Single woman traveling to Turkey!

Where in Turkey will you be traveling? It's a huge country with a varied climate.

No worries on what to wear--dress for comfort and weather as you would anywhere else in Europe. For visiting mosques, you will need a scarf to cover your head and should not have bare legs above the knee or bare shoulders. Except for the scarf, the same type of dress that you would wear for visiting a cathedral.

As far as safety goes, I have made many trips to Turkey and wander around freely on my own as does my daughter. (I'm a middle aged woman, she's in her twenties.) Our consensus is that you get a bit more male attention than you would in northern Europe but less than in southern Italy or Greece. Nothing dangerous but it can be annoying. Our response is to ignore it, keep walking and don't make eye contact and they go away.

Male or female, in Istanbul's touristed areas you will are likely to be pestered with guys trying to get you to visit their carpet shops. The tactic above does work--don't break stride, don't even look at them, just say "Hayer, hayer" (no, no in Turkish) and they usually give up.

hi Jackie, was in Istanbul last year with a friend - we're both women. We each went out separately one evening, and didn't encounter major hassles, though one should be careful on crowded public buses and trams ... you know - there might be the one man who might be standing a little too close or pushing against you ... Cover up when you enter a mosque (a shawl is always handy), respect the local customs, and take the usual precautions when travelling solo.