wandergirlCO

Hello to all. I would really appreciate your help. My sister and I, both in our 50’s, will be traveling to Turkey in Sept. We like exploring new places both city and natural areas but more the latter. We like to be active, hiking and swimming/snorkeling. Here are the options I have come up with so far and my questions. Definitely want to see Cappadonia (with a balloon ride of course), Ephesus, Pamakkule, and have some time on the coast. Would like to time Ephesus and Pamukkale to be there after the tour buses leave if possible.

Day 0 - Arrive Istanbul late afternoon
Day 1,2 – Istanbul. Maybe fly to Kayseri in pm?
Day 3,4,5- Cappadonia
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OPTION 1:
Day 6- Fly to Anatalya and get to Olympos then blue cruise Olympos to Fethiye Day 7-10
Can we fly from Anatalya without connecting in Istanbul and how to we get to Olympos?
Day 11,12- Drive to Pammukkale and overnight then to Selcuk via Aphrodiasis the next day.
Can we rent a car in Fethiye and return to Izmir?)
Day 13- See Ephesus in am thenevening flight to Istanbul or fly am of day 14
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OPTION 2: Is there are way to shorten this so we could get back to Istanbul a day earlier? For instance could we drive to Pamukkale after seeing Ephesus and see Aphrodiasis on the way to Fethiye?
Day 6- AM fly to Izmir drive to Selcuk/Sirene- Could we see Ephesus this day?
Day 7- Ephesus
Day 8- Drive to Pamukkale via Aphrodiasis
Day 9- Drive to Fethiye then Day 10-13 Blue Cruise to Olympos
Day 14- Transport to Antalya and fly to Istanbul What are the transport options to Antalya?
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OPTION 3: Not as appealing
Day 6- Fly to Dalaman then to Fethiye (transport options?)
Day 7,8,9,10- Cruise to Olympos
Day 11- To Anatolya then fly to Izmir, rent a car
Day 12,13- Ephesus and day trip to Pamukkale
Day 14- Fly Izmir to Istanbul
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Day 14,15- Istanbul
Day 16- Fly back to US

Re Blue Cruise:
In your opinion would it be better to just do some day trips on the water from Fethiye and/or Kas and drive the coast rather than cruise?
On a cruise do you get to snorkel and explore the beaches/ruins along the way or are you just cruising?
Anyone familiar with the V-GO blue cruises between Fethiye and Olympos?
If we do the cruise any suggestions about transport to/from the departure and end points?

laurie_ann

If you and your sister are active you might enjoy one of the sailing trips by www.seascape-sail.com. Our week on their boat in Turkey was one of our favorite trips ever. Their vessels aren't the "traditional" Turkish gulet but mediterranean sail boats. You sail a little bit each day and enjoy both nature and culture. We had one afternoon at an all but deserted ancient city, another exploring a town where Greeks and Turks lived in harmony despite clashes elsewhere, a Turkish hamman bathhouse, a government rug school, etc. In the evenings we enjoyed meals in small local restaurants. Great atmosphere and companions on the trip.

wandergirlCO

Thank you Laurie Ann. I will look into that company however I think the most time we could spend on a cruise is 3-4 days. I think I am leaning toward driving the coast and doing a couple of day trips instead. Hopefully I will get some more replies regarding the routing. We will need to be making some decisions soon.
Thanks again. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

otherchelebi

Hello Wandergirl,

- Check my previous responses to Suki1 and others and Tedgales's trip report.
- Also check my previous trip reports, specifically "fumbling family meets the Lykians" and out photographs on webshots by googling esercelebiler.

- Organize your trip around the flight that suits you best from Cappadocia, to Antalya or to Izmir. Check Sunexpress and Pegasus and Bora Jet in addition to THY and use their own web sites rather than third party sites.

- If you fly to Izmir, visit Ephesus, Aphrodisias, pamukkale, Akyaka, Fethiye, Day cruise at Fethiye, Kas, Olympos, Antalya, Fly back to Istanbul.

- If you fly to izmir from Cappadocia to the reverse of the above. You will not be driving more than about 4-4.5 hours maximum per day on any day and will have time to visit most scenic and historic sites.

- I strongly recommend John Freely's books in addition to a recent guidebook.

You can ask for more details, as you work over a map.

wandergirlCO

Thanks Otherchelebi I was hoping you would respond. I have read through the forum posts of the last 5-6 months and have saved much of the information you have so graciously provided to others.
We now have an extra day in Turkey. I used frequent flyer miles for the flights and got a better deal by adding 1 more day. Such a hardship. We will arrive in Istanbul late on Sept 19th and depart on Oct 6th.
We have decided to skip the blue cruise and do day boat trips instead along the coast. Maybe one in the Fethiye area and Kekova out of Kas. Will the temperatures in late Sept be OK for snorkeling/swimming?
I will rework the itinerary and post back for comments and will also check out John Freely's book.
Thanks again.

wandergirlCO

OK here is an tentative itinerary. Your thoughts would be much appreciated. We like to split up time in larger cities hence time in Istanbul at the start/finish. (with this plan we would be in Istanbul Th-Fri then Fri again, if that makes any difference).

Some questions:
-- Does the plan for the coast make sense or is it too rushed?
-- Is this too much time in Cappadonia, should I shorten it by a day and add to where? Istanbul or time on coast.
-- Is P-M-D worth a full day or could we see some/all on the same day we see Ephesus?
Typing this I am thinking to shorten the time in Ephesus area and add to coast (probably Cirali) unless P-M-D are so wonderful we shouldn't miss them.
We lean more toward outdoor activities (snorkel/boat/hikes) than ruins.

Arrive pm in Instanbul
2 full days Istanbul
Cappadonia- 3 1/2 days (fly to Izmir the afternoon of day 4)
Selcuk/Ephesus- 2 days. Day 1 Ephesus/area around. Day 2- Prine-Miletus- Didyma
Drive to Pamukkale, see Aphrodiasis enroute
AM in Pamukkale, PM drive to Fethiye area (drive about 3 ½ hrs)
Day in Fethiye area- maybe take a boat trip, see Karakoy
Drive to Kas area- see Patara maybe Xanthos enroute (drive about 1 ½-2 hrs without stops)
Kas- Kekova boat trip
Drive to Cirali (drive about 2 ½ hrs), see Olympos, Flames Chimera @ night
Drive to Antalya, see Myra/Demre enroute (how much time to allow?). Afternoon flight to Istanbul
Full day in Istanbul, depart next day @ 1:15pm

Croesus

Yes, I'd skip PMD (since you'll be visiting Ephesus, Aphrodisias and Hierapolis) and spend an extra day on the Lycian coast.

You can visit Myra/Demre (about an hour or so to see the tombs, theatre and any Noel Baba stuff) on the way from Kaş to Çıralı.

Maybe drop in on Phaselis on your way from Çıralı to Antalya.

otherchelebi

I am assuming that you are going to stay the night at kas or Ucagiz.

Demre, Myra, Saint nicholas are between kas and Cirali and much closer to Kas, so you will be visiting them when you drive to Cirali.

I am assuming that you will spend a night at Cirali for the fires of the Chimaera.

Phaeselis is between Cirali and Antalya.

You can reduce Cappadocia to 2 and a half days easily.

And add one day from PMD to the Lycian Coast and the day from Cappadocia to istanbul.

wandergirlCO

I thought I would post this in case it helps others.
After spending some time looking at options for internal flights it looks like the best routing is below. The reason is the flights between the coast and Kayseri. By the time of year we are traveling there are no direct flights between Anatalya and Kayseri ( I believe there are earlier in the season) but Sunexpress has direct flights Izmir to Kayseri on Mon, Thurs, Sun.
Instanbul (2 days)
-- Fly to Antalya (arrive around noon), rent car and drive to Circli (1 night)
-- Coast: Kas (2 nights)- Fethiye (2 nights)
-- Drive to Selcuk via to Pamukkale - stay Pamukkale 1 night, Selcuk 2 nights
-- Fly Izmir to Kayseri -flight arrives about 3 pm (Sunexpress on a Sun)
-- Cappadocia (3-4 nights)
-- Fly to Istanbul (2-3 nights)

Now to plan out the sections in more detail and make a final decision re: time in Cappadocia vs Istanbul then book the internal flights. I will probably be back with more questions I am getting very excited now that this is coming together.

Thanks again to everyone. I really appreciate your responses.