"Come, come, whoever you are.

Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving — it doesn't matter,

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times,

Come, come again, come." — Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

By plane

1 Konya Airport (KYA IATA) (18 km north of city). This has 3 flights a day from both Istanbul airports, from IST mostly by Turkish Airlines (or Anadolu their subsidiary), and from SAW mostly by Pegasus. In summer and Christmas holiday seasons there are flights direct from Europe, such as Düsseldorf by Sun Express. The airport is small but plenty big enough for its limited passengers. Winter can be vexing, as there is limited bad weather capability so flights are grounded by fog, and there are no air bridges so you cross between aircraft and terminal in the sleet. The airport has car hire. (updated Dec 2022)

Getting there and away:

Havaş buses run downtown via the bus terminal (which is on the tram line). They take 40 min and in 2022 cost 16 TL. They only run three times a day to connect with the Istanbul flights. City buses don't come into the airport, but buses 34, 54 and 111 pass within 500 m on Highway D715.

By train

Konya has YHT fast trains from Istanbul and Ankara. There are four per day from Istanbul via Eskişehir, taking 4 hr 45 min. From Ankara five trains per day take 1 hr 45 min. Three trains continue east to Karaman (50 min), which has buses to Silifke for the Cyprus ferry.

Toros Express runs daily from Adana, taking 6 hr 30 min via Karaman and a dozen other small places. Konya Mavi takes 12 hours overnight from Izmir Basmane station via Manisa and Afyon, departing Izmir at 20:00 and returning at 19:00.

For timetables and tickets see TCDD.

2 Konya railway station (Konya garı) (2.5 km southwest of downtown. Take a taxi, dolmuş or town bus 67 to the centre). (updated Jul 2023)

3 Selçuklu YHT railway station (Selçuklu YHT Garı) (4 km north of downtown). Opened in Oct 2020. All the YHT trains stop here a few minutes before reaching the old station; the Konya Mavi doesn't stop. The building is clean and yawning empty, and not yet populated by shops, travel kiosks and the like. It will eventually be served by KonyaRay Metro. (updated Jul 2023)

By bus

4 Otobüs Terminali (7 km north of city centre. The tram or dolmuş takes 30 min to go downtown.). It has toilets and a cafe but everything is grubby and overpriced. Bus operators at the station include Metro Turizm and Flixbus. Travel shops line Mevlana Cd and it's best to book before heading out to the station.

Buses from Istanbul run every 1–2 hr and take 11 hr, for a fare in 2022 of 420 TL. From Ankara they are hourly, take 4 hr, 130 TL. From Antalya is 6 hr, from Göreme in Cappadocia is 3 hr 30 min, from Izmir is 7 hr 30 min and from Adana is 5 hr.

By road

Konya is 3 hr from Ankara, 10 hr (660 km) from Istanbul, 7 hr from İzmir, and 3½ hr from Antalya.

By thumb

Trick is to be far enough out to clear local traffic, but with inter-city traffic still able to stop for you. Towards Ankara be on D715 near the Science Museum. South for Karaman and the coast try D715 around Çilenti - several town buses (such as the hourly #26 for Alakova) run this far out. But for Antalya, get off as soon as the big intersection comes up, taking D696.

On foot

The Sufi Trail is a partly marked, 800-km hiking and cycling trail from Istanbul (with a ferry connection) through Yalova, İznik, Osmaneli, Bilecik, Söğüt, Eskişehir, Seyitgazi, Emirdağ, Akşehir, and Sille to Konya, with way-stops at various Sufi shrines and other ancient sites. It loosely follows one of the Ottoman Hajj pilgrimage routes, and can be taken in about 40 days on foot or two weeks by bicycle.