Hi, We will be traveling with our grown son and daughter (mid 20's). We originally planned on going to southern Spain, but the costs were adding up because of all the jumping around between cities (Madrid-Toledo-Granada-Cordoba-Seville-Puertos Blancos), not to mention all the hotel rooms to book.
We decided to find someplace to go for a week and stay put. We've been to Paris, a lot of England, Rome, Barcelona, Provence, Dordogne. We like history, architecture, art, big cities, small villages, most everything.
This sounds like an ignorant question, but I noticed Turkish Airlines has low fares, and wondered if Istanbul would be a good choice.
Ignorant because I wonder about safety with it being so near Syria. I also wonder if we would find enough to do.
I also wonder if Lisbon might occupy us for a week.
Son in particular likes the night life.
We are fairly hardy souls, so like to walk a lot. Ma and Pa will be picking up the tab and want to keep the cost down.
We will go in mid-late October and want to avoid a lot of rain and cold, so opted out of Amsterdam (son has been there, anyway).
Posted by
Long Beach, USA
252 posts
Lucky kids;)
I have not been to Istanbul but may be going in November or December. I am not concerned with any security issues at the moment.
Have you looked into Lisbon much? Portugal is pretty affordable and I absolutely loved visiting that country this Summer.
There are many other towns to visit of course...But Lisbon was memorable! Look at the cost of hotels in that city...I got a very nice hotel near a metro station/malls/bus stop/near center for about 60$ in the middle of Summer. I rarely treat myself to that as I mainly travel solo. The food&drinks were wonderful. I spent most of my time in the Algarve and I wish I spent more in Lisbon! I hear great things about Porto also (but did not have time to go there). I think both can easily be combined. I found train/buses to be very efficient and easy to use. I travelled by train from Faro to Lagos. And by bus from Faro to Lisbon, great clean bus, with Wifi.
Or any interest in Eastern Europe? It is more affordable and lots to see. I loved Prague, Budapest, Krakow, etc.
Or Berlin is one also of the most affordable large cities. All of these cities have a good nightlife for your son :)
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
20023 posts
We drove over a period of 6 days from Sofia, Bulgaria to Istanbul in June, spent a few days in Istanbul then flew on to Budapest. I wasn't impressed with Istanbul, but otherwise felt safe. Wouldn't have gone if I had known the leadership views on current events in the middle east. But that's personal. I would suspect that a day will come when some radical act plays out in Istanbul. But who knows when...
Google "Ruin Pubs" for a better idea based on your comments. Perfect time of year for central and eastern Europe.
EDIT: Understand that when I say I didn't enjoy a place, its just my set of preferences and not a indictment of the location. If everyone enjoyed the same place the world would be pretty colorless...........hey, isn't there a movie about that???
Posted by
883 posts
Never been to Turkey, so can't help you there. I would love to go there one day!
I've been to Lisbon 3 times (once only on business so that really doesn't count). It's a very pleasant city and the weather ought to be nice. I'm not sure I would want to spend a week there. But, of course, people live there and are very happy so I'm sure there are a week's worth of things to do. Personally, I would opt to move somewhere else after a few days.
Another option would be Florence or somewhere in Tuscany.
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7152 posts
I loved Istanbul and have read many reports on this forum from others who also agree. I'm not familiar with the nightlife there (not my thing) but there's lots to see and do for a week - maybe even an overnight trip to Izmir and a visit to Ephesus ruins which are amazing. Never felt unsafe there but didn't stray too far from tourist areas.
I agree with James about Budapest and a week there with day trips to a couple of other Hungarian towns would be wonderful. I just spent 6 days there myself in July. It was hot when I was there but October should be much better. So much to see that 6 days was not nearly enough for me, would love to go back again. I do know something about the nightlife there since even though it's not my thing, where I stayed (in the old Jewish Quarter) was hopping in the evenings, lots of bars/restaurants/clubs, etc - so kids should be happy there. I never felt unsafe walking around after dark by myself, there was always lots of people out and about. My small apartment was €50/night but that was high season, in October you should be able to find a 2 bedroom apartment for < €100/night and you wouldn't need a rental car unless you wanted to see some countryside, most of the popular towns are well connected by rail and trains are cheap.
Posted by
Martinez, CA, USA
1547 posts
This won't be much help. We've been to Istanbul twice, for 7 days and then for 5 days, and we loved it! And if you plan to be there for one week there is more than enough to keep you busy - all day long! Istanbul is far from Syria as is much of Turkey so there is no issue there. But, we also love Lisbon and Portugal. There's also lots to keep you busy there for one week. It may be easier to make day trips from Lisbon, to Sintra, Casilhas across the river, Queluz, and more. Both Istanbul and Lisbon are reasonable in terms of sleeping and eating. As far as rain and cold, it will be hard to tell what will happen this year even if you look at the averages for October. Have fun choosing!
Posted by
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
I took my 10 year old grandson to Istanbul for a week and we loved it. Never ran out of things to do. Felt very safe. It was a bargain of a place to travel. Food was fabulous and we would return again. I think there must be plenty of nightlife but not what we were there for. I stayed at the Old City Viva hotel (per referral from here) and it was centrally located right on the tram line. We walked most everywhere and they had a great breakfast. Hotel was not luxurious, but it was fine and the view from out window was great. I loved the 'call to prayer' and whenever I hear it now it brings back so many memories.
Posted by
OP
Boston
179 posts
Thank you for all of your great suggestions.
I think we will stick with Spain, but only go to Granada and Seville, flying in and out of Malaga. I'm trying to figure out the cheapest, easiest way to get from one to another. We would like to squeeze in Cordoba and a Pueblos Blancos, so might rent a car at the tail end of the trip. It seems parking will be expensive if we have a car for the entire trip, so maybe rent it when we leave Seville and just choose one Pueblos Blancos, skipping Cordoba. Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks, again!