Esenler Otogar Bus Station

Esenler Otogar Bus Station( Bayrampaşa)

Istanbul’s mammoth Main Bus Terminal (Coach Station, Büyük Otogar, Esenler Otogar, Bayrampaşa) serves all of Turkey, plus Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and the Balkans, central Europe and even the Middle East.

This Great Istanbul Bus Terminal (Büyük Istanbul Otogarı), as it’s formally named, is 10 km (6 miles) northwest of Sultanahmet Square in the district of Bayrampasa, near the district of Esenler

(If you’re starting your trip from the center of Istanbul and heading east into Asian Turkey, you may want to consider departing from the Harem Otogar on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus instead.

(If you’re going to the Balkans, Armenia, Georgia or Iran, consider the Emniyet Garajı.)

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, Pamukkale, Gallipoli or Cappadocia.

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.