Turkey Travel Overview
At a glance
Capital: Ankara
Official language: Turkish
Currency: Lira 1TRY = 0.15EUR
Continent: West Asia
Holidays in Turkey
According to Countryaah, the Turkey extends to the two continents Asia and Europe. The largest city is Istanbul, which also stretches across the two continents. The selection of sights in Istanbul is very large. For example, we recommend visiting the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrum or the ” Hagia Sophia ” mosque.
Beach vacation in Turkey
The Turkish Riviera and the Turkish Aegean Sea are particularly popular with tourists who want to use their vacation in Turkey to swim.
The Turkish Riviera stretches for about 120 km on the south coast from Antalya to Cape Anamur. The Turkish Riviera is particularly suitable for a holiday by the sea, because you will find clear water, beautiful beaches and small boats that sail from bay to bay along the coast. The most popular places for a vacation on the Turkish Riviera are Antalya, Side, Alanya and Belek.
The Turkish Aegean Sea is ideal for a seaside holiday with its sandy beaches, warm climate, sports facilities and diverse nightlife. In addition, there are also a variety of sightseeing options, because one of the most important archaeological sites is located on the coast – the remains of the city of Troy. But you can also visit the remains of other historical cities, such as Ephesus or Pergamon.
Important facts
Capital: Ankara
Official language: Turkish
Currency
Currency (sub-unit)
Lira (100 Kurus)
ISO 4217 code
TRY / 949
Geography
Continent: Asia
Region: west
Geo coordinates: N 38 ° 57 ‘49.5 “E 35 ° 14’ 36”
Highest mountain: Mount Ararat (5,166 m)
Total area: 780,580 km²
Mainland: 770,760 km²
National border: 2,627 km
Coastline: 7,200 km
Politics
Dependency: Ottoman Empire until 1923
Formerly dependent states: Romania until 1881
UN member since: 1945
Form of government: Presidential Democracy
Houses of Parliament: Unikameral
Party system: Multi-party system
State building: centralized
Political culture: Subject culture> civic culture
Economy
Export goods: Cotton, tobacco, fruits
BSP: $ 347,664,000,000
GDP: $ 353.782 billion
GDP purchasing power parity: $ 634 billion
Economic growth: 6.1%
GDP share of agriculture: 11.4%
GDP share of industry: 30.2%
GDP share of services: 58.4%
Inflation rate: 6.9%
Unemployment: 9.8%
State budget revenue: $ 4294967295
State budget expenditure: $ 4294967295
National debt: 66.1%
Export: $ 77,530,000,000
Import: $ 108.4 billion
Foreign debt: $ 182.7 billion
Gold and currency reserves: $ 59.430 billion
Electricity consumption: 145,900 million KWh
Gas reserves: 8,495 million m³
Gas production: 630 million m³
Gas consumption: 24,010 million m³
Oil reserves: 288 million m³
Oil production: 50,000 million m³
Oil consumption: 744,800 million m³
Cultivation area: 33.37%
Bovine: 10,090,000 pieces
Sheep: 26,500,000 pieces
Fishing: 550,000 t
Demographic data
Residents: 70.175.100
Residents in cities: 43,837,000
Minorities: Kurds, Zaza, Alevis
Average age: 28.1 years
0-14 years: 25.5%
15-64 years: 67.7%
> 65 years: 6.8%
Population growth: 1.06%
Birth rate: 16.62 / 1,000 residents
Death rate: 5.97 / 1,000 residents
Ratio men / women: 1.02
Fertility: 1.92 children / woman
Infant mortality: 39.69 ‰
Life expectancy men: 70.18 years
Life expectancy women: 75.18 years
Country codes
ISO 3166 Alpha 2: TR
ISO 3166 Alpha 3: DOOR
ISO 3166 numeric: 792
Top Level Domain: tr
IOC country code: DOOR
UN / LOCODE: TR
Source: Abbreviationfinder
Communication
Telephone connections: 19,020,000
Cell Phones: 37,140,000
Radios: 39,100,000
TV: 36,210,000
Computer: 4,280,000
Internet users: 7,070,000
Transportation
Railway lines: 8,697 km
Paved roads: 157,666 km
of which expressways: 1,942 km
Cars: 5,046,000
Merchant fleet (ships over 1,000 GRT): 545
Pipelines: 6,739
Health
Number of doctors: 86,090
Daily food intake: 3,380 kcal / resident
Education
Illiteracy: 12%
History
Foundation: 1298
Last sovereign since: 1923
Religion
Main religious group: Muslims
Distribution of religions: 92.6% Muslim
Crime
Prison inmates: 68,200
Military
Armed forces (troop strength): 515,000
Main battle tank: 4,230
Battleships: 28
Submarines: 14
Warplanes: 420
Helicopter: 50
Defense Spending: $ 17,664,000,000
GETTING THERE
Arriving by plane
Turkey’s national airline is called Turkish Airlines (TK) (Internet: www.turkishairlines.com), which flies from Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Düsseldorf, Graz, Salzburg and Zurich to Istanbul and Antalya, among others. There are also connections from Frankfurt, Berlin, Hanover, Cologne and Stuttgart to Sabiha Gökcen Airport in Istanbul.
Various airlines offer direct flights to Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bodrum, Antalya and Dalaman.
Lufthansa (LH) flies to Ankara, Antalya, Istanbul and Izmir, Austrian Airlines (OS) Ankara, Antalya and Istanbul. Swiss International (LX) flies to Antalya.
Austrian myHoliday (OS) connects Vienna, Innsbruck, Graz and Linz with Antalya, among others.
Tuifly (X3) connects numerous German, Austrian and Swiss cities with Turkey.
Flight times
Frankfurt – Istanbul: 2 hours 45 minutes; Vienna – Istanbul: 2 hours 15 minutes; Zurich – Istanbul: 2 hours 50 minutes
Arrival by car
Car: There are road connections to the countries of the former Soviet Union, Greece, Bulgaria and Iran. The European roads E-80 and E-90 lead via Turkey to Iraq and Iran. The shortest route from Germany (1,800 km) leads through the former Yugoslavia. Another option is to travel from Germany via Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria (approx. 2,100 km). The best way to travel in Italy from Venice or Brindisi is by car ferry.
Long-distance bus: Eurolines buses (Internet: www.eurolines.com) travel from numerous German cities and from Vienna to Istanbul.
Arriving by train
The Balkan Express runs daily from Munich via Vienna and Sofia (with couchette and sleeping cars) to Istanbul; the travel time is about 40 hours. There is also a train connection from Cologne to Istanbul; part of the route with couchette cars (travel time approx. 45 hours). There are also weekly trains from Vienna and Zurich to Istanbul (journey time approx. 36 and 45 hours). A night train with a sleeping car runs on the Moscow to Istanbul route.
Motorail trains run from German cities to Villach in Austria, from where there is a connection with the motorail trains from Optima-Tours (Internet: www.optimatours.de) to Edirne in Turkey.
Further information is available from DB (Internet: www.bahn.de), ÖBB (Internet: www.oebb.at) and SBB (Internet: www.sbb.ch).
InterRail – passes also apply in Turkey. Details see Germany.
Note: Since October 2013, an S-Bahn has been connecting the European part of Istanbul with the Asian part of the city through the Marmaray tunnel below the Bosporus. High-speed trains are scheduled to run through the tunnel by June 2015.
Arrival by ship
Istanbul, Izmir, Mersin, Antalya, Bandirma and Bodrum are the main port cities.
The shipping companies TUI Cruises, Pullman, Royal Caribbean and Celestyal Cruises call at Turkey as part of cruises.
The following ferry connections are available:
North Sea: Through the Rhine-Danube Canal to the Black Sea. Through the Bosporus it goes to the Marmara Sea and on to the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
Italy: Ferries operate on the routes Venice – Izmir, Venice – Antalya / Marmaris, Venice – Istanbul via Piraeus and Ancona / Brindisi – Çesme.
Greece:From Bodrum there is a car and passenger ferry to the Greek island of Kos. In summer there is a ferry from Kusadasi to the Greek island of Samos, from Ayvalik to Lesbos, from Çesme to Chios, from Bodrum to Kos, from Sömbeki to Datça and from Marmaris to Rhodes.
