Riding to Turkey

Trooper

Guest
Hi All

My friend had a villa in turkey and he's going to leve a bike there next winter. Not sure exactly where it is but he says Rhodes is not far from it via ferry. Anyway I am going to be riding over and leaving my bike there from around October to March. We'll be flying out a couple of times to tour on the bikes. Has anyone her had any experionce of riding out around Turkey.

The journey there is going to be UK to Southern Italy, ferry to Greece, drive to Athens then a ferry to Turkey. All the details not worked out yeat.

Regards
T
 
Haven't ridden there but I had a hire car in Instanbul last year during the Moto GP. I have to say it was terrifying :eek:
 
Watch out for the Dolmushes.......training minibuses for suicide jockeys!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Turkey is great to ride around - there is absolutely shedloads to see and do. All sorts of different terrains to ride through, off-roading-a-plenty if you want and have good maps. Take care with the heat, especially in central areas as it gets properly hot in the summer. Traffic around major centres and Istanbul in particular can be hellish as you would imagine but by that time you'll have ridden Italy and Greece and will be getting a feeling for what to expect :D Turkish people are very hospitable, in general it's not as cheap as you might expect, definately worth getting off the beaten track if you can to experience 'real' Turkey - there are masses of tourists everywhere, and actually quite a few bikers too. I wish I'd had more time when I was there. Go for it :thumb

Pluck

PS If you want to go to Istanbul - I can put you in touch with a chap who can look after you while you're there - he can sort out good deals on hotels, with safe parking for bikes etc, and knows all the bike shops so can help out with that side of things too.
 
Sergeant Pluck said:
Turkey is great to ride around - there is absolutely shedloads to see and do. All sorts of different terrains to ride through, off-roading-a-plenty if you want and have good maps.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, good maps are the last thing you'll find in Turkey :confused:

Otherwise it appeared to be a great place to explore on a GS with much of the on road being off road - if you know what I mean :eek:
 
Thanks for all replies, it's not going to be a while until we go but but I have made some notes and have the links to the thread and site Tim gave.

Thanks
T
 
Turkey

Hi Trooper,

Like your mate I too have a property in Turkey and it is also my dream to leave a bike there for when I'm there. Unfortunately it's not that easy as your bike is registered on your passport on entry and you cannot exit without it. If you do your exit will be prevented unless of course you import it and register it on the Turkish system. Same applies for cars. It is also very difficult to get a long stay visa which provides other possibilities but the turks are very suspicious and can not be considered easy to dea with when it comes to customs and officials.

Just my two penneth worth. If your freind knows a way then please advise soonest.

regards

Archie GSer
 
Hi,

I rode through Turkey twice last year on the way to and from the Red Sea and really enjoyed it. Bombed down through France and Italy on motorways to Bari. Ferry (the Greek and cheaper one) to Igoumenitsa and then across northern Greece to Thessalonika, not a bad ride. Crossed into Turkey at Ipsala. No problems getting through there but avoid holiday weekends when there can be delays. Then headed south to the Ferry at Canakkale. Not a great fan of coastal resorts and Izmir one of the worst cities I've driven through, but Selcuk and Ephesus great. Pension Diana worth checking out in Selcuk. After that I headed across the centre to Lake Egridir (beautiful), Konya and Kayseri to Avanos and the Zelve and Goreme gorges. Again beautiful countryside but also some long straight upland stretches. After that south to K. Maras and the Syrian border. Loved the area south of Antakya and across the Syrian border. The way back was motorway nearly all the way to Istanbul - busy but not as bad as Izmir. Northern Turkey into Bulgaria not terribly interesting.

Roads good and a great variety, petrol expensive and accommodation on a par with Europe. A huge and surprisingly green and fertile country, great people. Well worth the time to get there. There really is so much to see and do.:D :D
 
Trooper, you will love it, Kathy and I rode down in Sept/Oct, not too hot.
Rode to Munich, caught the autozug to Ancona, then the Superfast Ferry to Ingoumenitsa, rode across to Alexandropoulis in Greece and crossed at Ipsala. The people are great however there are lots of Police around with speed guns, so watch out. You can read more on our website:
www.rtrider.co.uk and click on the Turkey page.
cheers George

also great help and info here: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/country/turkey/index.shtml
 
It took two months at a very leisurely pace. I wasn't in any rush. I guess it could have been done in half that time quite easily.

Peter.
 
Anyone coming here end June/beginning July might be interested in two events.

First, end June, a mass ride out from Istanbul to Marmaris in what is becoming a yearly event. The whole town of Marmaris will be taken over by bikers from all over the country, with special events such as 'Who can drink the most before dying' and 'Tourists are 10 points, locals 5'.

Second, the EMOK (Enduro Motorcycle Club - http://www.emok.org) camp in central Turkey, 30th June - 1st July. A yearly event, at which bikers from all over the country descend upon a startled and rather perplexed populace of a small town. So far I am the only foreigner that goes but all are welcome.

That's it really.

Oh, and if anyone is coming to Istanbul this year and needs any help, drop me a line.
 
Kathy and I rode out there last year (R1200RT) :bow

We rode to Italy then the ferry to West Greece, Ingoumenitsa, and then rode across Greece to Turkey.
Border crossing took two hours, roads are OK, but watch out for pot holes, dogs, horses, taxis, and the little Dolmus buses, they stop everywhere.

There may be one thing, when you arrive at the border, they will put your bike onto your passport, and you have to leave the country with it, as they willl think you imported it, so you'll get stung, so watch out there. Contact the turkish embassy in the UK, for help and advice, and free maps.

Istanbul is hell for riding, caught my legs a few times on cars, whilst I was stationary:spitfire

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ have loads of help, and also try

http://www.ommriders.com/ very helpful people.

Have a great time, inland is excellent away from the touristy areas, fuel is about the same price as in the UK, Police are everywhere, and they are radar mad.

Try our website for a few details

www.rtrider.co.uk and click on the Turkey page
 
Capt Over-reaction said:
Kathy and I rode out there last year (R1200RT) :bow

We rode to Italy then the ferry to West Greece, Ingoumenitsa, and then rode across Greece to Turkey.
Border crossing took two hours, roads are OK, but watch out for pot holes, dogs, horses, taxis, and the little Dolmus buses, they stop everywhere.
Click to expand...

This route is fantastic. Crossed northern Greece in 2005. Great roads and amazing scenery. They wee building a Motorway but I'd still use the main road as it was a great ride. Only problem can be that the surface can be a little 'glassy' but we never had any problems. If you have time check out the area up against the Albanian border.
 
I've done UK to Greece a few times and on one of those occasions went on to Istanbul, continued on down to southern Turkey, crossed over to Kos and on to Piraeus, back up through Greece and back to the UK.
15 days is doable, but it's going to take 4 to 5 days to get to Istanbul from the UK (and 4 to 5 back). It is of course possible to get that down to three days but that will involve a 20+ hour non stop stint in the saddle.
It is possible to go down through Italy and depart from Bari late afternoon/early evening and arrive in Igoumenitsa in Greece the following morning. Taking the Egnatia Odos tollroad (dont worry, the Greeks haven't gotten around to putting the toll booths up yet) you'll have a wonderful ride through the spectacular mountains of Northern Greece and should arrive in Thessaloniki after about 6 hours or so. Egnatia Odos will take you all the way on to the Turkish border just beyond the town of Alexandropoulis. Budget for another day's riding from Thessaloniki to Istanbul.
I've also done the Balkan route on a stupid non stop 20+ hour leg and didn't really enjoy it. Somebody asked about insurance and the truth is that no matter what cover you have with you, the border police in Serbia, FYROM etc will insist on you paying insurance to cross their country; this can be anything from 20 to 50 Euros. I also paid for Turkish insurance which appeared to be more legitimate.
I lived in Northern Greece for 4 years and know the area - including the corridor to Istanbul fairly well. If anybody has any questions on what to see, where to go, where to stay etc, PM me and I'll try and answer your questions.
 
I've been riding in Turkey since 1995 and covered most of the country on my motorcycle.
For me the best places a foreigner should visit by motorcyle are;

1. Cappadoccia
2. Blacksea region
3. Eagean and medeterranian coast (places like assos,ayvalik, teos, bergama, datca(very best), kas(2nd best), kalkan, ortaca, fethiye, adrasan, olympos...)
4. If you're careful enough east anatolia

Beware of popular touristic cities (bodrum, kusadasi, cesme, marmaris..) if you are not much into historical places.
Big cities (istanbul, ankara, adana, izmir etc) are quiet in summers
less touristic places mean you'll spend less, less likely to have problems and get the full taste of both the scenery, food and people
 
Exelent thread

What a great thread. Exiting informative and no bulls--t.
Makes me want to jump on the bike and head off.
Istanbul must be a right of passage for any GS owner.
Thinking of heading to Sorrento in June, wouldnt mind doing a big trip to Istanbul. The furthest trip excluding the USA is Galway to Cassaclance on a ZX12R. I could use the 1200GSA or my 1200GT.
The GT would munch up France-Italy and spit out the bones.Could one of you guy,s plot a map route based on your exelent posts ?
 
turkey

Just be careful as there is a big push on speeding, and lots of radar traps at present.

I left Turkey yesterfday on way back from Red Sea.

2 radar trap fines in 4 days! This despite taking backroads most of the way.

Note: motorcycle speed limit is 77 KILOMETRES per hour ie about 47mph, or 88 kmh on motorways.

The fines are pretty steep too; fortunately they don't seeem to pick up that you have a fine outstanding when you leave, unless (,y luck!) you are caught 10 kms from the bordfder and they kindly phone ahead to make sure the border police make you cough up.

170 YTL (85 euro) for 93 kmh!!

Still agreat country and fabulous people, and on my second crossing of the country I managed to avoid any traps.

Simon
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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