspace only, so it was lucky the weather was good! Cabins are also available for not much more. The food served on board is reportedly disgusting and expensive, so a couple of picnics wouldn't go amiss!!

HOW TO GET Road
There are three road networks, composed of Rize - Artvin - Gümüþhane - Erzurum and Giresun - Ordu - Samsun direction from Trabzon. Transportation to coaching station, 1.5 km. away from city center, is maintained by shared taxi.
Coaching Station Tel : (+ 90 - 462) 325 23 43 - 325 20 81 Maritime Lines
Trabzon Port is 1 km. away from city center. Transportation is maintained by shared taxis.
Port Tel : (+ 90 - 462) 321 11 56 - 321 11 57 Airways
Trabzon Airport is the biggest airport of the region. It is 2 km. away from city center. Transportation is maintained by minibuses besides Havaþ or taxis.
Airport Tel : (+ 90 - 462) 321 34 46 - 326 64 33 - 321 16 80

Trabzon has a lot of transportation facilities:
Highway is the most popular one: Buses from Ankara and Istanbul go along Black Sea Coast after passing Samsun. Views are great and if you have a car there will be many excellent stops during the travel. Every district and city center has its own beauties.
International airport is another preference for travelers do not like long hours of bus travel.
Additionaly there is ferry connection with Istanbul once a week.

Crossing the boarder and arriving in Turkey I wanted to change some money. I waited a while at the empty exchange desk until a man came, but it seemed to be no money there. Finally I changed my last Georgian Lari with a taxi driver and I got money enough for the minibus to Hopa. To Hopa it was
5 000 000 TL (but it could also have been paid in dollars,
3 dollars). In Hopa the minibus did not stop in town, where I could have changed money, but the minibus went directly to a crossroad where a bus was waiting. I had no Lira, but paid
5 dollars to Trabzon. The bus was a medium sized bus, but in Rize it stopped and I was shown to a minibus.

Arriving in Trabzon I did not notice when the bus passed the otogar as it just passed on the big road outside. Having seen a map of Trabzon before, I realised the bus was passing Devlet Sahil Yolu Caddesi, downhill from Meydan Parki and I immediately told the driver to stop, and off I went.