Self-initiated side project
İzmir Airport Guide
A travel product helping visitors compare transport options from İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport. I vibe-coded and shipped it as a search-led experiment, combining route-specific content, comparison UX, verified pricing and affiliate monetisation.
Role
Design, content and build
Timeline
2026 · ongoing
Type
Independent product
Platform
Responsive web
Adnan Menderes Airport, made simple.
Clear info. Real options. Better journeys from İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport — public transport, taxis and private transfers compared side by side, with date-stamped prices.
Independent comparisons. We compare, you choose.
Landing soon? Read the arrival guide for wifi, ATMs, SIM cards and where to find your ride.
Where are you going?
How many of you?
When do you land?
Pick a destination to start
The problem
I built İzmir Airport Guide as a self-initiated product experiment around a clear travel need: people landing at İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport often have to piece together transport advice from scattered, outdated or sales-led sources.
The information exists. It is just spread across forum threads, hotel pages and transfer companies who only sell one answer. None of it is written for the moment that matters, which is standing in Arrivals with luggage, deciding what to do next.
What the product does
The site compares public transport, taxis and private transfers across popular destinations, with route pages, practical arrival guidance, date-stamped prices and clear trade-offs.
Each route page leads with one comparison table. Cheapest first, priced for the whole group rather than per person, with duration, luggage suitability and operating hours in the same row. Underneath, every option has step-by-step instructions for actually using it, down to which machine sells the transit card and what it costs.
Compare your options
Cheapest first · total price for your group.
| Option | Total cost (group) | Duration | Luggage | Operating hours | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
İZBAN train İZBAN (commuter rail) |
₺470 · ≈ €10 with İzmirim Kart, per person — total includes a 200 TL card per traveler (skip this with the free Digital İzmirim Kart), plus keep ≥125 TL loaded to tap in at the airport Minimum 125 TL must be loaded to enter — separate from the fare shown. |
~50 min to Alsancak | Tight | ≈ 06:00 – 00:00 | How-to steps |
Havaş shuttle Havaş coach |
₺520 · ≈ €11 per person |
~40 min to Alsancak | Good (hold) | until ~23:59 last departure | How-to steps |
Eshot city bus (200) Eshot (municipal bus) |
₺554 · ≈ €12 with İzmirim Kart, per person — airport line 200 is 77 TL full fare, with no free transfer |
~65 min to Konak | Poor | ≈ 06:00 – 23:00 | How-to steps |
Taxi (metered) Official airport rank |
₺700 · ≈ €15 metered — figure is a typical fare, not fixed |
~35 min | Excellent | 24 h | Book via Uber |
|
Private transfer PartnerWelcome Pickups |
₺1,450 · ≈ €31 fixed, whole car (up to 3) |
~35 min, door-to-door | Excellent | 24 h (pre-booked) | Book with Welcome Pickups |
Showing daytime services for 2 travelers. Arriving late? Check what still runs at night. The private transfer row is a clearly-marked partner option.
A short guided flow sits above the routes for people who do not know what to pick. It asks where you are going, how many of you there are, and when you land, then recommends an option.
Where are you going?
How many of you?
When do you land?
Pick a destination to start
The design problem is not the table. It is deciding what a tired traveller needs to know before they trust it.
Search-led product strategy
Beyond the interface, the project is an experiment in search-led product strategy: structuring content for Google, designing around high-intent travel queries, and testing affiliate monetisation without losing the usefulness or trust of the guide.
The information architecture follows how people search. One page per airport-to-destination route, named the way the query is phrased, with the mode-specific guides split out and linked from every route that uses them. Search is treated as the entry point rather than something bolted on after launch.
Home Guides
Transport guides
The “how” behind every option — the mechanics of İzmir’s trains, cards, coaches, taxis and transfers, so you know what you’re doing before you land.
Prices last verified: June 2026
Monetisation and trust
The private transfer row is an affiliate placement, and the site says so on the row itself. It sits in the same table as the free and cheap options, sorted by price like everything else, so it competes on merit rather than position.
| Option | Total cost (group) | Duration | Luggage | Operating hours | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Private transfer PartnerWelcome Pickups |
₺1,450 · ≈ €31 fixed, whole car (up to 3) |
~35 min, door-to-door | Excellent | 24 h (pre-booked) | Book with Welcome Pickups |
Showing daytime services for 2 travelers. Arriving late? Check what still runs at night. The private transfer row is a clearly-marked partner option.
That constraint is the interesting part of the experiment. A guide that quietly steers people toward the paid option stops being worth reading, and stops earning the search visibility it depends on. Labelling the commercial row is the cheaper trade.
Early signal
The site is new and the numbers are small. They are here because the direction is the point, not the scale.
- 3,059Search impressions
- 60Google clicks
- Organic SearchTop channel
Early Search Console and Analytics data, July–September 2026.
Why it is in this portfolio
A small travel product about a familiar design problem: helping people make a good decision in an unfamiliar situation.
It is also the part of product work I rarely get to own end to end. Deciding what to build, writing the content, shipping it, and then watching whether anyone finds it.