Travel Information

Turkey is surrounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Aegean to the west and the Mediterranean to the south. Two straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles) form gates to the inner Marmara Sea, dividing Thrace - the European part, and Anatolia - the Asian part of the country. Turkey is truly the place where East and West meet. Click for More

How to Reach Istanbul

Official Airlines

+ Istanbul Ataturk Airport

Istanbul has two international airports: one on the European side (Atatürk Airport) and one on the Asian side (Sabiha Gökçen Airport). Both can be used but the closest one to the congress center is the Atatürk Airport.

Istanbul Ataturk International Airport is one of the biggest Airports in Turkey. Many Airlines have direct flights to Istanbul but you may have a connection to the Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

+ Transportation from Airport to City Center

There is a direct public bus connection line “96 T” from Istanbul Atatürk Airport to the city centre. The journey from the airport to the central station takes about 50 minutes. The bus leaves Istanbul Atatürk Airport every 50 minutes.

Taxis are available at taxi stands or can be hailed directly on the street. In Turkey taxis are colored yellow and have meters.
There is an underground station at the airport and you can go to the city centre with 2 train changes.

+ By Bus

Using a bus to get into Turkey is another option. This is good and cheap if you're planning to get into Turkey from a nearby country such as Bulgaria, Romania or Greece. For Greece - Turkey routes you can even book tickets online through Varan Tourism for Thessaloniki - Istanbul. If you're planning to do that from a farther European country then it may get quite tiring, although you can at times find such a service, especially from Germany or Austria.

From Asia, you can take buses from Georgia to Turkey in both Batumi and Tbilisi but service is irregular and one should inquire around. From Armenia one can go through Georgia by bus to Turkey. From Iran there are buses to Turkey from Tabriz. Most of the intercity and international buses arrive at İstanbul Esenler Otogar from Europe.

The major bus companies are ;
Ulusoy - www.ulusoy.com.tr
Varan - www.varan.com.tr
Metro - www.metroturizm.com.tr
Nilüfer - www.niluferturizm.com.tr
Kamil Koç - www.kamilkoc.com.tr

+ By Sea

Most of the routes are link Greek locations - mostly islands - with close-by Turkish locations and, a bit farther, Italy with Turkey. There are several companies operating such lines. A lot of travel agencies operate several routes between Greek Islands and Turkey. One can search for ferry departures and make reservations as well. If you're looking for a ferry from Italy to Turkey or vice-versa as well as alternatives to Greek-Turkey ferries, you should look on Aegean Ferry Services. They have a good map showing all of their ferry routes. One of the most interesting is the ferry from Ancona to Çeşme.

+ By Private Car

You can come to Antalya by car. But we don't advice you to use this way because of the road conditions and custom regulations. The participants from İstanbul, Greece, Croatia, Romania and Hungary may use this method.

General Route: London - Istanbul, approximately 3,000 km. Northern Route: Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Southern Route: Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Italy to Turkey.