Batumi Airport to Turkey: Hopa, Rize and Artvin
BUS is an unusual airport: it officially serves two countries. Turkish airlines sell tickets to Hopa and land them here, so it doubles as the closest air gateway to Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast — Hopa is about 35 km away, just past the Sarp border crossing. There are two ways to make that hop.
Route details verified August 2026 — shuttle status and border queues change; re-check close to your trip.
Option 1 — a Pegasus ticket sold "to Hopa"
Pegasus sells tickets with Hopa listed as the destination. The flight lands at Batumi (BUS), and a road shuttle runs across the Sarp border crossing — free of charge, about 45 minutes, ending at Hopa Port. Pegasus describes it as free for passengers arriving at Batumi Airport, not only for its own ticket holders.
For citizens of Turkey the crossing works with the kimlik national ID card — no passport required. Other nationalities need whatever the Georgia–Turkey land border normally requires of them.
Confirm the shuttle exists for your specific flight when booking. And do not confuse it with Havaş: Havaş runs its Hopa shuttles from Rize–Artvin Airport (RZV) on the Turkish side and lists no Georgian airport at all, so an article promising a Havaş bus from Batumi has mixed up the two airports.
Option 2 — on your own via Sarpi
The independent route is cheap and runs on your schedule. Four steps:
| Step | What you do | Price | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bus 16 or a marshrutka from the airport road to Sarpi | ≈1.5–2 GEL | ≈25–35 min |
| 2 | Cross the Sarp border checkpoint on foot | Free | ≈15 min walk, plus queue time in summer |
| 3 | Dolmuş (shared minibus) from the Turkish side to Hopa or on to Rize | Paid in TRY on board — carry small cash, fares change often | Sarp to Hopa is about 18 km, roughly 20–30 minutes; Rize is further along the coast road |
| 4 | For Artvin, change in Hopa to an Artvin-bound dolmuş or bus | Paid in TRY | Hopa is the usual transfer point |
Border notes
- Neither border service publishes opening hours for the Sarp crossing, so do not count on a night crossing without a fallback. Summer daytime queues are real — early morning and late evening are usually quicker.
- Carry both currencies: GEL for the bus on the Georgian side, TRY for the dolmuş on the Turkish side.
- Check your own visa and entry rules for both countries before travelling — the kimlik shortcut applies to Turkish citizens only.
- The Artvin–Hopa road can be closed by bad weather, and shuttles along it are cancelled when that happens — Havaş warns about this on its own service page. Worth checking before you travel on to Artvin.
See also: airport to city transport, Tbilisi and Kutaisi, parking rates, FAQ, arrivals and the hall, departures and check-in, what the BUS code means.
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