Bus from Bodrum to Kusadasi?

[tippguy]

Hi folks I'm visiting Bodrum for a week from the 6th of June. I want to visit the House of the Virgin Mary outside Kusadasi, but I dont want to take an organised tour as I'm not interested in carpet factories etc. Can you get a bus from Bodrum to Kusadasi? Are they reliable or would it be too much hardship to do it by regular bus instead of tour bus. Appreciate any advice given. Regards Gerry

 

[shirleyanntr]

hi Tippguy..let be the the first to welcome you to the forum..and tell you that the bus service in Turkey is second to none.
Buses run on time all have a Steward are clean comfortable and cheap.
Just pop along to Bodrum Otogar and ask for buses to Selcuk and onwards to the House of the Virgin, known locally as Meryemana..its about 8 kilometres from Selcuk.

 

[alison09400]

Hi Gerry

There isn't a problem getting a bus from Bodrum to Kusadasi..you will probably be able to get one that passes through Selcuk on it's way to Izmir. Once in Selcuk you can get a taxi up the mountain to Meryemana..I'm not sure if Dolmus's go up there.

 

[ChrisBobs]

You dont need to ask for Kusadasi, as you need to catch an Izmir bus and to get off in Selcuk. But it might go through Kusadasi first as now a lot of buses from Bodrum to Izmir just go via the motorway and miss the towns after Soke.
So make sure you ask. There are services for Izmir leaving every hour at least.
Like Shirley and Alison say- The House is up the mountain, and a taxi job ( hitch down?)
The basic budget organised tour doesnt even stop at the House of Mary now, but apparently may ask if there is enough people interested and run them up. ( before the carpet/jewellery/leather stop)

 

[Guz1]

Hi Tipguy,

As far as I know the dolmus doesn't go to Maryemana so, as others have said, it's a taxi from the bottom of the mountain. The Selcuk bus passes the turnoff for Ephesus which is at the bottom of the mountain. Usually, there are taxis there and you can arrange for the taxi driver to bring you up the mountain and wait there until you're ready to come back down. The taxi driver will give you a price (not cheap) which doesn't include the entrance fee. If the weather isn't too hot, you could get the taxi to drop you at the entrance to Ephesus on the way back down, have a look at the ancient city and afterwards walk down to the main road to catch the bus back to Kusadasi or Selcuk.

The cheapest way to get from Kusadasi to Mary's house is to book with one of the travel agents for the Sunday Mass trip (bus from Kus about 9.30 a.m.) but I don't think you would get from Bodrum in time to catch that bus. As far as I can remember, the Sunday Mass trip doesn't include stops at Golden Ephesus or carpet/leather shops.

 

[teresa]

We got a taxi years ago and the doors were nearly falling off, we had to hold on to them as we went up. We are going again next month so I hope the Taxis are better now, but the driver was great and waited patiently for us to come out and then brought us back down.

 

[gren]

While we're on the topic of buses, has anyone done Bodrum to Ankara on the night coach?

 

[tippguy]

Many thanks folks for the info re buses. Just to recap I need to get a bus to Selcuk and then a taxi to Maryemana, then returning to Selcuk to get return bus to Bodrum. Does anyone know how often that bus runs? Thanks again. Gerry

 

[alison09400]

Does anyone know how often that bus runs? Thanks again. Gerry

Gerry, you should probably book a return ticket then you'll not have the worry of the bus being full on the return journey. There are many coach companies travelling throughout the day who travel from Bodrum via Selcuk to Izmir, Bursa and Istanbul. Just stipulate that you're getting off and back on in Selcuk and it won't be a problem.

 

[tippguy]

Hi folks, unfortunately my week in Gumbet went all too quickly. I checked out buses from Bodrum to Selcuk and the earliest bus was 11am which is wayyyy too late so I had to just book a regular trip ie Ephesus etc but this got me to Maryemana which was what I wanted. Anyway thanks to all who replied and I'm looking forward to my return to Turkey in September. Hopefully I'll be able to split my 2 weeks between Gumbet and Kusadasi. Regards Gerry