So the Rick Steve’s turkey tour ends on day 13 and his bus will get us to the Izmir airport, but our flight leaves the next day. Any suggestions on nice hotels, close to the airport with shuttle where we can spend the day and catch our 8:30 am flight the next day.
Thanks
I don't have suggestions for a hotel, but you could also stay in Kusadasi a little longer and have a leisurly morning/afternoon then take a private shuttle to the Izmir airport later in the day for your overnight. I used Welcome Pickups to do something similar for an afternoon flight. There are other shuttle services as well, including through the hotel.
If you take the tour bus to the Izmir airport, there isn't much right around the airport, but I believe it's pretty easy to get to the city center by public transit. Last time I checked there were no left luggage services at Izmir airport, so you'd want to be sure you could leave your bags with a hotel if you head off to sightsee. Depending on where you fly to next, give yourself a little time at the airport. The international terminal is very small, but you have to go through security right at the door, then again after you check in with the airline. But it's possible to arrive too early - we arrived 3 hours early for our flight and had to wait for the airline desk to open so we could check our bags.
I was able to get a hotel room right at the airport, as our flight leaves at 8:30 the morning after the tour. So we can take the Rick Steve’s bus to the airport and just hang at the airport hotel until we go to the airport the next morning. A bit nervous about this one, as Turkey will be very different from the European airports. We take a plane from Izmir to Istanbul, early and then connect to nonstop to Denver. Thanks for your suggestions.
rkwags3 I think you could venture out into Izmir while you're there. After the tour you will be much more confident about moving about in Turkey on your own. If you search the forum for Izmir you will get a few ideas. Your hotel can help you with booking a taxi or other transport.
The Izmir domestic terminal is bigger than international, but my tourmates that arrived 1.5-2 hours before their flights via the tour bus made their flights no problem. Hopefully your layover in Istanbul is not too tight, that airport is not small in any way.
Enjoy the tour, I really loved it.
