Car Ferry From The Greek Islands To The Turkish Mainland

Short answer: Yes. Accurate answer: Yes, but…

I spent too many hours of my life trying to plan our journey from the North Aegean or Dodecanese Greek islands to the Turkish mainland. I hope this post can help someone else save some time and frustration!

What Greek Islands in the North Aegean or Dodecanese Have Car Ferries To Turkey?

Honestly, probably lots, but our experience was that it was incredibly difficult to find accurate information online. As for passenger ferries, there are many. From pretty much any island in the North Aegean or Dodecanese, you can get to Turkey, but the car adds an extra level of complexity.

In the end, we took a ferry from Chios to Cesme, so I’ll start with what we learned about those ferry options:

• Sunrise Lines: This is the ferry company that we booked with. They do not have an online booking system, so we booked via email. Their ferry takes 3 cars and even though we gave the dimensions of Freddie when we booked, when we arrived at the port they were not impressed that it was a van and not a car. Freddie is not that big, so it was fine, but larger vans would be a problem.
• Erturk: Some of their ferries also take a small number of cars (others are passenger catamarans). We learned this when we were at the port, but again it’s a small ferry and larger vans would probably be a problem. Book by email, I would not trust the online booking system for a car.
• Turyol: We saw this ferry unloading in Cesme in Turkey, but we never found it online when we were searching. It takes trucks, so this is probably the only option for a larger van.

The crossing from Chios to Cesme takes approximately 40 minutes, but the ferry prices are not reflective of the short journey. We paid 127 EUR for 2 passengers and the van.

Kos to Bodrum:

• Boat and Sea Yachting: This ferry also takes only 3 cars. They quoted us more than 200 EUR, so we didn’t go with this option.

In 2019, we took a ferry from Bodrum to Kos with Freddie. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision and we just showed up at the port and started asking around. I don’t remember the name of the company we went with, but they let us on one of their ferries that “didn’t take cars.” We barely fit, but they made it happen for us!

Lesvos to Ayvalik:

• Turyol: Again we learned about this ferry after the fact, but Turyol operates a ferry that can take larger vehicles between Lesvos and Ayvalik.

I’m sure there must be other options, but it was so difficult to find accurate information online or from people we were asking. Beware that several websites allowed us to add a vehicle to their booking search, but then when we got to the payment, they removed the vehicle because their ferries don’t have vehicle capacity. I can see how it would be very easy to think you booked a car, only to arrive to find a passenger catamaran that doesn’t take vehicles!

Port Procedures in Cesme

This information applies specifically to our experience in Cesme, but I assume the procedures are similar at most of the smaller ports along the Turkish coastline.

On arrival at the port, you park your car and enter the building for passport control. We purchased visas ahead of time online, so passport control was quick and easy. We asked some of the passport control officers if it was possible to purchase a visa in-person and no one actually knew, so I think it’s probably safest to purchase an online visa if you’ll be arriving in Turkey by one of their small ports.

After passport control, you go to vehicle registration where you must show your registration and proof of insurance (more on that drama below). After that, only the driver is allowed to go back to the parking lot to take the vehicle to customs. Any passengers leave the terminal and wait outside.

At customs, your vehicle goes through a scanner, an officer checks inside and then you drive to the exit, where you show all your papers and are permitted to leave.

Car Insurance In Turkey

Based on our previous experience crossing the land border from Greece into Turkey, we expected to purchase Turkish car insurance at the port. However, Cesme is such a small port and people rarely need to purchase insurance, so they do not sell it at the port. We actually told the ferry staff in Chios before leaving Greece that this was our plan, and they didn’t warn us that it was not possible.

Now, if your car has a Green Card, then you’re good to go. However, our insurance company in Cyprus does not issue Green Cards, so we were a bit stuck (and without signal or wifi). In the end, an employee from Sunrise Tours helped us arrange the insurance from a broker in town. We were at the mercy of whatever price they chose to give us, and we paid 135€ for 3 months (the minimum period). For comparison, this costs 50€ at the land border. Ouch… insurance is the greatest scam of all time.

Funnier still, the insurance company didn’t have insurance for campervans (which is what is on our car registration), so they insured us as a “light truck.” They told us that it would allow us to pass out of customs and leave the port, but it wouldn’t actually be valid in case of an accident. Cool. Thankfully we made it home without incident!

Bottom Line

It’s possible to go from the Greek islands to the Turkish mainland with a vehicle. But, be prepared to spend some money and get a Green Card for your car if you can. For the most accurate information and bookings, it’s probably best to contact companies by email.