Winter route Dogubayazit to the Med
 

We will be crossing from Iran into Turkey at the end of November and would appreciate advice on the easiest route southwest to the Med coast. I realise that it's not the best time of year for that part of Turkey but hopefully we can get to the Med before the worst of the winter weather.

Thanks for any advice!

Andy

Im in the same boat!

I'm wondering what the best crossing is as well. Is the Serow crossing possible at al?

best route
 

For me the best route in that season would be as follow :

Dogubeyazit - Muradiye - Van - Bitlis - Silvan - Diyarbakir - Siverek - Sanliurfa - Gaziantep - Adana - Mersin and so on...

Better to stick more south and main roads...

Enjoy it...

Thanks for your tip.

No safety issues there? It's quite close to the Syrian border..?

No, not really and seriously; especially for the foreigners...

Defintely no safety issues. Actually a major highway all the way along the Syrian border from Silopi to Iskenderun.You could even cross from Iran through North Iraq to Turkey and drive 2/3 on a brandnew highway.


Just been there: Along the ISIS front from Grozny via Erbil & Kobane to Kilis

Just an idea. There is very good highway like motorway between Hopa and Sinop. Only Doğubeyazıt to this road is hard in winter. After easy through Ankara.

I crossed the border yesterday (22-nov-14). The border at Sero/Essendere was a mess, because they're upgrading it. Despite that the crossing was easy. Getting out of Iran was easy. Carnet was done in 5 minutes. Passport took a bit longer because my pasport was not put in the system at the Mir Javeh (pakistan) border somehow. Was no problem in the end. Just took some time.

Turkish side was easy as well. Allthough I would opt to get your visa online before hand to speed things up. I had to go to a little office and the officer had to start three computers and make several phonecalls to make my visa. Carnet was 2 minutes. You need Insurance! (I had a greencard because im from Holland so did not need one, Mark my travelbuddy will probably put his story here about the insurance).

But there were so many trucks, and when I was free to leave, the road was totally blocked :) So had to talk to the truckies to move their trucks a bit so I could squeeze through.

Made it to Tatvan in a day. Coldest day ever for me I think. It was snowing all the time and sometimes the snow was freezing onto my visor. The 2700m pass was white and icy. I fell over once! Most of the roads were still good accessible but I wonder for how much longer.

I'm now in Diyarbakir, there's no snow here. It is still cold but not unbearable. Im thinking about what to do next...

I can go up to Ankara via Elazig and Malatya or continue via Adana and then head up to Istanbul.

By the way, I don't know why, but there is quite some militairy action going on here. Semi tanks with machine guns driving through the streets and big sort of anti-riot trucks with water canons on them. Nobody seems to care though and I cant feel any tension whatsoever...

So far I love E. Turkey, people are very friendly!