Istanbul Travel Forum

We need to travel from Istanbul to Ankara. We heard the trains in Turkey are awful. If that is true what is the best method of travel to the capital?

I believe the train service between these two cities is good, but I've never tried.

My other half (who is Turkish) would never use inter city buses, because of poor road safety.

Last summer we used Turkish Airlines and Onur Air to travel from Istanbul to Kayseri, and it was fine. Onur is a budget carrier. You also have Pegasus and Atlasjet in that category, plus a few other smaller ones. Turkish has to compete with them on price. All Pegasus flights (plus some others) are from the newer airport on the Asian side so if thats what you're booking you need to be sure how easy it will be to get there compared with Ataturk (the main international airport, on the European side).

At the weekend I booked flights with Onur from Istanbul to Bodrum, so research is quite up to date on this!

Between Istanbul and Ankara trains are good.But slow. (Train for east can be bad)There are 3-4 kind of train at different hours. Train with bed is very comfortable but a bit more expensive. They reach to other city in 9-11 hours. You can sleep at pulman or couchette too. We usually prefer busses because it takes 5-6 hours. For this way road safety is not bad. I never fly between these 2 cities if I will not continue thru to another country. Have a good trip.
Link for railways:
http://www.tcdd.gov.tr/tcdding/trentanim_ing.htm

the trin between istanbul and ankara is of a better quality than most trains in europe.
the person who told you they are no good must have taken the train several years ago.
i have used that train twice in the past year and would prefer it any day to other methods of transport between the two cities.

Either fly or take the bus...either is fine...trains are slower..

There are 2 express trains from Istanbul to Ankara
1- Anadolu Ekspresi with pullman seats and chusettes for six persons
2- The Ankara Expresi only with sleeping wagons and restaurant. Every wagon have compartments for 2. You can travel with your husband in the same compartment. The train arrives at 7:00 early Ankara. Both trains are night trains. I advice you to travel with Ankara ekspresi.
3- There is also a day train to Ankara which startes early and arrives at noon. This is a pullman train.

4- If you have time you can travel with first class intercity busses to Ankara at daytime. It takes 5 hours.

5- The trainstation which is called Haydar Pasha is on the Asian side of Istanbul. To reach there you should go to Galata Bridge by taxi. The landingsbridge of the ferry to Haydar Pasha is on the quai of Karakoy (read Karakoey)

6- You can reach by taxi directly from your hotel. But it takes money and time.
7- The trains are not awful. It is very clean and safe.
8- Where are you from?
9- have a nice time in Turkey.

http://www.seat61.com/Turkey2.htm

I lived in Ankara for one year and I used all the kind of transportations to get to and from Istanbul.
The best method to travel depend a lots of your planning and the purpose of your trip.

-Flight is fast, but you need to arrive in advance at the airport. The airport in Ankara is far from the center of the town (about 45-50 minutes), so at all, I founded the plane more time consuming than bus. But if you are anyway arriving by plane in Istanbul and you want to get to Ankara the same day, than it can be an option to consider.

-Bus is good because you are departing and arriving from the city center. But it will take in average 6 hours (the express bus company who are doing it in 5 hours are hard to find in the gigantic bus terminal; tickets are not cheap and the departure are not at each hour). I took the bus several times, but I found it boring. It was good for me when I needed to travel with a short time advice, because no advance reservation was necessary.

-Train was overall my favorite way to do the Istanbul-Ankara road. I recommanded it to all my friends who came to visit me. I'm talking about the night sleeper train. The bed is very confortable. Some cabins may be old, but they are keeped very clean. If you are not too sensitive to the balancing and the "track noise", you will sleep well. Night train is an excellent choice if you time is precious, because you are travelling while sleeping. You can enjoy a whole day in Istanbul and when you open your eyes, you are in the center of Ankara!