Istanbul to Ankara?

Please forgive my newbie questions but I would appreciate some
guidance.

My family needs to stop in Ankara for a few days en route between India
and USA. Time frame is late December - not good for low fares. :(

A first check with local travel agents shows that Istanbul would be
much more affordable stopover. In that case, what would be the best
options for going to Ankara from there? How long do trains or buses
take and are they safe/comfortable?

Of course it is possible that these agents don't have the right
picture. If Ankara can be inserted in an affordable way, please let me
know.

[Please leave culture.Indian in the group list. That is where I can
most reliably check the replies. Thanks.]

Jack Campin - bogus address <bogus@purr.> wrote:

> The way the otogar is laid out, it's a horseshoe shape of bus company
> offices with pedestrian access on the inside and bus stances on the
> outside. The companies are roughly grouped by the destination they
> aerve. It's run like a street market, people will come up and try to
> get you use their company. They won't rip you off but it does help to
> have an idea of what you want. Two companies with consistently good
> buses are Kamil Koc and Pamukkale. There are restaurants and shops
> in the block in the centre of the horseshoe - these are MUCH better
> value than the airport (where everything is outrageously overpriced).
> The metro between the airport and otogar is very easy to use.
> ...
> You can buy [domestic air tickets] on the web from the THY site at
> the same price you'd pay in Turkey.
> My girlfriend (who speaks no Turkish) has done it a couple
> of times. The other airlines doing internal flights in Turkey tend to
> have flaky websites, fly at weird times of day, and are generally not
> worth the savings to deal with.
>
> Booking trains, on the other hand, is a pain in the bum. There isn't
> enough capacity on the Istanbul-Ankara route so it seems they ration
> the service by making it hard to book.

Thanks. All this info is extremely useful. If prices seem reasonable,
we might just fly to Ankara, but try for a couple days sight-seeing
stop in Istanbul on the way back.

Is there a safe way to store luggage for a few days at IST? I mean they
don't really need all that stuff for a side trip to Ankara.

On Jun 4, 6:34 am, Ajanta <aja...@null.void> wrote:
> Jack Campin - bogus address <bo...@purr.> wrote:
>
>
>
> > The way the otogar is laid out, it's a horseshoe shape of bus company
> > offices with pedestrian access on the inside and bus stances on the
> > outside. The companies are roughly grouped by the destination they
> > aerve. It's run like a street market, people will come up and try to
> > get you use their company. They won't rip you off but it does help to
> > have an idea of what you want. Two companies with consistently good
> > buses are Kamil Koc and Pamukkale. There are restaurants and shops
> > in the block in the centre of the horseshoe - these are MUCH better
> > value than the airport (where everything is outrageously overpriced).
> > The metro between the airport and otogar is very easy to use.
> > ...
> > You can buy [domestic air tickets] on the web from the THY site at
> > the same price you'd pay in Turkey.
> > My girlfriend (who speaks no Turkish) has done it a couple
> > of times. The other airlines doing internal flights in Turkey tend to
> > have flaky websites, fly at weird times of day, and are generally not
> > worth the savings to deal with.
>
> > Booking trains, on the other hand, is a pain in the bum. There isn't
> > enough capacity on the Istanbul-Ankara route so it seems they ration
> > the service by making it hard to book.
>
> Thanks. All this info is extremely useful. If prices seem reasonable,
> we might just fly to Ankara, but try for a couple days sight-seeing
> stop in Istanbul on the way back.
>
> Is there a safe way to store luggage for a few days at IST? I mean they
> don't really need all that stuff for a side trip to Ankara.

We rode the night train from Ankara to Istanbul last month for $106
for a two person sleeper. A comfortable and relative inexpensive to
cover the distance especially since we didn’t have to pay for lodging
for the night. We also rode busses in Turkey. Busses are comfortable
but the 5 hour ride to 6 hour ride seemed awfully long. Especially
given that there was a 4 hour stretch without a bathroom stop.


Steve G