Not by train: Trabzon is the largest city in Turkey to entirely lack a railway, which it needs for its Black Sea freight. They've been talking about building one for over a century and look set to continue.

Not by boat either: Black Sea ferries no longer sail here. A ferry from Sochi was supposed to start in 2025 but didn't.

By plane

1 Trabzon Airport (TZX IATA), ☏ +90 462 3280940, infotrabzon@dhmi.gov.tr. This has flights from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, and Ercan in Northern Cyprus; few from Europe beyond occasionally from Germany. Domestic connections are excellent: hourly from Istanbul (IST and SAW) and at least daily from Ankara, Izmir and Adana. The airport has the usual facilities including car hire. Havaş shuttle bus runs downtown, otherwise walk to the coastal highway (westbound) for a dolmuş. (updated Jul 2025)

By road

D010 is the six-lane coastal highway. From Sarp on the border with Georgia takes 2½ hours and from Samsun takes 4½ hours.

E97 is the inland highway, crossing the mountains to Gümüşhane and then east to Bayburt and Erzurum.

D915 looks like a short-cut on the map, going inland from Of to Bayburt to join E97. It's scenic but scary, take it slow, and don't attempt it in winter.

By bus

Buses from Istanbul run several times a day and take 18 hours via Gebze, Izmit, Samsun and multiple Black Sea coast towns. Several continue to Batumi in Georgia.

From Erzurum is 4 hours, ten per day; from Ankara they run hourly taking 12 hours. From Erzincan is 3 hr 30 min, from Adana 15 hr. Dolmuşes from Gümüşhane run hourly.

One bus a day is from Batumi, taking six hours via Sarp and Hopa. It has been known for the eastbound bus to give up at the border if the queue to cross is too long: walk across and pick up a dolmuş, see Batumi#Get in. Change there for Tbilisi and Baku.

Bus operators include Metro Turizm, Flixbus and Ulusoy.

2 Otogar the bus station is on Terminal Sk 3 km east of city centre. A free servis - shuttle bus - runs downtown. Otherwise walk north to the end of Terminal Sk to pick up a dolmuş on Devlet Karayolu Cd.