Many find the word ‘dolmuş’ (pronounced ‘dolmoush’) to be a little strange, but it basically means a shared taxi, and the word is used to refer to the many mini buses and stretch taxis that you see driving around the main roads in Cyprus!
The dolmuş is great way to travel from town to town, it’s relatively cheap, and you can pretty much flag them down anywhere, even though there are also official bus or dolmuş stops these days! Each bus route is leased from the North Cyprus government, with vehicles being owned privately and with each driver holding a license for transporting passengers. You can spot a dolmuş by the fact that most of them are white Ford transit minibus type vehicles, and they usually have their final destination shown in the front windscreen. One other sign is that you may be walking along minding your own business and you get beeped at, meaning the driver is asking you if you want to get on – they aren’t being rude, they are being courteous!
It never seems as if there are timetables but the buses are frequent during the day time and you should never have to wait too long for one, although by around 19.00-19.30 they become less frequent, so plan ahead if you want to get to your destination later in the day.
Unfortunately there are no dolmuş services that travel to the tourist sights around North Cyprus, but you can always book a guided tour or a private taxi. Dolmuş’ also have terminals in each of the towns where they all gather, and these are usually located right in the centre so you can pick them up there before they get too packed!
The normal cost for getting onto a dolmuş before you request your destination these days is around 2ytl at the time of writing, but again with oil and tax increases this may change without notice.
Similar shared taxi services are also run by the bigger taxi companies, you can get in a stretch limo Mercedes, (don’t get too excited as they are usually very old), which can take 7-8 passengers, and it will take you between the big towns of Lefkoşa, Famagusta, Güzelyurt and Kyrenia. You can also send packages and urgent documents this way as well, which can come in handy at times.
5 Comments
Are there buses (or dolmus) from the ferry terminal in north Cyprus to south Cyprus?
Hi Julie, we don’t believe so no – there will be transport options available to get you from the terminal to a coach terminal that goes to Famagusta or Lefkosa, but as far as we know there are no options to go direct. Coaches from the north do not have travel links through the border and on to ports in the south.
Ed
hello,
is it possible to travel by dolmus from Girne to Kaplica and Karpaz region?
thank you for your help
I don’t know about Kaplica, but I don’t think there is any dolmus from Girne to Karpaz region. I was in Girne yesterday, my hotel owner told me that there was a guy who wanted to go to Karpaz the other day, since it wasn’t the season yet, so he couldn’t find people to share a taxi with him. He did not go in the end. There was another couple whom I had met said they took a taxi there. And I don’t se any dolmus for Kaplics or Karpaz.
Hello! At what time does the first dolmus appear in the morning in Girne?