The nearest airport is Trabzon (TZX), about 70 km west of Rize on the coast road. Turkish Airlines and Pegasus operate regular flights from Istanbul; the journey takes about two hours. From Trabzon airport, buses and dolmuş minibuses run east along the D010 coast road to Rize in about 90 minutes.
By bus from Istanbul, the journey is around 18–20 hours on overnight coaches operated by companies including Metro and Ulusoy. From Trabzon by bus it is about 90 minutes. The main bus station (otogar) in Rize is about 2 km east of the centre.
The Georgian border at Sarp/Sarpi is about 90 km east of Rize. Minibuses run from Rize to Hopa, from where you can cross on foot or by taxi to the Georgian town of Batumi.