Getting to Turkey


We recommend checking the following websites for affordable flights to Turkey:


Please be aware of the fact that Eskişehir is located half-way between Istanbul and Ankara, and that hence flying to and/or from Ankara might be an option for you, too. Although Ankara is by far not as spectacular as Istanbul, it still has to offer quite some nice spots, a fast train takes you to Eskişehir within 90 minutes (in contrast to Istanbul, from where you have to travel the road, which takes at least double the time), and it can be a better point to start a trip to e.g. the great Cappadocia landscape.

If you plan traveling the south of Turkey, the flight destinations Antalya, Bodrum or Dalaman might also be worth a check. You might consider arriving in the south, passing by Cappadocia, Ankara, then the wedding in Eskişehir and leaving from Istanbul.

Getting to Eskisehir

From Ankara and Istanbul there are at least hourly buses going to Eskişehir. Tickets cost from 10 to 20 Euros one way, traveling time is around 5 hours from Istanbul and 3 hours from Ankara.

All major bus companies offer shuttles going from Istanbul's and Ankara's main locations (like the major airports or e.g. Taksim square in Istanbul) to the nearest inter-city bus station. Please contact Sevim, she can reserve seats for you and explain to you when to be precisely where to catch your shuttle and bus.

Please let us know if you want to go from Istanbul to Eskişehir on either the 29th or 30th of March. If there is a few people from Germany travelling on these days, we will arrange a person you can meet who will accompany and guide you all the way from Istanbul to your accomodation in Eskişehir. Check this website again or contact us the week before you travel.

From Ankara there is a train taking you to Eskişehir within 90 minutes. Online booking and reservation can be done here (a not very comfortable booking site with rather bad english translations - requires a short online registration) or in train station of course. Trains can be actually full such that you don't get a ticket anymore, so make sure you acquire one early enough. Train connection times can also be queried from the Deutsche Bahn website.

Getting around in Eskisehir

Maps: How to find your Hotel, the Wedding etc...

Provided Wedding Transportation

On the wedding day, a bus will pick up the guests from their hotel and bring them to Sevim's home place, where the dance course will happend and the bride will be picked up. Be in your hotel from 4 pm to not miss that bus, if you want to take it.

From Sevim's home to the wedding place there will also be a bus and many cars, so everybody will get a lift.

When the wedding party ends, which will be around midnight, another bus will be ready to take you to your hotel.

How to use the Tram

There are 2 tram lines in Eskisehir, one is going between "Otogar" (main bus station) and a stop called "SSK", passing through the city center ("Carsi").
The other one is going btw "Opera" and "Osmangazi", also passing through the city center ("Carsi"). To use the tram you need a ticket called "EsKart" which you can buy from shops near the tram stops. It is usually written outside the shops: "ESKART". Oneway ticket costs 1.90 Turkish Liras (it should say "TAM" on the ticket, to indicate that it is not a reduced ticket.) You say: "Bir (= 1, or "iki" for 2) TAM bilet lutfen" to ask for a ticket.
You have to get the ticket validated by using an obvious reading machine while entering the tram stop, and you need to keep it with you during the trip.
During the day time the frequency is like every 5 min, in the evenings every 10 min.
The last tram to SSK leave the Otogar stop at 23:45, should be at the city center around 00:00.
Last tram from SSK to Otogar leaves the Uluonder stop around 00:15.

How to use Taxis

Taxi is written as "Taksi" in Turkish and they work like everywhere else.
As an estimate, it can be calculated like 3 liras per km during the day, it might be a bit more costly during the night. E.g it will cost approximately 17 Turkish Liras to go from "Carsi" stop to Ali Guven Uygulama Oteli (one of the hotels where the guests from Germany will stayt), which is like 5.5 km.
The current price is permanently displayed on a spot that you can see, e.g. on the rear view mirror.