EFIL Volunteer Summer Summit 2009

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Packlist for Istanbul
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VSS09 Herald 1st Edition
VSS09 Herald 4th Edition
VSS09 Herald 5th Edition
VSS09 Herald 2nd Edition
VSS09 Herald 3rd Edition

The VSS 2009 Venue

How to travel to the VSS2009

The easiest way to come to Istanbul: Fly!

You can consider 2 airport options for coming to Istanbul:

Atatürk International Airport is found on the European side of Istanbul and it is the largest airport of Turkey where thousands of planes land from all over the world.
Sabiha Gökçen Airport is rather a smaller one and found on the Anatolian side of Istanbul (Closer to the VSS 2009 Venue). Low-cost flights usually land to this airport - for a list of airplanes and connections from Europe, we have prepared a list:
> View list of low-cost flights to Sabiha Gökçen (PDF)

Shuttles from both airports will be arranged for your transfer to the venue.

Travel update

Please aim to reach Istanbul Ataturk Airport by 16:00 and SAW Airport by 17:30 to be able to jump on the shuttle and participate in the Welcome Evening activities!

If you arrive later than this you will still find a bus for your transfers to the venue, but you might have to wait some time and you will be late for dinner and the first night activities. Exact departure times of the shuttles will be announced a few days before the event, when we have more information about all participants travel details.

For your return flights, it would make sense to book flights that leave after 12:00 on Tuesday.

An alternative is flying to Dalaman – Muğla or Antalya! There are lots of low-cost flight from Europe arriving to Muğla Dalaman Airport and Antalya, but then you will have to take a bus (approximately 12 hours), rent a car or take another flight to one of the airports of Istanbul in order to arrive to the venue.

Izmir and Ankara airports are also international so you can also use these two airports for your travels to Turkey. But similarly you will need to take a bus, another flight or rent a car in order to come to Istanbul. It is also possible to take a train from Ankara to Haydarpaşa, Istanbul.

Want to travel on rails?

You can! Turkish State Railways have direct connections to Bucharest, Belgrade and Sofia. More information can be found at: http://www.tcdd.gov.tr/tcdding/avrupa_ing.htm.

Trains arrive to Sirkeci Train Station (on the European Side of Istanbul) from which you will need to take a metro (30mins) to reach the shuttle stop at the airport.

For the ones who would like to enjoy Mediterranean Sea while coming to VSS 2009:

You might like to try the ferry connections between many Greek Islands and Turkish cities on Mediterranean Sea such as İzmir and Muğla. Another route is from Ancona (Italy) to Çeşme (İzmir – Turkey). There are also ferries from Ancona or Brindisi (Italy) to Greece Mainland of Greek Islands. For detailed information see: http://www.ankertravel.com/ancona-ferries/.

Who enjoys the smell of hot asphalt?

There are limited number of buses from Athens (Greece), Frankfurt (Germany), Lovec (Bulgaria) and Austria to Istanbul. For more information see: