İzmirim Kart at Izmir Airport: Price, Where to Buy and How to Use It

Fares last verified: 11 September 2026

One rechargeable card for İZBAN, the Metro, trams, Eshot buses and the ferries

İzmirim Kart is the contactless travel card used across İzmir — İZBAN, the Metro, trams, Eshot city buses and the ferries all take it. Getting one at the airport is the first thing a budget traveler should do. Two things trip up almost every visitor, and both are covered below: the free digital card does not work on İZBAN, and İZBAN blocks a large chunk of balance the moment you tap in.

The short answer

What does the card cost?: 200 TL for the physical card, bearer or personalised. That is a real cost, not a refundable deposit. Credit is loaded on top.
Where do you buy one at the airport?: At the İZBAN station beneath the terminal — follow the train icon down the escalators from Arrivals. There is a blue vending machine and a staffed kiosk that both sell cards and add credit.
Does the free Digital İzmirim Kart work on İZBAN?: No. The operator excludes the suburban rail system from digital cards, so the app card will not open the turnstile at the airport station. It is fine for Eshot buses, the Metro, trams and ferries. For the airport train you need the physical card.
How much balance do you need?: At least 125 TL. İZBAN blocks 122.16 TL when you tap in at the airport — the fare to the far end of the line — and refunds the difference when you tap out. So budget around 325 TL per person for a new card plus the train into the city.

Official source: İzmirim Kart fare tariff (official), checked 11 September 2026. The published tariff has been in force since 1 April 2026.

Not sure the train is even your best option? Compare it against the coach, a taxi and a private transfer for your group size and arrival time.

Plan my airport journey →

1. What it is

A rechargeable stored-value card. The physical card costs 200 TL — for either the bearer card or a personalised one — and that is a real cost, not a small refundable deposit. Load credit on top and tap on and off. Anti-passback is enabled across İZBAN, Metro, buses and ferries, so the same card can't tap in twice in a row for a second person — everyone in your group needs their own card.

Which journeys you are actually paying for is covered on the İZBAN train guide for the airport train, the landing at ADB guide for where everything is in the terminal, and the İzmir city centre page for the full airport-to-city comparison.

2. Physical card vs the free digital card

⚠️ The free digital card does not work on İZBAN

This is the single most common mistake, and it is the one that strands people at the airport turnstile. The operator's own description of the Digital İzmirim Kart says it covers all public transport except the suburban rail system — that is İZBAN, which is exactly the train you want from the airport. If the train is your plan, buy the physical card.

	Physical card	Digital İzmirim Kart (app)
Cost	200 TL for the card, then load credit	Free — no card fee
Works on İZBAN (the airport train)	Yes	No — excluded
Works on Eshot buses, Metro, tram, ferry	Yes	Yes
Best for	Anyone arriving by air who wants the train	Getting around the city once you are here
Where to get it	Airport İZBAN kiosk / machine	İzmirim Kart mobile app
Works offline	Yes — just tap	Needs a working phone / data

So the honest advice for a visitor landing at ADB is: buy the physical card at the airport station. The app card is genuinely useful afterwards, for buses and the Metro around town, and it skips the 200 TL fee there. Whichever you use, make sure the balance shows as active before you reach the gate — online top-ups can take a few minutes to land, and the turnstile is a bad place to find that out.

Digital card coverage: İzmirim Kart (official), checked 11 September 2026.

3. Where to buy it at the airport

At the airport İZBAN station (below the terminal) there is a blue vending machine and a staffed kiosk. Buy the card (200 TL), load credit, and head to the platform. Machines take cards and cash. If you are travelling as a group, buy one card per person before anyone taps in — you cannot share.

İzmirim Kart vending machine at İzmir Airport station

4. İZBAN's blocked-balance rule at the airport

⚠️ Keep at least 125 TL loaded before you tap in

İZBAN uses a blocked-balance system called Artı Para. When you tap in at the airport it reserves the fare for the longest journey from that station — not the fare to your actual stop. From the airport that is 122.16 TL, the fare all the way to Aliağa, so keep at least 125 TL on the card. This applies even if you are only riding to Alsancak: without the full amount loaded you cannot pass the gate. Tap out on the orange refund validator at your stop and the difference comes back, leaving you the real fare.

You must tap out within three hours, and travel at least one station, or no refund is given.
If you forget to tap out, the system assumes you rode to the end of the line and keeps the entire blocked amount.
Tapping out at the final station gives no refund — there is nothing left to release.

Keep the three numbers straight, because they are different tariffs and people routinely confuse them: 40 TL is the İZBAN suburban fare for the first 20 km, which covers the airport to Alsancak. 35 TL is the ordinary city fare on a bus, the Metro, a tram or a ferry. 77 TL is the airport Eshot bus fare on lines 200, 202, 204 and 206 — worth knowing because those four lines run only overnight, every two hours between about 01:00 and 05:40, and at that hour they are the cheapest thing moving. Check any specific İZBAN journey on the operator's own calculator.

Check your exact fare and blocked balance: İZBAN fare calculator (official), checked 11 September 2026.

5. The 90-minute free-transfer rule

On ordinary city journeys your fare buys 90 minutes, not one ride

Tap on for a city bus, the Metro, a tram or a ferry and every further boarding within 90 minutes is included. The window starts at your first boarding, with a five-minute protection period before a transfer counts. This is a genuinely good deal once you are moving around İzmir.

⚠️ It does not apply to the two journeys you are most likely to make from the airport

The tariff excludes the suburban (İZBAN) and airport bus tariffs from the 90-minute transfer, along with the Baykuş night buses and Bilet35. So İZBAN into the city followed by a Metro ride to your street is two fares, not one — which is the opposite of what most English-language guides say. Budget accordingly.

Transfer rules: İzmirim Kart transfer rules (official), checked 11 September 2026.

6. The Bilet35 single-ticket warning

Bilet35 is the paper ticket you buy instead of a card. It has no transfer right at all, and it expires 35 days after first use. The ticket fee of 35 TL is included in the price of a multi-ride version.

Bilet35	Price	Note
Single	35 TL	One ordinary city ride
2 rides	140 TL	Ticket fee included
3 rides	205 TL	Enough for exactly one İZBAN journey
5 rides	310 TL
10 rides	540 TL

The one case where Bilet35 beats the card

An İZBAN journey costs 3 kontör of a Bilet35. So a 3-ride ticket at 205 TL covers one airport-to-city train trip, against 240 TL for a new 200 TL card plus the 40 TL fare. If you are making exactly one journey and will never use the card again, the ticket is marginally cheaper. From the second journey onwards the card wins, and only the card gives you the 90-minute transfer on ordinary city rides.

Official source: İzmirim Kart & Bilet 35 (official), checked 11 September 2026.

7. Topping up & refunds

Top up at any station machine, many kiosks and corner shops showing the logo.
Refunds: tap out on the orange Artı Para validator and the unused blocked balance from the İZBAN airport minimum is returned to your card automatically.
Card price and fares on this page were checked against the operator's published tariff on 11 September 2026. Turkish fares move with inflation, so check the linked sources if you are reading this much later.

Practical bottom line for a first-time visitor

Buying a physical card and taking İZBAN from the airport needs roughly 200 TL for the card plus 125 TL of balance, so about 325 TL per person to get through the gate. You get most of the balance back when you tap out, leaving the real cost at 200 TL plus the 40 TL fare. The free app card does not change this, because it does not work on İZBAN.

The card only makes sense if the train is the right option for you. Check it against the alternatives for your group size and arrival time.

Compare this against the coach and a taxi →

İZBAN train from the airport →

The main thing you’ll use the card for on arrival — route, fares and last trains.

Landing at ADB →

Where the station, ATMs and SIM desks are in the terminal.

İzmir Airport → İzmir city centre →

The full comparison: train, airport bus, coach, taxi and transfer.