I am starting to plan a trip to Turkey for July with my husband. We are pretty seasoned travelers and are used to planning our own transportation, etc. and enjoy doing that type of thing. That being said-I am looking for some advice on what cities to visit while in Turkey.
We will definitely be staying in Istanbul for a few days. We are also interested in Cappadocia and Ephesus. We also might want to spend a few days either on the Aegean or Mediterranean coasts to relax.
Thanks for any advice!
When we were planning our Turkey trip, I wanted to see Cappadocia, Ephesus, some of the Mediterranean coast, and Istanbul. After a while, I realized that things in Turkey are farther apart than you initially think. So we dropped the Mediterranean coast, replacing it with Bodrum. We realized that we should just save the Mediterranean coast for another trip. While Bodrum is overrun with tourists, it was a nice break from sightseeing. As RS says, a vacation from our vacation. Thus, our itinerary was Cappadocia (we stayed in the town of Urgup), Ephesus, Bodrum, and Istanbul. Hope this helps.
One thing to consider, is that flying inside Turkey is quite reasonable and possibly cheap if you book ahead. In fact, it may make sense to fly since it will save you substantially on time.
Beside Turkish Air, also check out Pegasus, Onur and some of the other discount carriers.
We are going to Turkey in mid-February flying out of Frankfurt to Istanbul. We also wanted to see Ephesus so we will go from our Istanbul flight to a flight to Izmir (Pegasus Airlines) and will stay at the Hotel Fantasia in Kudasi for 3 nights. Will have carryon luggage and have 3 hrs. between flights. We will fly back to Istanbul and have the remaining 4 days for the city tours. The flight to Izmir was very reasonable and we have a car hired to take us to Hotel Fantasia (great off season prices right now) Hope this helps in your planning. Have a great trip.
My wife and I also travel independently and I plan everything and reserve on the web. That includes such far away places at Moscow.
I usually start many months in advance by studying a map of the area. Then I choose the cities closest together.
I do a web search using each city name + "sights" or "attractions" to make a list of places we want to see in each town.
I design my itinerary by listing dates down the left side and columns across the top with travel distance, spend night town, estimated travel cost, estimated food cost, entrance fees, and miscellaneous.
I often have to revise it several times before we depart.
I add all the costs. You may think of other facts to enter.
I then can determine if we can do all that we plan to do in our limited time and with our limited funds.
Since you are seasoned travelers you can easily estimate what you will normally spend for each category.
My plan is the result of 20 years and over 50 countries. I am getting ready to retire.
Two weeks is a bit tight for that itinerary. You should allot at least 4 days for Istanbul, especially if you are arriving there directly from NY. Jetlag may slow you down a bit and make sightseeing that first day less than optimal. I would allot 2 days for Ephesus--you'll need an additional day if you plan to drive between Istanbul and Ephesus because you'll need to plan around a ferry for part of the trip, so it will take the better part of a day to get there. Flying a discount airline will save that time. You can do the local sights--St John's Basilica, the Ephesus museum, perhaps side trips to the Virgin Mary house and Sirince--on the day you arrive and Ephesus on the next day. If you are driving, you can head for the Mediterranean coast from there. It's an all day drive, but the roads are good. I would spend at least three days along the coast--spectacular scenery, ruins on the beach, interesting coastal villages. From there you will have another long driving day to get to Cappadocia. Three days would be a good introduction to this area, especially if you book a tour. It is hard to self drive in this area, since the sights are quite spread out and maps are hard to come by. We've traveled extensively in Turkey--six months all told--and we still booked a tour in Cappadocia because we couldn't get adequate maps. From there you can fly back to Istanbul. That just gets you into a two week footprint, but as you can see, you'll have a few long road days. If possible, eking out a few extra days would let you make some intermediary stops worth seeing--Pamukkale's unique travertines between Ephesus and the coast, Konya between the coast and Cappadocia are two I would recommend. Good luck with your planning.
