shoonye

We are visiting Greece and Turkey this fall. While we are able to get a good car rental deal in Greece we are not able to get one in Turkey. We tried autoeurope and kemwel and the minimum comes to $400/week whereas Greece is in the $220 range. We also tried Economy Car Rentals and while they have a low base price they apply a heavy one-way drop ($300 for Izmir to Kayseri). Will appreciate if you have advice on any other agencies we could try.

otherchelebi

In Fall the prices should be lower. try directly with the big companies, hertz, avis, Europcar, Sixt, Budget, Decar.

And do not rent Fiat, Kia or Hyundai. Ford, renault, Opel, VW are better for rental cars.

Also, the drive from izmir to Kayseri goes through some uninteresting landscape unless you are visiting Aphrodisias , pamukkale and the remote Phrygian remains on the route. (meaning at least one overnight.

Otherwise check sunexpress or anadolu Jet for flights between izmir and Kayseri

shoonye

otherchelebi: Thanks for this detailed information. Our itinerary in Greece/Turkey is as below. See the plan from Izmir to Kayseri where we will have the car. Any advice is much appreciated

Day 1 Arrive in Athens
Day 2 Athens
Day 3 Athens
Day 4 Ferry to Crete
Day 5 Crete
Day 6 Crete
Day 7 Ferry to Santorini
Day 8 Santorini
Day 9 Santorini
Day 10 Ferry to Athens. Drive to Corinth
Day 11 Drive to Olympia
Day 12 Drive to Delphi
Day 13 Drive to Athens Airport. Fly to Izmir (Sun Express). Drive to Selcuk/Kusadasi
Day 14 Ephesus. Drive to Pammukale. Overnight. (via Aphrodisias)
Day 15 Drive to Konya. Overnight (via Eğirdir)
Day 16 Drive to Cappadocia/Nevsehir (via Sultanhani and Derinkuyu)
Day 17 Cappadocia
Day 18 Cappadocia
Day 19 Cappadocia
Day 20 Fly to Istanbul (Pegasus)
Day 21 Istanbul
Day 22 Istanbul
Day 23 Istanbul
Day 24 Istanbul
Day 25 Fly back

otherchelebi

I strongly suggest that you:

- Do Aphrodisias and Pamukkale as a day trip from Selcuk/Ephesus, and
- Fly to Cappadocia, possibly sunexpress
- possibly saving a day, and
- not wasting time at Konya, unless
- you are into sufism.
- you can rent another car in cappadocia

as Monk says, "you will thank me for it"

If you still wish to drive to cappadocia, how about my previous suggestion which involves:

the remote Phrygian ruins and the famous Neolithic sites of catalhoyuk are further North, requiring you to take the Denizli-Dinar-Afyon-Seyitgazi-sivrihisar-Polatli-Golbasi route. This will be longer but very much of an adventure so that you can write a unique trip report.

You can stay at Afyon (ikbal or similar at the big highway intersection about 10 kilometers before Afyon (you cannot miss it with the outlets, large restaurants and a MacDonalds.) Ikbal also has very good food, and there are some natural spas there as well so you can get a relaxing soak and a massage.

Afyon is famous for its spicy turkish sausages (sucuk, pronounced soojook) and its sweet water buffalo cream called 'Kaymak' which is very good with honey or on Turkish sweets like baklava.

shoonye

Thanks once again otherchelebi. Based on your recommendation I'm seriously considering the flight to Cappadocia versus driving.