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Region in Turkey
Photo: Güldem Üstün, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Marmara Region in northwest Turkey spans between Europe and Asia, with Istanbul the country's largest city at its heart. It's purely a geographical unit - Turkey doesn't have administrative layers between national government and its 80-some city-provinces - and in 2022 had a population of 27,050,405, a third of the national total.
Capital of three empires, the grand metropolis connecting Europe and Asia. It's the country's main point of arrival.
This is the European part of Turkey west of Istanbul.
Istanbul's industrial sprawl goes all the way out to.
Southern Marmara (Turkish: Güney Marmara) is the southern part of Marmara Region, Turkey.
By train
A train runs nightly from Sofia in Bulgaria and Bucharest in Romania. The portions combine at the border then run via Edirne to Istanbul. In summer a car train runs from Villach in Austria to Edirne.
By bus
International bus routes withered during covid and have not fully resumed, but in 2023 there are daily buses from Bucharest and Sofia to Istanbul. From Greece travel via Sofia.
By road
Motorways and equivalent fast highways (many toll) span the region, from Edirne near the western border across Istanbul towards Ankara, southwest down the Gallipoli peninsula to Çanakkale, and south…
Buses from Istanbul serve all the main towns, so any journey along a radial route is straightforward.
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Balıkesir is a city in the Southern Marmara Region of Turkey, which in 2020 had a population of 662,199. It's mostly modern but has several old mosques.
Bursa is a large city in the Southern Marmara region of Turkey, 20 km inland from the Marmara coast. It's the country's fourth-largest city, with a population of 2,161,990 in 2021, and with another million living in the wider metro area.
Çanakkale (pronounced chah-NAK-kah-leh) is a city in the Southern Marmara region of Turkey. It stands at the outlet of the Dardanelles, the straits between European and Asian Turkey, and has been a travel hub in peace and war since antiquity.
Edirne (pronounced eh-deer-neh) is the chief city of Eastern Thrace, in the Marmara Region of northwest Turkey. It lies on the gently rolling Thracian plains at the confluence of three rivers, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria.
This page describes the town of Gelibolu. For the battlefields and monuments of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I, see Eceabat town.
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is a very large city of fantastic history, culture and beauty. Called Byzantium in ancient times, the city's name was changed to Constantinople in 324 CE when it was rebuilt by the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine.
İzmit is an industrial city in the Eastern Marmara region of Turkey, just over 100 km east of Istanbul. It's at the tip of the sword-like Gulf of İzmit, a long inlet of the Sea of Marmara, and in 2021 had a population of 367,990.
İznik is a town in the Eastern Marmara Region of Turkey, with a population of 22,507 in 2012. It stands at the east end of Lake İznik and is nowadays a quiet market town, but as ancient Nicaea was once a major cultural centre.
Tekirdağ (pronounced TEH-keer-daa) is a city in Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey, 132 km west of Istanbul. It is on the northern shoreline of the Sea of Marmara.
Yalova is a city in the Eastern Marmara region of Turkey, with a population of 128,933 in 2020. It's a ferry port on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara and most visitors are just passing through; the main reason to linger is for the geothermal springs.
Bozcaada (pronounced boz-DJA-ah-dah) is an island in the Aegean Sea, near the western exit of the Dardanelles, in the Southern Marmara Region of Turkey. In 2018 it had a population of 3023, concentrated around its port and sole town, which is likewise called Bozcaada.
Gökçeada, formerly called Imvros, is an Aegean island in Eastern Thrace in Turkey, with a population in 2020 of 10,106. It's near the entrance to the Dardanelles, and is hilly and windswept.
Marmara Islands (Turkish: Marmara Adaları) are an archipelago in the Sea of Marmara in the Southern Marmara Region of Turkey. Several have tourist facilities and marble quarries.
Articles and travel topics about Marmara (region) and Türkiye.
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