Car Travel

Once you're here, renting a car is a good idea because you'll probably be traveling around a lot. Highways in Central Anatolia are generally well maintained and lead to all the major sights. Minor roads, however, may be rough and full of potholes. On narrow, winding roads, look out for oncoming trucks whose drivers often don't stay on their own side, and be especially careful at night, when farm vehicles without proper running lights and animals may be on rural roads.

There are good roads between Istanbul and the main cities of Anatolia: Ankara, Konya, and Kayseri. However, truck traffic on the main highway from Istanbul to Ankara, a distance of 454 km (281 miles), can be heavy. Two long stretches of toll road (ücretli geçiş) linking Istanbul and Ankara—E80 to beyond Düzce and E89 south from Gerede—provide some relief from the rigors of the other highways.

From Ankara, Konya is 261 km (162 miles) to the south, while Nevşehir—the gateway to Cappadocia—is 309 km (192 miles) to the southeast (via Aksaray).

You can also travel from Central Anatolia on major highways to the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts: from Ankara, E90 (also known as Route 200) leads southwest toward Sivrihisar; continue southwest on E96 to Afyon, where you can pick up highways going south to Antalya or west to İzmir. Route E88/200 leads east out of Ankara and eventually connects with highways to the Black Sea coast.