The TEM highway, which connects Ankara and Istanbul and the D - 100 highway passes through Bolu. Therefore, reaching the city by the means of highway from every location of the country is quite easy. The historical and touristic locations around the city could be reached by buses and shared taxis. The Bolu bus station is 1 km. away from the city center.
AIR TRAVEL
In the mean time Bolu does not have an airport.The closest airports from Bolu are respectively listed below:
1. Esenboğa Airport, Ankara(210 km)
2. Sabiha Gökçen Airport, İstanbul (230 km)
3. Atatürk Airport, İstanbul(270 km)
In general flights are densely scheduled to and from Atatürk Airport, which is one of the biggest airports in Europe and the Middle East. All three airport is quite well organized so that you can find your way easily. Passport control is carried out at the first point of entrance(i.e. your flight is from Vienna to Ankara directly; it is in Ankara but if your flight is from Vienna-Ankara via İstanbul, it is in Istanbul).
From Istanbul
After the passport control, following the baggage claim and customs area, you may need Turkish lira to be changed. You can see the banks around after the customs exit, and if you need ‘rent a car’ service all agents are ready to serve you at the arrival floor. If you prefer to arrive by bus like most of our students, please follow the ‘metro station’ arrows. You should have to walk approximately 5 minutes to reach the station since Ataturk Airport is very big, take the metro and ride off at the station ‘Bus Terminal’; means in Turkish ‘Şehirlerarası Otobüs Terminali’. Journey in metro takes about 20-25 minutes. One coin for metro is around 1.5 YTL. Metro operates in between 06-24 hours.
‘Öz Bolu’ bus agent is the main operator to Bolu(Terminal guichet no:12, after climbing the escalator) , while Metro, and BARTIN Ozemniyet, BARTIN AS 74 are also in service to Bolu Long Distance Bus Terminal(shortly called Bolu Terminal). Journey takes about 4 hours depending on the break, rush hours, construction etc… Fee is around 25 YTL.
From Ankara
After the passport control, following the baggage claim and customs area, you may need Turkish lira to be changed. You can see the banks around after the customs exit, and if you need ‘rent a car’ service all agents are ready to serve you at the arrival floor. If you prefer to arrive by bus like most of our students, please follow the ‘Shuttle Bus Service’ arrows. This bus you’re going to take either the ‘EGO’ bus(blue-white colored or red white colored).Journey to city center takes about 45 minutes. You should have to take off at Long Distance Bus Terminal of Ankara- in Turkish: Ankara Şehirlerarası Otobüs Terminali(shortly AŞTİ)-which is the last stop of ‘Havaş’ bus which has a fee of around 9 YTL.
Üstün Erçelik’(Terminal guichet no: 51) and ‘Düzce Güven’ (Terminal guichet no: 44) bus agents are the main operators to Bolu, while Metro, Efe Tur, Sakarya VİB, ES Turizm, Şampiyon Hersekli, Keşan Gürel and AS 71 are also in service to Bolu Long Distance Bus Terminal(shortly called Bolu Terminal) Journey takes about 2 hours depending on the rush hours,construction etc…Fee is around 17 YTL.
TRAVEL BY CAR
Bolu is situated between the tollway(3 lanes on one side, three on the other) of Ankara-Istanbul-Edirne(O-1). There is another alternative, D-100 highway, displaying a tollway characteristic in a quite small part, next to Ankara. D-100 highway is mostly 2 lanes on one side, two on the other. We therefore strongly recommend you to take 0-1 tollway.
Toll fees are collected at the end of your journey and it is approximately 7,5 YTL from Istanbul and 2,25 YTL from Ankara for first class vehicles including jeeps and vans in O-1.. If you rent a car, please ask your agency if the car is equipped with automatic pass(OGS-Otomatik Geçiş Sistemi) so that you do not have to pay the fee again. If your car is equipped please keep the lane ‘OGS’ nearby the toll plaza.
Note that the speed limit is 50 km/h in the municipal areas, 90 km/h in highways and 120 km/h in the tollways. If you exceed the speed limits you will be fined around 237 YTL(as of January 1st 2008). The speed limit is around 30 km/h in the university.
The distance between Bolu and other major Turkish city centers are as follows:
Ankara 192 km.
İstanbul 262 km.
İzmir 595 km.
Antalya 690 km.
Bursa 273 km.
Adana 677 km
Samsun 475 km.
Konya 445 km.
Trabzon 808 km.
Erzurum 962 km.
Diyarbakır 1103 km.
For those who would like to rent a car in Bolu, here are the agencies as follows:
Tuna Otomotiv, Next to Bim Market, Beşkavaklar, D-100 yolu(road)
(special thanks to Assist.Prof.Dr. Seyhun YURDUGÜL from the Department Of Biology for preapearing these inscriptions.)
