kcfromcanada

My husband and I are travelling to Turkey for 3 weeks in September/October. We usually travel independently, but this time we are starting with a 6-day Rick Steves tour in Istanbul. We hope this will give us a good education in the history and culture of Turkey, which is so complex and fascinating, and allow us to relax with no responsibilities for the first week. Then we will strike out on our own for the remaining two weeks, to Cappadocia and the coast, using flights and rental cars.

I have been reviewing trip reports and other itinerary suggestions and I know there are lots of very knowledgeable, helpful people on this forum. I welcome any suggestions you may have to help with my quandaries. To give you a bit of background, we are in our 50s and have done a reasonable amount of travel. We don't like a hectic pace, and we enjoy a mix of historical, cultural, and outdoorsy activities (hiking, kayaking etc) as well as lots of sitting in cafes sipping coffee or wine and watching the world go by. My husband, in particular, also needs his beach and relaxing times along the way. We are not foodies and are content to eat quite simply. We prefer to stay in locally run smaller hotels, but require a modicum of comfort and are not averse to some outright luxury at times. We will rent a car for the Aegean/Mediterranean segment, not sure about Cappadocia (see below).

One of our main dilemmas is that we were interested in doing a 3-day "Blue Cruise" (cabin charter), but everything I read suggests this may not be a great idea. When we did this in Halong Bay, Vietnam it was a highlight of our trip, but it seemed that different companies catered to different age groups and styles, and it was easy to choose one that suited our comfort level. In Turkey, there seems to be no differentiation and no guarantees. We enjoy meeting other people, and are not averse to spending a few days with some fun young people, but we don't want to be stuck on a boat with an unfriendly or slovenly crew, or a group who wants to party far into the night. We did find a couple of websites for very upscale history-oriented cruises (Peter Sommer, Westminster Classics) which looked lovely but they only offer week-long cruises and we don't have that much time.

So here is our basic itinerary:

Sep 16-17 travel YVR -> IST; arrive jet-lagged at 3pm

Sept 18-24 Rick Steves tour of Istanbul (6 nights); tour finishes Sat morning

Sept 24 fly to Cappadocia, arrive early afternoon, stay Urgup or Goreme (3nights)

Sept 25-26 Cappadocia touring

Sept 27 fly Kayseri -> Izmir, arrive early afternoon, stay Selcuk or Kusadasi (1 night)

Sept 28 Ephesus in morning, drive south through PMD to Bodrum peninsula (3 nights)

Sept- 29-30 look around Bodrum peninsula, lie on beaches

Oct 1 - drive to Datca peninsula ... or possibly take morning ferry Bodrum to Datca; 1 night in some small town on Datca or Bozburun peninsula, possibly Selimiye

Oct 2 - morning on peninsula, drive to Fethiye in afternoon (1 night)

Oct 3-4-5 either 3-night gulet cruise OR 3 nights along south coast, probably Kas

Oct 6 Olympus/Cirali (1 night)

Oct 7 drive to Antalya airport and fly back to IST late afternoon or evening

Oct 8 fly home

Questions include:
1. Rent car in Cappadocia or take shuttles to and from airport/hotel, and do day tours?
2. Selchuk, Pamucak Beach area, or Kusadasi for one night? I was planning Hotel Bella but now I see some negative reviews and am considering a beach location but don't want to be in downtown Kusadasi.
3. Best to do Ephesus in the late afternoon on arrival from Izmir, when crowds are gone, or go early the next morning? When is the light best for photos?
4. Recommendations for a hotel in a smaller town in the Bodrum area, preferably not at the farthest end of the peninsula. Torba? Turkbutu?
5. Is the ferry from Bodrum to Datca a dicey proposition? We will have a car so would have to make a reservation.
6.If we take our chances on a mini-blue-cruise, they seem to start in Fethiye and dump you in Olympus. Not sure what to do about the rental car, which we would be needing in order to continue on to Antalya airport. Thoughts?

I know this is an awful lot of information and questions, but I've been reading for months and although this forum, especially the trip reports, has answered hundreds of my questions, it seems the more I read the more I want to see, so I need to be efficient!

Thanks for any help anyone wants to volunteer.

Michael

Stay in Selçuk; its museum is also worthwhile. You may want to read my trip report; just click on my name to find it.

otherchelebi

Unless you're interested in night life, bars, people watching, do not go to Bodrum. It is out of the way and the ferry to datca does not operate every day.

Both datca and fethiye are much more beautiful for lying on the beach.

I recommend only P of PMD and then Herakleia, before you leave the area. In fact, you may just take the faster route South through Aydin, passing PMD and Bodrum completely but visiting some antique sites near Cine on your route. the only three other antique towns i would recommend are Tlos, to be reached from Fethiye or there abouts, Patara and Myra at demre, close to Kas.

Regarding the gulet, although i have never done it (i feel claustrophobic on boats) in your place i would try first at Gocek and then at Fethiye for 3 day cruises where you have a good chance of finding one and the possibility of actually meeting the people who will be on the boat.

You can be quite flexible regarding your cruise and hotels once you leave Selcuk, and survive with no prior reservations.

try to see ephesus the afternoon of your arrival so that you can push off early the next morning. which means that you do not need to stay at Kusadasi. If you decide on Beach, i am afraid the only hotel i know and like is Kismet, although Kustur may be an option in late September.

You can also squeeze some beach time for yourself at Akyaka, as you come down from the Mugla cliffs, a laid back resort town on a beautiful bay.

For datca, although Selimiye and Bozburun are nice little towns, we loved the tiny Hayit Buku with its few B&Bs and restaurants, mostly catering to visiting yachts. We ate at "Ogun'un Yeri" and liked the food but forgot to check the rooms. You will probably like Datca much more than Bodrum. Buy some oregano/sage or thistle flower honey there. It is tremendous.

Carry some mosquito repellent (can buy at Turkish markets)

Bon Voyage

Tommmo

Hi. We drove from Antalya to Izmir,flew to Kayseri and then drove again all around Cappodocia before flying back to Istanbul. enjoyed it so much we are returning in late Sept. after flying Rome to Rhodes then boat across to Marmaris and drive up the coast this time to Izmir. (with economycarrentals.com no drop off fee there)
Driving is fine in Cappodocia (stayed Aydinli Cave house Goreme)
Selcuk (Ephesis) is a great town...I've just discovered Pension Ecer just by Milli Park as an alternative on coast.
We'll skip Bodrum and head for Iassos via Euromos,Labranda.
We plan to take the car ferry across Datca-Bodrum.
We'll stay at Ogun's at Hayit Buku too for a couple of days.
Otherchelebi knows his stuff....
Email us [email protected] if you like...

otherchelebi

tommo, thanks for the vote of confidence,

and, in answer to your post on TA, we found that the Bodrum datca ferry is only three times a week off-season, but cannot find any indication of when the regular season begins or ends.

If you read our unfinished recent trip report here on Fodor's, you will possibly smile at how we waited over an hour watching the ferry with one lone pick-up truck inside and no personnel just sit there at bodrum, last Spring, and then changed our plans and went to Fethiye instead of Datca when we found out that the ferry did not run that day.

kcfromcanada

Thanks for all your replies. Especially, thanks Otherchelebi for your comment about being able to be somewhat spontaneous regarding hotel bookings and gulets along the coast at the end of September. I tend to be an over-planner, but this trip seems to require some flexibility, and I think we truly will leave some of the details until we get there, instead of pre-booking everywhere.

Michael - thanks, I have read your trip report and it was very helpful. The museum in Selcuk is definitely on our list.

Otherchelebi - we are not interested in night-life and were not planning to spend any time in Bodrum itself (except possibly as a day destination). We were more interested in exploring the peninsula, but if you think the Datca and/or Bozburum peninsulas will fulfill our needs for peninsulas, then maybe I should scratch that whole plan and head straight for Datca or Hayit Buku, or Selimiye.

Regarding the ferry ... in case others are reading this, I agree the website is not very helpful but Lonely Planet tells me that ferries depart Bodrum daily at 9:30am until the end of September, and in October on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, taking 2 hours for the voyage. I must say though, I looked at the "ferries" and they are not what I expected. Coming from an island that has multiple ferries a day, each carrying 400 cars, the ones on this website look like they might be able to squeeze two cars onto the passenger deck and that's about it! I'm less enthusiastic, and will probably follow your advice to skip the Bodrum area and head straight for Datca.

I have noted your recommendation of seeing Priene and Herakleia as priorities, and also Akyaka which looks very promising as a beach location that is not overrun.

If we found a "blue cruise" from Gocek to Fethiye, do you think we would be able to leave our rental car somewhere safely and take a bus or dolmus back to pick it up? Or is that pushing the hospitality a little too much?

Tommo - thanks for your suggestions. I will have to look up some of the sites you mention, which are not covered in my Lonely Planet. It sounds like everyone feels Selcuk is the place to stay for Ephesus, so maybe I will just do the Bella after all.

I guess the reason I'm equivocating about a car in Cappadocia is that I've read a couple of reports of iffy pickups and drop-offs, whereas many people seem to just take a shuttle to their hotel and then book day-tours from there, which seems to leave less room for complications. Did you have any trouble with the airport/rental arrangements?

Kerry

otherchelebi

Kerry, I am sure that you can arrange to have your rental car kept safely at Gocek and find transportation back from fethiye. the land distance is quite short and should not be a problem.