Popular Airport | Kutaisi Intl. Airport |
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Popular Airlines | |
Approximate Flight Duration | 3 hour |
Approximate Travel Distance | 2452 Km |
If you travel by plane from Kabul, you need to reach Kabul International Airport (Hamid Karzai International Airport). From Kabul International Airport, you can travel to many destinations with many airlines. Turkish Airlines also organizes seven flights a week from Istanbul to Kabul. The journey from Kabul to Istanbul lasts 5 hours.
There is a time difference of 2 hours and 30 minutes between Kabul and Turkey. For example, when it is 10.30 am in Kabul, the clock may still show 08.00 am in Turkey. But Afghanistan does not apply day light saving time. Therefore, time difference with Kabul is 2 hours 30 minutes in winter and 1 hour 30 minutes in summer. When you travel from Kabul to Istanbul, it is useful to consider these differences.
There is still no advanced urban transportation network in Kabul. Due to the fact that the city is located in a mountainous area, the rail system does not exist in this area. Buses and taxis are the most commonly used means of transportation within the city. You can also choose to walk to the airport instead of driving. Obtaining a map of Kabul would help you not to encounter problem with urban transportation.
The bus is one of the most used vehicles in urban transportation in Kabul. Buses in the city are comfortable and modern. But the direction information and the numbers of the buses are in Pashtun. You can find out which buses go to Kabul International Airport if you would have a Pashtun dictionary with you a guide on this subject on your own.
Visitors often prefer to take taxis for transportation in Kabul. Many of the taxi drivers know a little English. But just in case, you would write that you want to go to Kabul International Airport in local language on a paper and give it to the taxi driver.
You can rent a car to go to Kabul International Airport and get rid of the stress of catching the plane. With the car you will rent, you will not need to carry your heavy luggage between long distances on public transport vehicles.
Kabul International Airport, which connects Afghanistan's capital city Kabul to many points of the world, offers a more comfortable and enjoyable flight experience to its passengers with the renovation works. Improvements at the airport have resulted in the addition of a new international terminal and the old terminal is now being used for domestic flights.
Airline companies such as Turkish Airlines (THY), Emirates, Flydubai, Air India, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Ariana Afghan, Safi Airways, Kam Air, Mahan Air, SpiceJet, East Horizon Airlines and Iranian Aseman Airlines provides flights to Kabul. The airport of the city has free Wi-Fi, a duty free, currency exchange and ATM.
At the same time, you can eat at the restaurants in the terminal, and make benefit of the post office and car parking. It is not advised to have an alcoholic drink with you on your way to Kabul. It is a crime to have an alcoholic drink with you when you land here.
There is the Rioni river at the entrance of Kutaisi, which is the second largest and most developed city of Georgia, and this river literally divides the city into two. Kutaisi is located in the Imerati Region in the western part of Georgia and its distance to the country’s capital, Tbilisi, is approximately 221 kilometers. The city’s population is around 201.000. Kutaisi’s urban transportation is mostly composed of buses, trolleys, taxis and mini-buses called marshrutka.
There is also a big train station in the city. But from this train station, daily express trains from Kutaisi to Georgia’s other major cities depart. As the area of the city is small, majority of the visitors walk or use taxis for transportation.
Kutaisi railway terminal is directly connected to Georgia’s capital city, Tbilisi. All of the trains leaving from this terminal are operated by Georgian Railways. You can travel to Tbilisi from Kutaisi in around 5.5 hours by taking the train #18, which departs from Kutaisi I station. There are also daily express trains.
The train starts its trip at 08.50 every morning and arrives at Tbilisi in 6 hours. This train also stops in Mtskheta, the former capital of Georgia. There are also regular bus trips from Didube bus station in Didube, where the metro station in Tbilisi is located at, to Kutaisi. Price for this bus trip is only 10 Lari.
In addition to the marshrutkas and buses, you may also consider using car rental services or taxis for transportation to city centre from the Kutaisi Airport.
After arriving at the Kutaisi Airport, take the exit from the arrival terminal and proceed to the bus stops. As well as the buses, marshrutkas also depart to Kutiasi city centre or suburbans from the bus stops at the area in front of the terminal building. Marshrutka drivers may not accept paying with dollar or euro, so do not forget to stop by the exchange office in the airport just in case.
Marshrutkas leaving from Kutaisi Airport go directly to the Kutaisi bus station just behind McDonalds. Marshrutkas, which run in every 20 minutes, provide transportation services to the town of Samtredia from Kutaisi Airport for a fee of 2 Lari. There are also vehicles named ‘direct marshrutkas’, which have a fare of 5 Lari. These direct marshrutkas will take you to your destination as well.
There are direct marshrutkas running between Kutaisi Airport and Tbilisi, and fare is currently 20 Lari. Likewise, there are also marshrutkas going directly to Batumi, another major city of Georgia, for a fare of 18 Lari.
Bus service timetable are usually updated according to the flights' arrival times. You don’t need to worry if you forget to get Georgian currency, as it is possible to buy bus tickets with euro or dollar as well.
Taxi is the most economical vehicle you can use for traveling to the city centre from Kutaisi Airport. Traveling to the city centre from the airport by taxi costs around 25 Lari, but you can drop the price to 20 Lari by bargaining with the taxi driver.
The only thing that you need to do to go city centre from Kutaisi Airport by your rented car is to take the highway, which passes right by the airport, and follow the direction signs to the city. You can reach the city centre in around 20 minutes by your vehicle.
As well as you can find several rent a car services at the exit of Kutaisi Airport terminal, you can also make benefit of discounts by making an online reservation. People visiting Kutaisi often prefer renting a car as they usually include visiting other Georgian cities such as Tbilisi and Batumi in their travel plans.