The question “Where to go for the weekend?” is also an important one for those living in Istanbul. If you don’t have any issues with visas, you can easily answer this question with “Greece.” Don’t doubt it—after just a few hours of travel, you can enjoy a pleasant getaway abroad. Let’s spend a weekend in Greece. So, where should we go in Greece? Due to its proximity and the possibility of enjoying it on a low budget, my suggestion is Alexandroupoli. Our destination is the city of Alexandroupolis, also known as Dedeağaç.
Getting to Alexandroupoli
When it comes to traveling abroad, people usually think about various issues such as travel expenses, border crossings, and accommodation. However, if you want to visit Alexandroupolis, all of these issues are quite manageable. All you need to do is decide on the weekend you want to travel. After that, just pack your backpack and hit the road. Since it’s a weekend trip, a backpack will be sufficient.
To get to Alexandroupolis, you can use your own car or take one of the regular bus services between Istanbul and Alexandroupolis. For a more economical option, especially since I planned to spend time in the city center, I chose to travel by bus. The bus journey, including the border crossing procedures, takes about 5 hours. You can check the current prices of bus tickets between Istanbul and Alexandroupolis here.
Border Crossing
Crossing the border is quite straightforward, with only a few formalities. You will exit Türkiye through the Ipsala Border Gate. During the exit process, you will get off the bus, pay the exit fee if you haven’t already, and then wait in line at the control point for a police officer to stamp your passport. Once your passport is stamped, you board the bus again and head towards Greece. It’s easy to predict that the summer months will be more crowded.
After completing the initial exit procedures, you will reach a final control point for exiting Türkiye. At this stage, a border officer will board the bus to quickly check the exit stamps in your passports and allow the bus to continue. This marks your official exit from Türkiye. Now it’s time to enter Greece.
Entering Greece is as straightforward as exiting Türkiye. At the control point, a Greek police officer will board the bus to collect passports. Their aim is to check your visas and stamp your passport for entry. However, if this is your first entry into Greece, you might need to get off the bus to provide a fingerprint. All these procedures usually take about 30 minutes to 1 hour. If there are no issues, your passports will be returned to you, and you will continue your journey with the bus.
Arrival in Alexandroupolis
After crossing the border, you have about 45 km left to Alexandroupolis. Since this road is a motorway, you won’t face any difficulties during the journey. About 1 hour after crossing the border, you will arrive in Alexandroupolis.
The Alexandroupolis Bus Terminal is a relatively small building located in the city center. Once you arrive at the terminal on El Venizelou Street, you can easily reach everywhere from there. The rest is up to exploring Alexandroupolis.
Note: A small tip for those considering driving to Alexandroupolis from Türkiye: It can be difficult to find open gas stations in the area during the evening. Therefore, it’s a good idea to enter Greece with a full tank of fuel.
You have arrived in the city. Now you are ready to explore the city. You can check out my “Discovering Alexandroupolis in One Breath” article for this.