By ship
There are regular daily voyages from little harbour in the city centre to Marmara Island, AvÅa Island, Erdek, and Bandirma across the Sea of Marmara at least in summer months. There is a ferry line to Gemlik on the SE coast of the Sea of Marmara from the bigger and newer harbour 2 km west of city centre. There is also a line to Karabiga on the SW coast of the Sea of Marmara, near Ãanakkale from the harbour of Barbaros, a village 9 km SW of TekirdaÄ.
There are also ro-ro ferry services direct to Trieste in NE of Italy near the Slovenian border twice a week, but passengers without vehicles may not be accepted into these ferries. Akport harbour tel +90 282 261 08 00 - 4 lines
There is also a marina in the city. As of December 2007, its construction seems to be completed but it seems it is not accepting any boats or yachts yet.
There is a customs office in the bigger harbour 2 km west of city centre. You can have your passport stamped if you are arriving by your own boat and havenât disembarked in Turkey yet. Be aware that itâs illegal to land on Turkish soil before your passport has an entrance stamp â which can be obtained from most visited marinas and major harbours, such as this one.
By car
From Istanbul â first take D100 highway or O3/E80 motorway toll-way, if you are on motorway leave it in Kınalı exit there are TekirdaÄ signs there, and at Kınalı junction follow TekirdaÄ signs although the road numbers are not shown on the signs there, the road that you will enter into is D110/E84. The pavement quality between Kınalı and TekirdaÄ deterioted within the last few years, but long sections of it are 4-lane two for one direction and two for the other. Total distance is 132 km and can be covered within one and a half to two hours.
From Bulgaria â There are two ways:
If you enter Turkey at Kapitan Andreevo/Kapıkule border gate NW of Edirne, first by-pass Edirne via the ring road E80, toll-free, signs are green, then either take D100 highway by quitting the E80 after you left Edirne behind the second exit after you entered the ring-road or continue onto O3/E80 motorway toll-way, if you are on the motorway leave it in Lüleburgaz exit there are Lüleburgaz and Muratlı signs there, youâll reach D100 here, take the direction towards Ãorlu/Istanbul. After you drove about ten minutes away from Lüleburgaz, youâll come to a junction, signs will say Muratlı/TekirdaÄ. Turn that way right. You are now on D565 and will reach TekirdaÄ in about 40 minutes. Total distance from Kapıkule to TekirdaÄ is about 160 km.
If you enter Turkey at Tirnovo/Dereköy border gate north of Kırklareli, take the D555/E87 thatâs the only way already, drive on it until you are in Babaeski do not enter the motorway shown by green âIstanbulâ signs before you reach Babaeski. In Babaeski youâll come across a roundabout, turn around it to the Lüleburgaz/Istanbul direction blue signs. Now you are on D100. Keep on it until you are about ten minutes away from Lüleburgaz, youâll come to a junction, signs will say Muratlı/TekirdaÄ. Turn that way right. You are now on D565 and will reach TekirdaÄ in about 40 minutes. Total distance from Dereköy to TekirdaÄ is about 155 km.
From Greece â Enter Turkey at Peptos/Ä°psala border gate, take the only road available there D110/E90, after KeÅan D110/E84. By never turning right or left you will be in TekirdaÄ within one to one and a half hours. Total distance is about 110 km.
By plane
The nearest international airport is Ãorlu Airport about 50 km to TekirdaÄ but it is reserved only for flights from the ex-Soviet countries, as some of the airway companies of these countries spell peril on the Atatürk International Airport with their aging plane stock and pilots insisting on speaking only in Russian. Ãorlu Airport tel +90 282 682 40 36 - 10 lines
So, for most flights Atatürk International Airport (http://www.ataturkairport.com/) IST in Istanbul is the nearest international airport available 130 km to TekirdaÄ. Once in the Atatürk International Airport take the metro called as âlight railâ in the signage and go to Otogar to board a bus heading for TekirdaÄ.
By road
Along the highway E84 is the European road number while D110 is the national one which traverses all along the city and eventually reaches the Greco-Turkish border one side and Istanbul and onto Asia on the other, there is an abundance several of them even within 30 minutes of trucks bearing Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Iranian plate numbers, day and night. There are also many cars with Greek plate numbers. So it may be easy to reach to/from TekirdaÄ from/to these countries by hitchhiking.