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 Istanbul Main Bus Terminal

 

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Istanbul's mammoth Büyük Otogar (Main Bus Terminal) serves all of Turkey, plus Greece, Bulgaria and the Balkans, and central Europe.

This International Istanbul Intercity Bus Terminal (Uluslararasi Istanbul Otogari), as it's formally named, is 10 km (6 miles) northwest of Sultanahmet Square in the district of Bayrampasa, 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.

To travel between the Otogar and Taksim Square, the most direct way is via IETT city bus 83-O (Otogar-Taksim), which runs every 20 to 25 minutes from 06:30 am to 21:30 (9:30 pm). The trip takes about one hour. You must buy your ticket before boarding the bus.

With 168 ticket offices and gates, its own Metro station, shops, restaurants, hotel, police station, clinic and mosque, the Büyük Otogar 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.

See my chart of Buses from Istanbul to Other Cities.

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.

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...


Major Routes/Times/Fares from Istanbul's Büyük Otogar

Directory of Ticket Offices/Gates & Bus Companies

Maps of Istanbul & Region

Buses to Athens and Greece

Buses to Sofia, Bulgaria & the Balkans

Otogar to/from Sultanahmet by Metro

Otogar to/from Atatürk Airport by Metro

Istanbul Transport

Transportation in Turkey

Istanbul Sights

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Istanbul Homepage

Where to Go

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Buses roar in and out of Istanbul's mammoth Büyük Otogar 24/7/365. The barrel-vaulted structure to the upper left is the entrance to the Metro station.