Driving in Turkey is a great way to see the country. While it’s mostly a breeze, here are some things you should know and money-saving advice for renting a car
Arriving at our hotel in Çanakkale after the first full day of our 2 week Turkey itinerary, we congratulated each other with the satisfaction of worldly explorers. We had just driven ourselves out of Istanbul, deciphered Turkey’s toll roads, caught a car ferry and found our hotel. We had traversed back roads, highways, motorways; found toilets, saw what we wanted to see and didn’t go wrong once.
We were brimming with an overwhelming sense of achievement.
Except it wasn’t much of an achievement at all. Driving in Turkey is very easy, especially compared driving in Mexico or even Morocco. The roads are good, the signage is clear, parking is straightforward, and navigation is simple. As an added bonus, driving in Turkey is a relatively cost-effective way to see the country.
However, like any foreign excursion, driving in Turkey has some things you should watch out for. So is all our Turkey road trip advice to help you plan for a smooth adventure, including how to deal with those agile Turkish drivers.
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DRIVING IN TURKEY / OUR ROAD TRIP TIPS
Turkey is one of the most exciting places to undertake a good old fashion road trip. The big tourist attractions such as the incredible ancient ruins and magical Cappadocia are best seen on your own schedule. In addition, there are hidden roadside gems that can only be properly discovered in your own wheels.
Here are all our tips for a successful Turkey road trip.
1 – UNDERSTAND TURKEY’S MODERN HGS TOLL SYSTEM
Turkey has a modern motorway system which has recently been converted to a High-Speed Toll System called HGS (Hızlı Geçiş Sistem).
An electronic device is fitted to the car which automatically collects the toll as you drive through the toll gates. All cars must have the HGS system fitted, so the device should already be provided by your hire car company.
As you approach a toll booth, follow the lanes marked HGS. This will collect the toll automatically which your rental car company will charge you for at the end of your rental.
OGS Transponders – Please note, some cars in Turkey use an older toll system called OSG. If your car has an OSG device (rather than an HGS sticker) you need to slow down to 30 kilometers per hour as you go through the toll gate.
Toll Costs in Turkey – The costs to drive on toll roads in Turkey differ considerably, some tolls are 1 TL others are 30TL. Your car rental company will be able to provide up-to-date toll estimations.
2 – AVOID NARROW LANES IN OLD TOWNS
While the motorways are bearing the fruits of Erdoğan’s infrastructure spree, the narrow lanes in old towns are not.
Here the infrastructure is full of crumbling charm, character-filled potholes, and stalls spilling out onto already narrow streets. The lanes are extremely tight, steep, and made of paving stones – of which most are missing.
Roads can be blocked by double-parked cars, a street can become one-way overnight, and pedestrians saunter on the road with no regard for personal safety.
Avoid the centre of old towns where possible and park on the outskirts instead.
3 – DON’T PULL UP RIGHT TO THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS
When the traffic lights go green in Turkey, you have very limited time to respond before the cars behind you start beeping.
Initially, I found my inadequate reaction time embarrassing, but after a few days driving in Turkey, I realized it wasn’t impatience that was causing this green light behavior.
If you pull up to the line at a junction you can’t actually see the traffic lights which will be behind you if you are too far forward. It appears this flaw in Turkey’s civic planning is well known to Turks, who will offer you a horny notification that you’re good to go.
So, when approaching an intersection while driving in Turkey, keep an eye on the traffic lights and make sure you can still see them before you stop.
4 – KNOW YOUR LIMITS
The great mystery of the speed limits in Turkey baffled us throughout our trip. Sometimes there are no speed signs at all. Other times we went through micro speed limits: 70, 50, then 30km/h within the space of 100 meters.
Often the speed will go down to 50km/h for a small intersection on a major highway, never to change again. In a couple of places, we saw a speed limit of 82 km/h which we admired for its precision but failed to see its purpose.
The only way you can be sure of the speed limit in Turkey is to look them up. So here they are.
DRIVING IN TURKEY | SPEED LIMITS
Highways & Motorways – 120 km/h
Double Lane Roads – 90 km/h
Built-Up Areas – 50 km/h
Turkey Blood Alcohol Limit – The other limit you need to be aware of is the blood alcohol content, which in Turkey is zero.
5 – KNOW WHEN A ROUNDABOUT ISN’T REALLY A ROUNDABOUT
There’s a slightly confusing intersection set up in Turkey that looks suspiciously like a roundabout, but it isn’t a roundabout. It’s just a circle in the middle of a large intersection where cars turning left onto the main road stop to give way to oncoming traffic. Cars already on the main road (the double lane road) don’t need to stop (or even slow down) because the “roundabout” is not obstructing their lanes at all.
It’s something you need to keep an eye out for because, if you treat it like a normal roundabout, you’ll soon realise cars are not giving way for you as you would expect them to. Take a bit of extra caution when approaching roundabouts on double-lane roads.
6 – MAKE SURE YOUR HOTEL HAS PARKING
Parking was never really a problem for us in when driving in Turkey, except for a few larger cities. Most of the towns we visited had a lot of easy parking on the street.
However, it’s still a good idea to book hotels with parking (of which there are many) as hotels near town centres may have limited space. Sometimes hotel parking just meant there was plenty of space on the street, other times it meant leaving your keys with the staff to shuffle your car around as necessary.
7 – LEAVING YOUR CAR KEYS AT THE OTO PARK IS SAFE
Parking at the major attractions was also very easy. All sites have ample parking which is either free or costs 5 to 10 Turkish Lira. Occasionally – at some smaller sites – we would get people offering to look after our car. A polite “no thanks” is all it takes to move on.
There are no parking ticket machines in Turkey. If you park in a spot you need to pay for, someone will come up to you to take payment.
In bigger towns, we usually parked in car parks (Oto Parks). In many Oto Parks, you need to leave the keys with the attendant as they pack the cars in like sardines.
We had no issues doing this and our car was always there when we got back! Oto Parks costs around 5 – 10 Turkish Lira for a couple of hours.
8 – TRUST GOOGLE MAPS COMPLETELY (UP TO A CERTAIN A POINT)
Navigating around Turkey is surprisingly easy. The modern road system has very good signage, especially if you are heading to a major attraction.
Towns and cities are marked in regular blue or green signs, major tourist attractions are marked on brown signs.
We used Google maps for all our navigation needs which generally did a sterling job.
Sometimes, however, Google tried to take us on the most efficient route even if this meant going off the main highway and taking some much smaller backroads.
Our advice is to follow Google maps, but if it starts directing you off major roads when there are signs to your destination pointing in another direction, follow the road signs instead.
9 – DOWNLOAD GOOGLE MAPS WHILE THE WIFI IS GOOD
These days, when even the most basic hotel has pretty good WIFI, (plus lots of cafes, restaurants, museums) we rarely bother getting a SIM card in a new country. This worked fine for us driving in Turkey because we’re not totally WIFI dependent. Yet.
The only time it could have been a slight problem was when we were out on the road. So, we always downloaded Google Maps for the entire distance we were travelling the next day.
That way we had all the driving instructions we needed to find our destination.
10 – UNDERSTANDING TURKEY’S HIGH-QUALITY SERVICE STATIONS
In Turkey, shiny new petrol stations spring up in regular intervals, even on the most deserted roads. But one of the most surprising things about service stations in Turkey is the quality of the food.
You won’t be settling for rubbish junk food, this is quality food at very reasonable prices. They also have some of the cleanest toilets you’ll find in Turkey.
They don’t trust you to fill the car yourself in Turkey. An attendant will need to press a series of buttons and wave a keycard in front of the pump to turn it on. He’ll then fill it up for you.
All service station attendants understand the term “full.” If you want less, you might need to write the number down.
11 – KNOW YOUR HIRE CAR DETAILS BEFORE YOU GET THERE
When we collected our hire car in Istanbul, the staff didn’t know the details of our booking and gave us about 4 different prices over the hour we were standing there. We strongly recommend you bring all your paperwork with you and know exactly what you have paid for upfront and what you haven’t.
Also, keep a cool head and remember you’re on holidays.
We generally don’t take additional insurance when we hire a car, but at 48 Turkish Lira per day, we thought it was well worth getting.
As in most places, car rental companies charge a considerable amount for picking up and dropping off in different locations. However, in Turkey, these fees are not too bad: 250 Turkish Lira to pick up in Istanbul and drop off in Antalya.
12 – STAY BACK MORE THAN YOU NORMALLY WOULD
Some of the driving in Turkey can be erratic. Indicating happens very rarely, cars will wander into your lane or just pull out in front of you.
Overtaking is done with the maximum amount of risk, and the hard shoulder is often used as a substitute lane.
Tractors and other slow-moving vehicles saunter along the roads at slow speed and others will whip past you in a flash. It’s nothing that should put you off driving in Turkey, but give the car in front of you plenty of room to allow for any crazy manoeuvres.
13 – ENGLISH IS YOUR FRIEND
Like in most countries, the Turkish people love it when you practice a bit of their language. However, if you get pulled over by the Police, this is not the time to demonstrate your newfound Turkish language skills.
We were pulled over a couple of times because police roadblocks are not uncommon in Turkey, but a greeting of “hello, how are you?” in our best English accents had us waved on without any further questions.
We often saw police set up at the start of a town pulling over cars indiscriminately. They also have cardboard cutouts of police cars warning about speeding set up on the side of the highway. None of this was a problem for us.
We generally found the police either very friendly or not interested in tourists at all.
SHOULD YOU DRIVE IN TURKEY?
You do not need a car in the big cities, but if you are heading into the countryside then, yes, absolutely. It’s an easy place to drive and the road network is good with clear signage. Parking was straightforward, and there were plenty of service stations.
Turkey’s public transport system is mainly built for locals and not for visitors. So if you want to head off to more out-of-the-way destinations, then hiring a car is a sensible option.
Having your own car also means you can select what you want to see and how long you want to see it for. There are a lot of great sights to see in Turkey and some of the scenery from the car window is excellent. Being able to stop when you want and take photos is all part of the fun. We often saw tour groups sitting around gift shops or in large industrial tourist-geared restaurants waiting for their escape.
Finally driving in Turkey is not too expensive, making it not only a sensible option but decent value as well. Check out the prices below.
DRIVING IN TURKEY / HIRING A CAR
Hiring a car can be notoriously challenging. There are many different providers all providing different add-ons and levels of insurance making it difficult to compare prices and know what you have bought.
The best portal we’ve found for booking hire cars is rentalcars.com. They have access to cars from all the major companies so you can compare prices for different car sizes across each provider.
CHECK PRICES — RENTALCARS.COM
TURKEY RENTAL CAR INSURANCE
Be careful to check what insurance comes with your rental car agreement. Most upfront cost comes with basic insurance covering theft, third-party damage and liability, however, it often comes with a large excess.
There are 3 ways to deal with this:
OPTION 1 / BASIC INSURANCE
Take the risk and stick with the basic insurance that is included in your rental agreement. In this case, if you have an accident the car hire company will charge you an amount up to the excess.
OPTION 2 / REFUNDABLE EXCESS GUARANTEE
Purchase a refundable excess guarantee package from either Auto Europe or insurance4carhire. In this case, the car hire company will charge you up to the excess for any damage but you can claim it back from Rental Cars or insurance4carhire.
OPTION 3 / ANNUAL EXCESS GUARANTEE
Purchase an annual refundable excess guarantee package from insurance4carhire. This makes sense if you are likely to hire a car 3 or more times a year as it will be cheaper than continually buying a one-off package.
Purchasing a refundable excess guarantee package is MUCH cheaper than the amount you will pay for insurance at the car rental company desk when you pick up the car. But it does involve the extra hassle of claiming the excess guarantee back from your insurer.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – DRIVING IN TURKEY
Turkey is well equipped for a road trip with modern infrastructure, mostly clear signage and frequent availability of fuel and other services. But, before you hit the road, here are some of the common questions about driving in Turkey.
WHAT SIDE OF THE ROAD DO YOU DRIVE ON IN TURKEY?
In Turkey, you drive on the right side of the road.
CAN TOURISTS DRIVE IN TURKEY?
Yes. Tourists can drive in Turkey; however you need to be at least 21 years old to hire a car.
CAN I DRIVE IN TURKEY WITH A FOREIGN DRIVING LICENCE?
Yes, you can drive in Turkey for up to 6 months a foreign driving licence. Please note, visitors from some countries require an International Driving Permit as well as a valid driving licence.
DO I NEED AN INTERNATIONAL DRIVING PERMIT TO DRIVE IN TURKEY?
As of January 1, 2021 travellers holding any British driving license will need an International Driving Permit to drive in Turkey. British licence holders will need permit number 1968 which cost £5.50 and can be obtained from any Post Office.
If your driving licence is printed in non-Roman alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew etc) an International Driving Permit is required.
The requirements for International Driving Permits are different for every country, so you should check if you need one before you travel to Turkey based on the licence you hold.
Please note, you must always have your driving licence even if you have an International Driving Permit.
WHAT IS THE DRINK DRIVING LIMIT IN TURKEY?
Turkey has a zero blood alcohol content limit, meaning you cannot drink any alcohol and drive in Turkey.
WHAT ARE THE SPEED LIMITS IN TURKEY?
Turkey has several speed limits, they are as follows. Urban areas: 50 km/h | Double lane roads: 90 km/h | Motorways: 120 km/h
WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO RENT A CAR IN TURKEY?
In our opinion, there is no need to hire a GPS as an extra when renting a car in Turkey. Many cars now come with GPS and if they don’t, Google or Maps.Me is just as easy. Often, these solutions are more up to date as well.
When picking up your rental car in Turkey make sure you bring your passport, valid driver’s license and International Driving Permit (If required).
You will also need a credit card. The car hire company will hold the ‘excess’ on your credit card in case it needs to charge you for damages. Check your credit card is accepted by your rental car company and has enough limit to cover the excess.
Keep all your documentation with you when you are driving. There are regular police checkpoints, especially on more touristy roads and they will often ask you for the paperwork provided by the rental company.
The minimum age for driving in Turkey is 18; car hire companies will require you to be at least 21.
MORE READING FOR YOUR TURKEY TRIP
Planning ahead for your next Turkey trip? Here are some more of our guides to help you get the most out of this fascinating and diverse country.
Top 10 experiences not to be missed in Turkey
8 most interesting ancient ruins in Turkey
Top 10 experiences not to be missed in Istanbul
Ancient ruins, cool cities & fairy tale lands on our 2-week Turkey itinerary
Uncovering Istanbul’s mighty past & uncertain future
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Top tips. I’m not a nervous driver but it’s something I’m never quite sure about in a new country. I’ve driven in Morocco (which was okay, once I worked out its logic), Italy (occasionally terrifying) and Cape Town (aaaargh). Turkey sounds okay. Thanks.
I think Turkey is easier than Italy and Morocco for sure. Mainly because they have a lot of new roads with lots of space, clearly marked lines and helpful things like signs. Cape Town though? I don’t remember that being too bad unless it was so bad I’ve mentally blocked it out.
Detailed post with great info. I traveled to Turkey years ago, and it was a blast, but I’m not so sure I have your fearlessness. Then again, having been corralled into a few instances of captive audience “tours” in my time, I could certainly see the allure of hitting the road on your own terms.
Hi Justin, Thanks for stopping by. You should definitely try it. We’re not that adventurous, but we do love a good road trip, and honestly, if we can do it anyone can do it!
This sounds absolutely doable as compared with many other countries! Turkey is a huge country geographically, so it’s good to hear that high speed highway infrastructure and other modern technologies are now in place. Some very good tips here, thanks for sharing! #TheWeeklyPostcard
Yes very doable. And the road network and signs are top quality. Just got to look out for the odd aggressive over-taker!
I love road trips so I agree driving around Turkey is the best way to see it. These tips are so helpful. I bet it was scary going through that police checkpoint especially the first time. Thanks for sharing on #TheWeeklyPostcard
We were a little nervous, but the police really did not care, and it was never a problem. Unlike Mexico where the whole attitude of the police was much less inviting.
Oh this will certainly come in handy as we like to road trip everywhere and I’m sure when we get to Turkey one day, we will want to drive! Thanks for linking up with #TheWeeklyPostcard!
Hopefully you get to go soon. The collapse in the Turkish currency really has made it a great value destination at the moment. Thanks for your comment.
I read this post with great interest. We have just come back from a driving holiday in Mexico and I have to tell you – it was very, very stressful. It was almost enough to put me off driving holidays in foreign countries altogether. It is great to hear that Turkey is easier than Mexico. We might put it on our list.
I completely agree. We also found driving in Mexico stressful, particularly Chiapas area where we had to contend with unhelpful police, massive potholes, trees cut down by Zapatistas, thousands of uncomfortable speed humps and very poor signage. I can assure you, Turkey is nothing like that.
Beautiful photos, love love the one of Pammukale. I was in Turkey several years ago, and I was in fear for my life numerous times when being driven around by Turkish persons. Namely, cab drivers and bus drivers. So I was a bit surprised to hear about the ease of driving there. My perception as an anxious passenger was that everyone drives like a complete crazy person, especially the unnerving habit of playing chicken on the highway. That said I of course believe you (I think) and it would be wonderful to road trip around Turkey, the countryside was so beautiful. I agree too, great food at the roadside stops. Generally a delicious country 😉
I would say the only difficult thing about driving was the aggressive overtaking that ‘sometimes’ occurs. But I suspect you feel safer when you are driving yourself rather than being driven in cabs and buses by locals. I can be a nervous passenger, but really felt fine in Turkey.
I’m always hesitant about driving in other countries but it usually is the easiest way to get around. Great information!
Yes, we agree. Plus Turkey is a very easy place to drive in.
The traffic lights sound a lot like New York City! People expect you to be moving a half a second BEFORE they turn green! Eeek!
Yep – that’s exactly what it’s like!
I can totally relate with leaving your keys with some random stranger at a car park! I’m riding a motorbike through India and the first couple of times I was just petrified my bike would be gone. I guess it’s just something you have to let go and get used to 🙂 Same with the roundabouts by the way lol – traffic rules are not quite the same all over the world!
Riding a motorbike around India? Now, that sounds like a lot of fun. Hope you’re having a great trip!
As a Turkish, I barely had road trips around. I liked your post, so detailed and the photos you took. I need to take some lessons from you, what a shame:)
Ha, thanks a lot. I live in London but never drive here as well. I’d need tips from someone else about driving in my own city!
I was hooked reading this post! You tell your stories in such an interesting way!
Cardboard cutouts of police cars? Really? They put them up so you mistake them for a police car and you don’t speed too much?
I really couldn’t tell you why they put them up. I guess that’s the general idea, but it’s not very effective!
Great and detailed tips when driving on your own in Turkey, or in any other country. It pays to be cautious on driving especially if it’s a new place.
Yes it does. Thanks for stopping by Laurence.
Thanks for the practical tips. I don’t like to drive on vacation but my husband loves it. These tips are invaluable. Thanks!
Glad to hear it!
I enjoyed your post and lovely pics! I’m not comfortable driving around in a new country but do enjoy the freedom it gives, to stop and see the sights at your own pace.
Yes, it can be good sometimes if it’s not too stressful.
Renting a car in Turkey definitely sounds like a wonderful idea.
Thanks for sharing the best tips. Driving in other countries is not always simple, but sometimes it is the best way to enjoy and explore.
Turkey is a great place for a road trip, once you get used to the peculiarities.
Honestly, we try to rent a car everywhere we go because it’s so convenient unless the city is small and has an amazing public transport system.
So do we, it’s great to be able to plan your own itinerary. Agree on the cities though, it’s just never really necessary.
I’m from New Jersey and Tips 3 & 5 make think I would feel right at home on the roads of Turkey! Good information!
Ha – I’ve never driven in New Jersey, maybe I should give it a try!
Love your photos, they really give an additional value to your blog post!
A very comprehensive review of your trip. I love how much detail and time you put into this article. Your pictures are awesome and I love the tips that you shared 🙂
Thanks very much.
I like road journeys to explore. You have given insightful tips to drive in Turkey. This will greatly help travelers.
Thank you. Yes, we love road trips too.
Love the tips! I and hubby love road journeys. Undoubtedly, the best way to explore any place. We always rent a car and drive around. Though the change in driving rules and shift from right-hand drive to left-hand drive confuses a bit. It normally takes a day or two to adjust and get the confidence 🙂
I think that’s about right, but after a day or two it’s like you’ve always driven this way!
What an awesome idea for a post! Driving is definitely the best way to explore Turkey and you probably saved a lot of people out there a lot of time by writing this post.
Thanks, Daniel. Glad you liked it.
While driving through Turkey might seem like a breeze, it certainly didn’t feel that way in Istanbul. It was ok until there, but once we entered the capital it was hectic.
Yes, I certainly wouldn’t recommend driving in Istanbul too much.
This just made my day as I am looking to travel to Turkey for a few weeks. A road trips sounds alot cooler. I love this post.
Excellent! Have a great trip.
Turkey is on our wish list and we really want to head there and slow travel. There is just so much to explore. Driving around would be a great idea to go at our pace and see many more places. Thanks for these fantastic tips and sharing the indicative costs too.
You’re welcome, glad you found it useful.
Turkey is a beautiful country and in order to explore it fully I think it’s the best idea to drive around! No way to miss a spot!
Exactly. It’s a great country for a road trip.
I’m sure this is super-helpful for people driving in Turkey. I personally don’t drive anywhere in the world so I can rather give helpful advice on taking buses and trains. And let me tell you, bus drivers, the kings of the road, are not the most humorous bunch, either, just like cops; the idea of trying out your ‘nasilsiniz?! on a Turkish cop made me laugh out loud.
Thanks Renata. It can be a lot less stressful to take public transport if you’re prepared to go with the flow. I love long train journeys, so much fun!
These are such good and useful tips! Going to a new country and someone who loves to do a road trip this is very essential so thank you!
Great! Glad you found it useful. Thanks for stopping by, Christine.
It can be super scary driving abroad especially in noisy built areas! I would definitely be stressing if everyone was beeping me at traffic lights if I hadn’t read this post!
Jaz
Thanks, Jaz. Yes, the beeping at the traffic lights took a bit to get used to!
Nice job presenting this information in a visually pleasing and entertaining way! Love the layout, and Turkey is definitely on my list.
Thanks for stopping by, Brittany.
I’d be so nervous lol. I prefer taxis for this and also to not have the burden of parking or tolls etc. I cannot wait to visit Cappadocia and rise in the balloons. So amazing!
Cappadocia is amazing, you’ll love it!
So glad you did this! road tripping in Turkey is honestly the best! If you rent from outside of istanbul the rental prices drop a lot. You’d usually pay 107TL for the same car from another city but Istanbul is convenient of course.
I tried tip #13 once hoping to save time. I speak Turkish but I figured they’d just let us through if they knew we were tourists. Instead I hear (and understood the whole time) the officer start talking to his friends about google translate then he tries to have a conversation with me over google translate while I try to decide whether or not to let on that I speak Turkish.
Hi Josh, We loved our road trip through Turkey, such an incredible country! Thanks for the tip about hiring a car outside Istanbul, next time, we’ll definitely look into that. So often Google Translate makes life much easier, but sometimes…!
Hi There. I read your wonderful and educational post. Could you tell me which car rental company did you use. We am planning to take taxi from the new Instanbul airport to the city. After 3 days in the city we are planning to rent a car to drive to capadocia via Ankara then down to Pamukkale via Konya. Then to the beach in Fathiye and back to Istanbul in 12 days. What is your opinion? Is it ambitious? Is it stretching? Thank you for any recommendation you may give us. Thank you.
Hi Lin, We always use this company to compare prices https://www.autoeurope.co.uk/ But ended up booking with Avis, picking the car up in the city. Allow an hour for the pick up process. Your route is about 30 hours driving (you might actually save an hour by going to Fathiye before Pamukkale). So it is certainly a busy itinerary but sounds like a great trip. The driving comes in at just under 3 hours a day on average, which I think should be ok, especially if you have more than one driver. (I tend to believe anymore than 3 hours and 30 minutes on average is a lot). Depending where you are flying in from you could save a few hours by flying out of Izmir rather than Istanbul (although you would have a car hire drop of fee). Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. Mark
Hi Mark. Thank you for your advice. We will arrive at midnight at Istanbul new airport… so I thought it would be more sensible not to navegate the city that we do not know at 1:00AM. I am not sure how to include Fathiye into the schedule , she will be very angry if we don´t spend at least 2 days on any beach. That is my headache. So we may have to drive directly from Instanbul to Gomere in one day and drive directly from Gomere to the beach on another day. And finally drive directly from Pamukkale back to Istanbul. Thank you again.
Hi Lin, Good luck and do let us know how it goes. Thanks Mark.
Hi Mark. We had wonderful trip. The roads are excellent. Very easy. We are glad that we rented a car with GreenMotion after comparison shopping. I highly recommend to anyone to drive in Turkey.
Hi Lin, Glad you had a great time and thanks for coming back to us. Enjoy your next trip!
I am quite surprised at most of the posts, turkish drivers are terrible in most cases, really impatient and must be in front, ive lost count the times a none existent second or third lane appears next to you at traffic lights. You will need your wits about you at all times even on smaller roads and lanes particularly with sharp bends they drive as if there is no possibility that somebody will be coming the other way so beware. i have been going to turkey to my villa for many years from England, in the last 16 years ive got used to it but it gets no better each time i visit. Treat it all with caution and you will be fine.
Yes the worse part of driving in Turkey is the Turkish drivers overtaking techniques. As you say, it can be rather aggressive. Having said that it was not often that we felt unsafe. We just travelled a bit slower than normal and quite rightly treated with a bit of caution. Thanks for you comment.
Hello. Amazing details. All details mentioned are exactly what i always experienced when i stay in Turkey. I usually do some driving road trip videos. My last road trip in Turkey was in between October 2018 and November 2018 for about 18 days. Exploring Turkey on your own using a hired car is excellent way to do it. I went to Istanbul, drove 17 hours to Trabzon stayed there for 5 days, continued to Borçka, back to Abant (about 12 hours driving) and back to Istanbul. Yes i highly recommend you drive your own (hired) car all over Turkey and explore the country. You can find all the driving videos from Turkey and more on my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/MichelRazzouk/.
Have a pleasant and safe drive.
Just finished our three week trip with a rental car! We started in Istanbul and went along the coast to Antalya then up to Cappadocia and back to istanbul. From all we could find online we expected tolls to be super cheap, but in the end we paid 580 lira! (around 75 usd)
Yes, those tolls can add up especially with all the driving you did. Hope you had a great time.
I’m not sure if I would dare driving in Turkey but your article gave me some confidence to do so!
It’s actually a pretty easy country to drive in.
The prices are quite out dated for the HGS, they can range from 15 to 500 lira now depending on the road. In a 45 minute trip you can hit 3 or 4 tolls
Hi Tobs,
That’s for letting us know. We’ve updated the guide with up-to-date information, however, I couldn’t see any tolls that are as high as 500 TL. It would be great to know which roads have such a high toll so we can mention it in the guide.
thanks,
Paul.
Thanks so much for this well-written article. I’ve never driven abroad and my Turkey trip is pending; you have answered all my questions clearly and with humour. I’m going to delve at your other Turkey posts now, as you seem to be experienced chaps from whom to take advice. Thanks again.
Thanks for letting us know. You’ll have a great time in Turkey, it’s the perfect country for a road trip. Enjoy!