A cross-country race for motorcycles, cars, SSVs and trucks that takes a different line across Türkiye every year, and what that route says about the country.
TransAnatolia is an international rally raid held in Türkiye every year since 2010. Motorcycles, quads, cars, SSVs and trucks cross the country over about a week, on a route that changes every edition, using roadbooks and GPS to navigate between bivouacs. The organisers call it Türkiye's international motorsport brand.
For travellers, it matters for a second reason: each year's route is a cross-section of Anatolia, through mountains, steppe, salt lakes and forest that most visitors never see.
This is the part of the page that changes every year.
Edition: 16th, TransAnatolia 2026
Dates: 29 August – 5 September 2026
Status: Concluded. The 2027 edition will be added here once the organiser announces it.
Start: Istanbul
Route: Istanbul → the green mountains of the Black Sea → Cappadocia → Ankara
Finish: Ankara
Follow: Live tracking and official site
Last checked: 6 October 2026
The organiser describes the 2026 route as starting from Istanbul, crossing the green mountains of the Black Sea, reaching the geography of Cappadocia and finishing in the capital, Ankara. Turkish press reports added a public prologue at the Istanbul Park off-road area and a ceremonial start at Viaport Marina in Tuzla on 29 August, and gave the total distance at about 2,378 km. A complete official stage-by-stage itinerary was not publicly available at our last check, so this guide does not list individual stage towns.
A rally raid is a long-distance off-road race in stages, the format made famous by the Dakar. Competitors ride or drive hundreds of kilometres a day, often off tarmac, following a roadbook, and sleep in a moving camp, the bivouac, between stages.
TransAnatolia brought that format to Türkiye. It was first held in 2010 and took its current shape in 2012. Since then it has run each year, drawing international crews alongside Turkish ones. The 2025 edition, for example, covered about 2,190 km and reported 98 competitors from eight countries.
TransAnatolia runs two competitions on the same journey, and the difference is the most useful thing to understand before following it.
| Category | Rally | Raid |
|---|---|---|
| How you win | Fastest total time over the timed stages | Navigation and route accuracy rather than outright speed |
| Main skill | Speed with accurate roadbook navigation | Navigation, route accuracy and strategy |
| Stages | The full timed programme | Set in each edition's regulations |
| Suits | Racing crews | Navigators, amateurs and adventure drivers |
This is a simplified summary; exact classification rules are set in each edition's regulations. In short: rally is a race against the clock; raid is a test of finding the way.
Most race days follow the same pattern. Competitors leave the bivouac in the morning, ride or drive road sections (liaisons) to the start of one or more timed special stages, race them, then follow another liaison to the next bivouac. The roadbook, a scroll of distances, bearings and symbols, tells them where to go; GPS waypoints confirm they went there.
At night the bivouac is a small town: mechanics, service trucks, food tents and the next day's roadbooks. Our own film from the 2022 edition shows exactly this, arriving at a camp after dark under strings of lights.
You don't need the regulations to follow the event. The broad groups are:
| Group | Classes |
|---|---|
| Motorcycles | By engine size and cylinders, from single-cylinder 450s to big twin-cylinder adventure bikes |
| Quads | Two-wheel and four-wheel drive |
| SSVs (side-by-sides) | Challenger and Standard |
| Cars | Ultimate, Stock, and Classic for vehicles over 20 years old |
| Trucks | One category |
Exact classes change; the official site lists the current ones.
Unlike a race on a fixed course, TransAnatolia redraws its line each edition. Recent routes show how widely it travels: the 2022 edition ran from Hatay in the south to Eskişehir, the 2025 edition finished in Bolu, and the 2026 edition linked Istanbul, the Black Sea mountains, Cappadocia and Ankara.
That keeps the event hard for regulars, because nobody knows the ground, and it spreads the event across Türkiye's provinces. For us, it is the most interesting thing about it: each year's route is a different portrait of the country.
Across editions, the route has crossed most of Anatolia's landscape types:
In 2022 we followed the event from Hatay to Eskişehir: sixteen cities in seven days, from Sızır waterfall and Sultan Sazlığı to Meke crater lake, İncesu Cave and the salt flats of Lake Tuz.
A rally raid is the fastest way to cross Türkiye, and the slowest way to forget it.
Live tracking: The official live-tracking page shows where competitors are during the stages
Results and news: The official site and its social channels
Photos: The official gallery after each day
In person: The ceremonial start and the finish city
Away from the start and finish, the race is hard to watch casually. Specials cross remote ground, often on closed or unmarked tracks, and timings change with conditions.
Be realistic. TransAnatolia is a competitors' event, not a stadium sport. There are no grandstands, and the organiser doesn't publish general spectator guidance for the stages. The public moments are the start, any prologue and the finish; the stages are best followed online.
If you want to see the vehicles, plan to be in the start or finish city on the day. If you want to see the landscapes, use the route as inspiration after the event and explore those regions on public roads; the special stages themselves often run on closed or private tracks.
This is where the race becomes a travel idea. The 2026 line joins places we already cover. Start in Istanbul, head for the Black Sea mountains and the forests of Ilgaz and Kastamonu, cross to Cappadocia, and finish in Ankara with Anıtkabir and the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations.
The 2022 route that we filmed runs through Kayseri, the Aladağlar and Konya, with Eskişehir at the finish. On normal roads, either line makes a strong week-to-ten-day drive. Our getting around guide covers car hire and driving in Türkiye.
TransAnatolia runs every year in late summer. The new route, dates and categories are published by the organiser, usually in spring and summer. Check transanatolia.com before planning. We update the Latest edition section above when the next edition is announced.
Our 20-minute film from the 2022 edition, Hatay to Eskişehir: sixteen cities in seven days, rally cars on the salt flats of Lake Tuz, nights in the bivouac, and the people and landscapes along the way.
Reviewed by Halil Bekar, founder of Show Me TürkiyeOur guide to getting around Türkiye covers car hire, roads and driving between regions.
Getting around Türkiye →
Choose which cookies you allow. Essential and analytics cookies are always on (legitimate interest, IP anonymisation). Your choice is saved on your device and you can change it anytime from the Cookies Policy page.
Required for core features such as remembering your language and that you have seen this notice. Always active.
Google Analytics with IP anonymisation, used to understand how the site is used in aggregate. Always active under legitimate interest.
Reserved for future use (e.g. retargeting). Off until you allow it.