Getting Around Samsun
Samsun is a long, linear city that straggles east–west along the Black Sea coast, so how you move between its districts matters more here than in a compact city. The good news for visitors is that most of what you will want to see sits along or near the seafront, and the tram line follows that same coastal corridor. For anything beyond it, you have a choice of tram, bus, dolmuş or taxi.
The Tram
The tram is operated by SAMULAŞ and is the most visitor-friendly form of public transport in the city. Its line hugs the coast, running from the football stadium in the east through the downtown area and on west to OMÜ Yurtlar Atakum. In practice this means the tram is generally enough for all your touristic needs within Samsun, with one notable exception: it does not reach the airport.
A few practical points:
- The tram connects the otogar (bus terminal) through the city centre to Atakum, so it also links the main intercity arrival point with the coastal districts.
- Card readers at stops give you a partial refund for short trips, which almost always applies — so a brief hop costs you less.
- Outside peak hours, and if the tram is not crowded, you can take a bike on board as far as the Diş Hekimliği stop and then cycle down the car-free forest road below the university mosque.
- From the Yaşam Merkezi stop, able-bodied walkers can head down into the forested valley for a couple of hours: walk past the animal clinic to the edge of the valley, veer right past the waterworks along the track, then follow a path down into the valley. The track also emerges past a quarry onto a small road below a little reservoir where people picnic.
Buses and Dolmuşes
City buses complement the tram and cover parts of the city the tram does not. In day-to-day use, however, dolmuşes — shared minibuses — are much more frequent than buses and ply both within the city and out to nearby villages. If you are heading somewhere off the tram corridor, a dolmuş is often the quickest option.
One important limitation: the city travelcard, called Samkart, works on buses and trams but not on dolmuşes, so keep some cash for those.
Tickets and Passes
- Samkart is the city travelcard. You can buy one at the main tram stops and at some shops.
- It is valid on buses and trams, but not on dolmuşes.
- It is possible to register a virtual card on the Samulaş app, but doing so requires a local phone number.
Be aware that Samsun's public transport system has not been integrated with Google Maps. Locals rely instead on apps such as Moovit or Samulaş, though the latter is not particularly user-friendly for tourists. Plan your routes with that in mind rather than assuming a standard maps app will give you reliable transit directions.
Taxis and Ride-Hailing
Taxis are plentiful and metered, which makes them a straightforward fallback when the tram or a dolmuş does not go where you need — including the trip out to the airport. Ride-hailing is not described in the available information, so treat taxis, dolmuşes and the tram as your practical options rather than assuming an app-based car service will be available.
Walking and Cycling
Walking is genuinely rewarding along the seafront. Except for the stretch east of Doğu Park and a short diversion around the port, the seafront is a pleasant walk or cycle, and the Kıyı Park promenade runs along the coast past the replica Bandırma Vapuru museum ship, which commemorates Atatürk's arrival in 1919.
Cycling has some good options but the network is fragmented:
- Shared e-scooters (turquoise Binbin) and e-bikes (yellow Fazı) operate in the city, but if you don't have a Turkish phone number you may find registration too fiddly to bother with.
- Alternatively, there are a dozen outlets that hire out bikes or e-scooters.
- The shortish cycle and walking paths along the Mert River are not connected to the coastal cycle and walking paths, and neither are those to Tekkeköy.
- From Doğu Park you might be able to squeeze your bike into the lifts for the footbridge over the dual carriageway by the Piazza shopping centre.
- The circular cycle path in Millet Bahçesi ("people's garden") is suitable for small children but is also not connected to the other cycle paths. Millet Bahçesi is clean, has good toilets and children's play equipment, but lacks cafés.
Getting In from the Airport
Samsun-Çarşamba Airport (SZF) lies east of the city and is served by frequent flights from Istanbul (both IST and SAW), daily flights from other major Turkish cities, and a few international flights in summer, mainly from Germany.
The key thing to know is that the tram does not reach the airport — an extension has been debated forever but has not happened. Instead:
- Buses and taxis run from the airport to the city centre, and also to Bafra for the Kızılırmak Delta.
- Because the tram is your main way of getting around once you're in town, plan on a bus or taxi for the airport leg and then switch to the tram or other transport for the rest of your stay.
Arriving by Bus or Train
If you come into Samsun overland, both main arrival points connect reasonably well to the city:
- Samsun Bus Terminal sits at the D795 / D010 junction west of the city centre. Frequent dolmuşes run downtown from there, and the tram also serves the otogar.
- Samsun railway station (Samsun Garı) is central, right next to the harbour, which puts you within easy reach of the seafront and downtown.
The train from Sivas runs once a day in each direction, taking in Amasya and Havza along the way; a separate service runs from Amasya to Samsun early in the morning and returns late afternoon. The first couple of hours out of Samsun are a slow, scenic, winding wooded climb that crosses and re-crosses the small Mert River — worth knowing if you were expecting a quick run.