Just in the thinking stages of 2010 trip. Considering Turkey and would like to ask what you guys think. Where would be the best place to start. I have to admit I know NOTHING about Turkey so need to educate myself before making any final decisions.
Would be interested in Troy, Ephesus, Mt. Ararat. That's the extent of my knowledge on Turkey.
Yep, mine too! The Rhodes just returned from a trip to Turkey this past summer. You may find some great traveling tidbits there. Don't miss their photo album while you're checking it out!
I've been to Turkey 3 times, and love it. It's very safe in my estimation; and the people are very hospitable with a great sense of humour. The food is great, lots of very fresh fruit and vegetables, and delicious spicy stuff too. The scenery ranges from beaches, desert, mountains, ruins, valleys... a bit of everything. The shopping is wonderful; and the history is jaw-dropping. Go!!!!!
Turkey is definitely one of the top places we have visited. We spent 9 days in Istanbul and could easily have spent 9 months and never scratched the surface of things to see and do. There are so many wonderful, interesting places in Turkey to see I don't even know where to start. Cappadocia was wonderful, Ephesus, terrific, Troy, interesting but I wouldn't go out of my way to go back there, Cannukale, however, near Troy was very nice as was the Pammukale area. So much to see. The ruins are phenomenal everywhere! There are, from what I understand and read, more Greek and Roman ruins throughout Turkey than there are in Italy and Greece combined. (Don't get mad at me if I am wrong about that.) The people were very friendly and we felt totally safe, even late at night out on the streets alone. The food is amazing! Gosh, I sure would like to go back!! BJinNM
Hello: One of my most enjoyable trips was to Turkey. It was 3 weeks and too short. Our trip report is #1574. Istanbul suited us as a departure point to visit other areas. Anumber of low cost airlines operate internally from that base. If you're visiting Cappadocia and points East then Ankara may be a better base.
The romantic in me wanted to visit Troy but I was disappointed. If ancient civilizations interest you there are better options.
Once you decide on going many people will be able to suggest options.
Dennis.
Posts: 291 | Location: Calgary, Alberta Canada | Registered: 08 November 2003
We will be in Turkey for three weeks in May, with help from this forum and lots of research, we have the following itinerary planned. Since we are flying with FF points we found that spending a couple of days in Paris on our way to Turkey was to our advantage. I hope this will help you with your trip planning.
May 4-7 Paris - Hotel Minerve
May 7-11 Istanbul - Hotel Ermine Sultan
May 11 – 14 - Carppadocia area Flying Istanbul to Nevsehir - Hotel – Esbelli Evi in Urgup
May 14 – 18 Fly to....Ismir (ADB Airport) – Pick up Rental Car Sirince - Hotel Kirkinca House Possible Day Trips: Pamukkale, Aphrodisias, Ephesus, Pergamum, Priene-Miltus-Didyma
May 18 – 21- Dalyan - Dalyan Tezcan Hotel (Ask for a room facing the King's Tombs) Possible Day Trips: Dalyan Creek Boat Excursion, Day Boat Trip from Göcek, Yuvarlak Çay, Saklikent Gorge
May 21 – 25 Kas - Hotel Per Se Possible Day Trips: Üçagiz and Kaleköy, Demre (Kale), Day Boat Excursion To Greek Island of Meis
May 25 – Drop car and Fly to Istanbul from Dalaman May 25-27– Istanbul – Hotel Ermine Sultan
We had originally planned a few days on a gullet boat cruise, but since there are only four of us on this trip chartering a small boat became very expensive and we didn't really want to join a larger group so we will do a couple of day cruises. As always, your comments on the itinerary will be welcome, I'm sure it could be improved.
That sounds very exciting! However, I do not like to hop around quite so much when I travel. I like to have one homebase and work short day trips from there.
Turkey indeed sounds, and looks great. But I am a little intimiated by it's geographical location. It feels a bit scary to me. Do you have any concerns for safety?
I felt no fear at all in Turkey and, in fact, felt safer than in many US cities especially on empty streets late at night. Normal precautions against pickpockets, etc. are important, as with big cities everywhere, this is a problem in Istanbul. But fear, no, I didn't feel any. BJinNM
We drove our RV motorhome through out Turkey in 2007. Our initial plan was for 3 weeks - we stayed for 7 weeks. Great people, great venues, just about any itinerary that you choose will be rewarding. We wrote a little about it below/
That makes me feel a little better about Turkey. So, if I were to use Istanbul as a home base would that be practical to get the most out of our trip? I think it would be too costly to fly to locations, is ground transportation an option?
Hello: Turkey has an excellent long-distance bus system. However, with limited time, we found air travel with a budget carrier as inexpensive as bus travel. A year ago we flew from Istanbul to Anatalya for about $48CDN each including flight cancellation insuranace (an hour flight as opposed to 14 hour bus trip) and $52CDN each from Izmir to Istanbul. Many, but not all, budget carriers originate in Istanbul's second airport Gochen. A shuttle bus goes every hour from Taskim square for about $8CDN. We used Pegasus Airlines: http://www.flypgs.com/EN/#
Turkey is a large country and choices have to be made regarding places to visit if one wishes to avoid the "If this is ...., then it must be Tuesday" syndrome. As an option, there are many firms offering multiday highlight tours of Turkey and day tours from cities.
we have not been to Turkey so I can't offer any advice, but I wanted to mention that I watched Rudy Maxa's show (a 2008 rerun) about the Turquoise Coast yesterday and was mesmorized by the scenery and the ruins. It was one of his best shows, I thought. He focuses on a gullet cruise, a "blue cruise." Watch it if you can. It sure got me interested in seriously pursuing a trip to Turkey. Linda
Posts: 934 | Location: Outlying area of Chicago | Registered: 15 September 2004
on your itinterary May 18 - 21, I would leave the Saklikent Gorge off the list or put it at the very end.
It was really quite lovely......once you got past all the vendors, restaurants, innertube rentals, picture takers (!), candy apple sellers etc. Very touristy and the equivalent of a natural "water park".
By the time we'd gotten past all that we only had time for about a 1/2 hour hike in the really narrow part of the canyon. It runs for something like 18km and I'm sure we didn't get anywhere near the best part. And we'd already been there for over an hour before we started our hike!!
We really enjoyed the Dalyan boat trip through the reed beds to Caunos and of course the tombs are really spectacular there. It's a very small town, but some great restaurants with wonderful views.
Another place we really enjoyed was Pinara and if you are very interested in the tombs you can actually walk right into some of them there. It was also in one of the most beautiful settings with the Xanthos Valley and Taurus Mtns in the background.
The gulet was fantastic! That is definitely something I would do again. Kas was one of our overnights and we loved it there.
Wannatravel, yes you could use Istanbul as your home base and as Dennis said Turkey has a pretty good transportation system, but depending on where you want to go, you may be spending a lot of time traveling to and from those places if staying in Istanbul. Turkey is a huge country so you would have a lot of distance to travel to anywhere else. The flight from Dalaman to Istanbul was just over an hour so I can't imagine how long that would take on a bus.
Depending on how much time you plan to spend in Turkey, if 2 weeks, you might want to consider spending one week in Istanbul (you could actually spend weeks just there...it's so awesome!) and then another week down the coast somewhere or in central Turkey, if that is where your interests are, as a home base for easier and quicker access to the sites in those areas.
We felt incredibly safe in Turkey everywhere we went. That's not to say you can let your guard down, it's like any other place you travel or even at home for that matter. The people were just wonderful, pleasant, friendly and very helpful.
Thanks Linda, it is hard to know which sites are worth visiting and which are tourist hyped from reading the materials, I will put Saklikent Gorge on the bottom of our list.
The more I research, the more excited we are getting about this trip.
Wannatravel, I don't feel at all intimidated by the parts of Turkey we are visiting, every one comments on the friendliness of the people and I know they are accustomed to Western tourists. We are always aware when traveling in any country and don't see this trip as being any different.
The problem with lists like this is that we all have different perspectives.
We enjoyed the gorge and just blew off the vendors. After our "walk" we visited one of the restaurant at river level at the entrance and enjoyed that as well.
i: We went to Turkey for a month 2 years ago. It was a magnificent trip! I would not use Istanbul as homebase as it's a big city in a big country. We flew & drove. we stayed in Istanbul for 1 week , & then went to Cappadocia for several days. I higly reccommend that area. It is unbelievable. We stayed in a lovely pensione and did walks. Then we went to a little village outside Kas on the Mediterrean & rented a house for 1 week & did day hikes. Again simply lovely. We ended up on the coast in another little village by (I can't beleive I forget the name) Olympus? ruins. They were incredible & not entirely excavated so you saw them in situ. We stayed in a magical hotel with cabanas by the sea.Very lovely. We found everywhere the people were hospitable, the food fabulous, travelling easy.It was one of our best holidays ever & everythin worked sell just using the internet & of course. some travel guides. If you's like more particulars, send me an email on this thread & I'll dig out more specific info. My husband wrote some travel articles about the trip & 1 has just been published & it has brought back fantastic memories. Enjoy. Lisa
Hi:I can send you ron's email as you need a subscription to view the article. I can't access your email add as I am not a premium member. You can reach him at rlabonte@uottawa.ca Just put turkey in heading & he'll now what it's about. If you have any difficulty, I think you can access my email add b/c of your membership status. Lisa
Hi again: I forgot to mention that when you contct ron, he can send y& ou a pdf of the article. He actually wrote 3 articles. Istanbul, Capadoccia & hiking on Lysium Way outside Kas. Hope this helps. Lisa
