Caravanistan

Please read and post reports on the Sarp - Hopa border crossing between Turkey and Georgia below.

We summarize all info on the Georgia border crossings page.

Quick update for anyone looking to cross at Sarp between Turkey and Georgia - border is closed as of 26/10/2016 for foreigners until further notice. Looks to be a temporary issue. Re-open date is supposively from 31/10/2016, but the info from Turkish border authorities have no fix it date as of yet. Spent 12 hours in the "no mans land" yesterday. My contact at customs eventually got me back into Georgia

Spoke with Georgian office, Turkish consul and have friends contacting the relevant Border Authorities at Sarpi and Turkgozu. My contact at the Georgian Customs has no information on re-opening dates. Unsure about Turkgozu border crossing as of yet. Anyone with info post here. Cheers

atthehandlebars.com

Latest update on this:

Polnet programme for passport checkings has been attacked...entering-exiting by vehicle has a 4-6 hours waiting line in west bordergates also...20 km vehicle line at the gate to bulgaria..

for anyone crossing from Georgia into Turkey.
Sarp (Turkish name) on the coast is the absolute worst place to cross in either direction. It is overloaded.
The crossings in the hills, at Aktas Lake and the other near Posof, are almost empty and hence waiting is short.
If there is a computer hack they will have the same problems but as a general rule we highly recommend these crossings.

karenandmike wrote:Sarp (Turkish name) on the coast is the absolute worst place to cross in either direction. It is overloaded. If there is a computer hack they will have the same problems but as a general rule we highly recommend these crossings.

Crossed many times at Sarp, usually totally fine and very quick, even with our own vehicle. Except for that one time Turkish border guards didn't want to let Saule cross (they don't like Central Asians in Turkey, despite all their talk about being brothers).

Posof is nice but difficult in winter and you need your own transport.

Sarp is an OK crossing, though they gave me some hassle when exiting Georgia. If entering Georgia at Sarp on an EU ID card, you're given a small form with the entry stamp (like at Turkish border crossings), but having entered from Azerbaijan, I did not get it, which really bothered the officer. Despite being in the front of the queue, I had to wait for the others to be cleared, after which I was given a form with the exit stamp.

The queues on the Turkish side exhausted me to the point where I don't even remember what happened when I got to the booth.

What hypocrisy btw, for them to grant visa-free access (even if only 30 days) to nationals they don't like

I travelled from Kars, Turkey to Tbilisi, Georgia via the border at the Posof-Vale. It was a breeze.

There is a direct bus from Kars to Tbilisi! All of that dolmus, taxi mumbo jumbo isn't needed. You can get a bus through VIP Turizm for 60TL, the office is opposite the dolmus station in the centre of Kars. I waited around 15 minutes for the visa. Just be aware that the bus terminates at a somewhat obscure station in Tbilisi (Ortachala) which isnt near any metro stations. I was ripped off with my taxi, dont pay any more than 5 lari to get to Freedom Square.

Peshwari wrote:I travelled from Kars, Turkey to Tbilisi, Georgia via the border at the Posof-Vale. It was a breeze.

There is a direct bus from Kars to Tbilisi! All of that dolmus, taxi mumbo jumbo isn't needed. You can get a bus through VIP Turizm for 60TL, the office is opposite the dolmus station in the centre of Kars. I waited around 15 minutes for the visa. Just be aware that the bus terminates at a somewhat obscure station in Tbilisi (Ortachala) which isnt near any metro stations. I was ripped off with my taxi, dont pay any more than 5 lari to get to Freedom Square.

Two questions:

1. Did the border officials at Posof-Vale seem used to processing foreigners, or is it likely I'd be more or less delayed as a European citizen? Worth asking since even Sarp(i) has some complete noobs on both sides.

2. How often do buses from Kars to Tbilisi run?

I crossed at Sarp on march 29, 2017 coming from Trabzon. Apart from the crowd it was very straightforward. No problem at all. Minivans on the other side to Batumi.

Same here, last time I crossed was on 9 April going to Turkey. Was 6PM and yet the pedestrian queues were only a minute on the Georgian side and 3 minutes on the Turkish side.

They're refurbishing the complex btw, so there's a new Turkish immigration hall, located before the old one. You still walk through the old building afterwards, but are not checked there.