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Several Turkish bus companies
run big, comfortable buses between Istanbul's Büyük
Otogar (Main Bus Terminal)
and the Pelopponese Bus Station (Stathmos
Pelopponisou Praktorio OSE) in Athens,
Greece, stopping at Xanthi (Iskeçe), Komotini (Gümülcine), Thessaloniki (Selanik)
and Larissa. There
is at least one bus per day.
My friends at Efendi
Travel can probably
help you to buy bus tickets and train tickets,
as well as all other travel services. More...
If you can't easily buy your tickets
directly from a bus company office,
it's probably better to use a travel
agency because
the bus company websites are bad
jokes when
it comes to actually obtaining bus
information and buying tickets.
It's about a 12-hour ride between Istanbul and Thessaloniki,
with a stop at Alexandroupolis along
the way. It's a 20- to 22-hour ride
(1150 km/715 miles) between Istanbul and Athens,
with stops for meals, toilet, and smoking,
but no hotel (overnight) stop.
The one-way fare (single)
between Istanbul and Thessaloniki is
about TL90;
between Istanbul and Athens TL140.
Round-trip (return) fares may be discounted
about 12%.
Buses to Greece, the Balkans and Europe may depart from either the Büyük Otogar (Main Bus Terminal) in Esenler, or the Emniyet Garajı near Aksaray.
Click on the company names to go to
their websites.
Büyük
Otogar Office No. 127-128
Ulusoy runs buses from Istanbul to
Athens and return, once per week. The Ulusoy
website is buggy and difficult to use, with
mysterious navigation. In the English
section,
put your cursor over "Customer
Solutions Center" on the left
side of the screen, and choose "International
Travel Routes."
This should take you to the international
routes, but when I last did it I got
"Microsoft VBScript runtime
error '800a0411'." Helpful!
International
Routes: No. 107
One of Turkey's biggest and best bus companies has
one of Turey's most ridiculous websites. I found it
impossible to determine when Metro buses operate between
Istanbul and Athens, but this
page gives a hint that
they do. Apparently they operate daily.
Büyük
Otogar Office No. 57
Tel: +90 (212) 658 0292, -0293, -0298,
-0299
Routes from Istanbul to Alexandroupolis,
Komotini, Xanthi, Kavala, Thessaloniki,
Larissa and Athens; and from Bursa
via Alexandroupolis and Komotini
to Xanthi.
The Derya
Tur website will whiz
graphics at you and play loud music
for you (whether you want it or
not), but it yields only cryptic
info about the buses, and not much
of that. I could find only some
fares, not departure schedules.
You'll have to telephone
them.
See also
my page for buses
to Bulgaria, other Balkan countries, and Europe.
Trains Istanbul - Greece
Alas, there is no passenger train service at all between Istanbul and Greece these days.
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