Izmir to Selcuk

Hi Hutton,

9pm is too late for the train, try whit a private transportation or ask the tourist information about a public bus.. otherwise you can sleep in Izmir and get a public bus from the otogar early in the day after..but i know isn't the best thing to visit Ephesus in the middle of the day, is very hot!

About your second question, there is a lot of busus for the one-hour-trip from Izmir to Pergamum, but honestly i don't know about the 4hs trip Pergamum-Canakkale, but i can say that buses run everywhere in Turkey and you'll not have problems to find a Bus after your visit.. just consider that the bus i taken (Kamil Koc was the company) from Izmir to Canakkale didn't passed trough Bergama..in the worse one of the hypotheses you'll have to come back to Izmir wasting 2/3hs..

I was in Selcuk in April and I'm pretty sure that the Selcuk/Izmir minibus service was something like 7am-8pm. That said, Turkish bus services seem to be considerably more frequent during the summer high season from May onward, and there may very well be long distance buses passing near Selcuk that might be willing to drop you in town.

Aside from Izmir and Istanbul, Bergama doesn't have much bus service outside the immediate area. Like above post notes, you'd probably have to backtrack most/all of the way back to Izmir, or you might also be able to get something to the north in Balikesir. Also note that there are 2 bus stations in Bergama, one that's mostly for local service and another that's mostly for Izmir and Istanbul service. In my opinion, Bergama is worth a couple days. Pergamum is divided into 2 distinct areas on opposite ends of town. And the archaeology museum is good too.

Whatever you do, ask around a bit before concluding that there's no bus/minibus service wherever you want to go. As is often the case wherever you go, taxi drivers will be quick to claim that there is none.

Canakkale buses do not pass from Bergama,
Bergama is few kilometers away from the main road, the best is making the Bergama visit and passing Canakkale
Good Luck

I think what Dincer is suggesting is that you get a bus just as far as the main highway enroute to Izmir and then pick up one going north toward Canakkale. There should be many Izmir/Canakkale buses, so probably no need to try to time the schedules.

Thankyou for your responses. After reading relevant parts of LP it seems possible to go to Bergama,
then on to Canakkale(Gallipoli) via Ayvalik. Has anyone done this? Another problem is what do
you do with luggage while visiting sites like Pergamum?