Before you start

A KonyaKart, bought and topped up at a machine, kiosk or through the app
A residence permit (ikamet) and Turkish tax number if you intend to exchange your licence
Your valid home-country licence with a notarised Turkish translation, or an International Driving Permit
Winter tyres if you will drive between roughly December and March — this is a plateau, not the coast

Step-by-step

1
Get a KonyaKart and learn the tram line
Buy and load the card at machines, kiosks or in the app; it covers the tram and the municipal buses with transfer discounts. The tram is the spine and it links the centre to the university campuses, which is why so much student and academic life organises around it. Everything else is bus, and because the city is flat and low-density the bus journeys are longer than the map suggests — check the timetable rather than estimating from distance.
In personWho: YouSame dayCard a few US$; rides under US$0.40
2
Use the YHT as your actual long-distance transport
Book high-speed trains through TCDD Taşımacılık online or at the station. Ankara is well under two hours and Istanbul is an afternoon, both comfortably and cheaply, with far less friction than flying from Konya's limited airport. Book ahead around Şeb-i Arûs in December, when the entire country tries to reach the city at once and services sell out weeks in advance.
OnlineWho: You (TCDD Taşımacılık)Ankara under 2 hours; Istanbul an afternoonA fraction of a flight, and city centre to city centre
3
Drive on your foreign licence for up to 6 months
You may drive on a valid home-country licence for up to 6 months from your date of entry. Carry a notarised Turkish translation at all times, or an International Driving Permit — required if the licence isn't in the Latin alphabet and asked for at roadside checks. Once you hold a residence permit, relying on the foreign licence becomes legally risky, so treat the exchange as the next step.
In personWho: You (driver)Valid up to 6 months from entryNotarised translation ~US$15-30
4
Exchange your licence at a Konya İlçe Nüfus Müdürlüğü
Book through the national NVİ portal (randevu.nvi.gov.tr, or Alo 199) and attend in person at your district population office — Selçuklu, Meram and Karatay each have one. Türkiye's reciprocity agreements cover the EU, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and many more, so eligible nationalities exchange with NO written or practical exam. Bring the original licence plus notarised translation, residence permit, tax number, a driver health report (sağlık raporu), one biometric photo, blood type and the fee receipt.
OnlineWho: You (via NVİ appointment + İlçe Nüfus Müdürlüğü)Appointment + ~2-4 weeks for the card~US$200-280 in official fees, plus translation and health report
5
Optional: a car, and what a plateau winter does to driving
Cars are expensive because of ÖTV stacked on VAT, and you will need compulsory trafik sigortası, the biennial TÜVTÜRK muayene and an HGS transponder. The Konya-specific driving facts are seasonal. Winter on the plain brings black ice on roads that look merely wet, and dense freezing fog that can cut visibility to metres on the long straight highways where everyone is doing 110. Winter tyres are a legal requirement on intercity routes in the winter months and a practical necessity here regardless. In summer, the flip side: the roads are the emptiest and easiest in the country.
In personWho: You / dealer / insurerOngoingHGS tolls; muayene every 2 yrs; trafik sigortası annual; ÖTV baked into the purchase price

Documents you’ll need

Valid home-country driving licence + notarised Turkish translation (or International Driving Permit)
Residence permit (ikamet) and Turkish tax number (vergi numarası)
Driver health report (sağlık raporu), one biometric photo, and blood-type record
KonyaKart for the tram and buses — from a machine, kiosk or the app

Things most newcomers don’t know

The high-speed line is the single biggest argument for living in Konya, and it is not a local-transport fact at all.

Ankara in well under two hours and Istanbul in an afternoon, from a city where a large central flat costs a third of what it does in either, is a combination almost no other Turkish city offers. For anyone whose work needs occasional rather than daily presence in the capital, the rent difference pays for a great many train tickets.

Source: TCDD Taşımacılık — YHT services

Freezing fog on the plain is a more dangerous driving condition here than snow is.

Snow gets respect; fog on a dead-straight highway does not. The Konya plain produces dense radiation fog on still winter mornings, on roads where sightlines are normally kilometres long and speeds are correspondingly high. It is the condition local drivers actually warn newcomers about, and it does not appear in any national guidance.

Source: Local driving practice; MGM plateau winter conditions

Most nationalities exchange their licence with no driving test at all.

Türkiye's reciprocal recognition agreements cover the EU, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and many others, so eligible holders swap at a district Nüfus office after submitting documents. People routinely budget time and money for an exam they do not need to sit.

Source: NVİ (nvi.gov.tr) — driving-licence exchange

Konya is genuinely flat, which makes it one of the few big Turkish cities where cycling is realistic.

The city sits on a plain with almost no gradient and unusually wide streets, and the municipality has built out cycle infrastructure accordingly. For eight months of the year this is a real transport option rather than a hobby — and it solves the low-density problem that makes bus journeys here longer than the distances suggest.

Source: Konya Büyükşehir Belediyesi transport services

Common mistakes to avoid

Driving on your home licence past the 6-month window, or after getting residency, without exchanging it.
Driving the plain's highways in winter without winter tyres, or at normal speed in freezing fog.
Estimating bus journey times from map distance in a city this flat and this spread out.
Leaving YHT booking late around Şeb-i Arûs in mid-December, when the whole country is heading here.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.