OM
Olaf MThe indicated departure bus station is some km out of Kars. We were told to ask at the Yesil Artvin office downtown for information about how to get there. So we did the day before our departure.
The staff speak only turkish and said: Passport! Finally we were told to be at the bus station downtown at 9am (according to your information sheet the bus was to leave at the out-of-town station at 10am, distance about 3km.
When we got there next morning at 8.50, there was a small bus (30+ seats). No information about the schedule or if this bus just would go to the other station, nothing. Another passenger we asked said she'd go to Erzurum on this bus, which is a quite different direction. This was irritating. At 10.10 the bus departed, so we sat around for more than an hour for nothing. It didn't even go the other bus station, just bypassed it (looks like a lost place anyway!).
The bus took a route far from the direct one to Hopa, and that is why the journey takes 6 hours and it could also take a passenger to Erzurum (who had to change somewhere). We arrived in time at the end. But no information, no service except a nip of water and two breaks to get food outside.
Some days before we had a completely different experience with another company.
Anyway, it's good there's a bus from Kars to Hopa.
버스 스탠다드 2X2, Yesil Artvin Ekspres, 2022. 8. 7.