Hotels on Tour

All of our hotels had air. We were there in September and part of October. Some rooms were very nice. Most were quaint.

Quaint as in 'rustic' or quaint as in 'small'? Clean is required.
Did you stay in one of the cave hotels? Is the guide with you whenever there is a tour and not on personal time. Where the bus rides long, say more than 2 hours...I'm not a good traveler by vehicle.

Thank you for responding so quickly. We typically plan and execute all our travel by ourselves but Turkey seems as though we may need guidance since it's so large.

Hi voss4, the itinerary lists the bus time for this tour (and every RS tour). Looks like you have several days with 4-6 hours on the bus. Drivers do stop every 2 hours or so for bathroom breaks.

I generally travel solo but was glad I did this tour in September of 2019. I wouldn't have done nearly as much on my own, especially in a country like Turkey. I don't recall wanting for AC, so don't remember if rooms had it.

Quaint as rustic and/or small. But they were all clean.

The tour does stay in a cave hotel.

I'm not sure I understand your question about the guide staying with the group on a tour, but I think the answer is yes.

There are some long bus rides on this tour. Generally broken up with rest stops, meals, or visits, but there are multiple days with more than 2 hours on the bus.

I don’t remember the rooms being all that small. Certainly not as small as some in London and Paris.
Our tour did not stay in a cave hotel. We honestly did not have a bad room on this tour.

Where the bus rides long, say more than 2 hours.

As mentioned above, on the long bus days, not only were there stops for meals and breaks, but also for visits to sights. So it never really felt to me like a terrible, long bus day.

Our tour (June, 2022) stayed 3 nights in a cave hotel. Our room was enormous, nearly a 2 bedroom suite.

Our room at the Pension in Antalya was the only tiny room - barely wide enough to walk between the 2 twin beds. But the gardens were so stunning, and there were multiple patios and terraces, so we preferred spending our time enjoying the weather in those comfortable outdoor spaces.

I was on this tour in September (last month). The rooms were all freezing cold. I can say for 100% that every room had A/C. I hate A/C, and every room was ice cold and difficult to warm up. Windows in the room were left open all night, but it wasn't warm enough outside to warm up the rooms inside. The rooms were all small, but they are assigned at random, so you could end up with a bigger room than others in your group. We did not stay at a cave hotel, although there were a bunch of cave hotels everywhere around the place we stayed. I really enjoyed all of the hotels, I just wish they weren't so cold. Every hotel also provided breakfast, but after the first couple of hotels, I realized the Turkish breakfast was not for me and I skipped breakfast on 11 of the 13 days.

The tour bus did have several days of moving from one location to the next. A lot of people slept on the bus and it did stop very often. Fortunately the bus wasn't as cold as the hotel rooms!

The tour guide stayed with the group the entire time. Even on the "vacation" days, the tour guide offered optional activities and stayed with those participating in those activities. You could always find the guide around the hotel in the evenings and the mornings and made themselves available 24 hours a day, always providing their room number and cell phone number.

So, overall would you recommend this tour?
Also I’m curious what the typical Turkish breakfast consists of? I’m vegetarian so hoping it’s not meat laden. If the offer fruit and yoghurt I’m good to go.

I can't recommend the tour highly enough. It's really great.

Turkish breakfasts will offer meat but aren't focused on it. Generally a cold, 'continental' style buffet with breads, cheeses, cucumber, tomato...

So, overall would you recommend this tour?

Without a doubt! I did the Best of Istanbul and Best of Turkey tours back to back this spring. It was a great combination of in-depth city sights plus the variety of cultural and historical sights of western Turkey. And a vacation day in Antalya!

typical Turkish breakfast

.... olives, lots of olives. And various breads and jams, tomato and cucumber dishes. I fell in love with Turkish breakfasts!

Thank you!
I’m good to go with that type of breakfast.

Ah, nothing better than olives in my book. I eat them everyday. Yummmm!

I took this tour in September, 2019.

@scudder, were we on the same tour? I was traveling with my college aged son.

As others mentioned the only small room was in Antalya. It also had the weakest AC, but it was extremely hot when we were there.

N8TIV, I suggest you read CW's trip report. Click on their name, click on posting history to find the report. It is well written and gives a great view of what the tour is like. This tour is fabulous.