9 Days in Turkey

My suggestion is to pick up Lonely Planet Turkey and start reading to get a sense of what each area has to offer..once you get a list of sites within each region, it will be easier to figure out how many days each will take (don't forget to budget in travel time to get to each place - at least a few hours if not half day). Nine days seems like a lot, but you'll still feel squeezed no matter what you do if your interests are very broad and you love to explore. Marmaris is an entirely different atmosphere than Istanbul, so it really depends what you want to do for (fill in the blank) number of days. When I make any trip decision, I always try to consider incorporating a mix of urban and rural/small village, inland and coastline, and a few key not-to-be-missed sites by picking a few places that appeal to me on different levels. I also like to explore the nooks and crannies of big "mega" cities, so I devoted one whole trip just to Istanbul and areas within 2-3 hours (that was a 12 day trip just to do the city justice - but that's certainly more time than most folks would need/want). Good luck narrowing down your choices! Since you're only going for 9 days, try to concentrate on minimizing travel time by picking places not to far from each other by plane, ferry or bus (e.g. Istanbul, Princes Islands, and Bursa are fairly close/ accessible from one base). Or check out Rick's tour group itinerary to see what's doable in that amount of time if you're super efficient.

In addition to Lonely Planet, go to http://turkeytravelplanner.com/ for more information.

Thanks Agnes. Sorry I made a mistake when I said Marmaris instead of Istanbul, I meant Marmaris instead of Antalya. I am just like you, I also like a mix of urban and rural/small village, inland and coastline. Thatz why I was thinking of Antalya/Marmaris. Cappadocia for adventure i.e. Hot air ballooning. So the question now is how many days do I need in each city? Cappadocia two days? Or if you can suggest something else, I would appreciate that. Regarding the sightseeing (historical part) I will be doing that in Istanbul and after that I need some place where is relaxing (good resort or something like that) with scenic beauty. Would relllllly appreciate your feedback on this.

I would say no less than 3 days in each location (ideally you can split the trip to two major sites for 4 days each). I would check the weather in each place as well (I'm not sure whether it is cold enough in the AM for balloons to launch in Cappadoccia in the summertime)