birajadeo

Hello all,

Me and my wife are 28 year olds from India and are planning a trip to Turkey from 27th September to 6th October.

We arrive and leave from Istanbul on the above dates but wanted to see a few more places other than Istanbul on our trip.

Here's what we were thinking:
Sept 27th, Friday: Reach Ataturk airport at 1 p.m. Take a flight to Izmir directly from airport. Go to hotel at Selcuk and overnight.
Sept 28th, Sat : Day on our own to explore Selcuk and Sirince.
Sept 29th, Sun: Ephesus and onto Bodrum. See some other sights on the way if possible. Is Pamukkale possible to do on the same day? Check into hotel at Bodrum
Sept 30th, Mon: Day at leisure.
Oct 1st, Tue: Checkout and flight/Train/Bus to Kayseri. Check in to hotel at Goreme.
Oct 2nd, Wed: Hot air balloon ride early morning. Rest of the day tours.
Oct 3rd, Thu: Checkout and fly back to Istanbul. Checkin to hotel at Istanbul.
Oct 4th, Fri: Istanbul
Oct 5th, Sat: Istanbul
Oct 6th, Sun: Checkout and fly back.

Please note that we can start at Kayseri/Cappadocia and fly back to Istanbul from Izmir if that works out better too.

Need your suggestions on the above itinerary and some questions below:
- Should we skip Bodrum altogether and stay in Seluck all the while and do a day trip to Kusadasi instead? We heard Kusadasi is better and less commercialized than Bodrum?
- Is there any overnight train/bus from Seluck/Kusadasi to get to Goreme relatively cheaply but comfortably?
- How is the weather going to be around that time (Late Sept- Early oct)?
- Is it safe to travel in Turkey given the protests etc?
- Also any mid to low range hotel suggestions at the above places?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Cheers,
Biraja

lauren_s_kahn

Ask you questions on turkeytravelplanner.com. It's a site devoted to travel in Turkey.

Also, you have tagged this thread as "Ukraine" which means it will come up in Ukraine searches and not in searches for Turkey.

The guy who runs turkeytravelplanner.com has lived in Turkey and has done a lot of research to put the site together. I used it extensively when planning my trip. The forums do not get a lot of "action", but, if you look around, you will see what you need. I can't recommend it enough.

You could also look at some of my posts on my website about Turkey. You could start here:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...ange-ever.html

I haven't posted anything about Turkey in awhile on the website because I have been in Europe traveling July-August. Eventually, I will get everything up, but turkeytravelplanner.com is a much better site than mine for real information (as opposed to stories) about Turkey.

HappyTrvlr

Click on the little yellow triangle above and ask the Fodors' editors to change your country tag from Ukraine to Turkey.

kja

It really depends on what you want to see and do. I thought Istanbul deserved a minimum of 5 full days; more if you want to do anything other than skim the surface. I thought the Cappadocia area deserved a minimum of 3 days. Note that you won't be able to count on the hot air balloon ride -- if the weather or winds are not amenable, they won't fly. So if that's a priority, plan on at least a 2nd day there in the hopes that you'll be able to get aloft on the 2nd day if not the 1st. Pamukkale is more than 3 hours each way from Selcuk; I don't consider that a reasonable day trip. Any good guidebook should give you information about typical weather in these areas. Guidebooks like the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet also provide good coverage of transportation options. For hotel suggestions, check booking.com and tripadvisor. com. There have been several recent posts on this board about safety in Turkey with responses by people who live there. I suggest you search for them. Good luck!

Approach_Guides

You've set up a great itinerary! A few comments based on our experience:

Consider extending your time in Istanbul -- although you can certainly see it in 2.5 days, it's a very exciting and vibrant city with many different areas to explore. I would recommend at least one day to visit Hagia Sophia and the mosques that were inspired by its architecture: Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque), Suleymaniye, and Rustem Pasa.

Consider staying in Uchisar instead of Goreme -- we found it much more charming. We enjoyed our stay at this hotel: Les Maisons de Cappadoce

Consider skipping Bodrum. We found it uninspiring and hopped on a ferry to nearby Kos immediately after we arrived.

lauren_s_kahn

I stayed at the Fairy Chimney Inn in Goreme and thoroughly enjoyed my stay. The breakfasts are great and stay "home" for dinner if they are serving it that night.