Advice on Turkey
 

I understand Turkey is a magnificant country to visit. Need some advice as to which tour group you recommend to use for a two week trip. Does anyone have first hand experience on the Globus or Cosmos Turkey vacation packages? Maybe you have some other companies that are better? I am not set on going on a tour but am not sure if it makes sense to travel in Turkey with rental car. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

I did the Cosmos Leisurely Tour a couple of years ago. It takes in all the major tourist attractions in the west of Turkey, except the Mediterranean coastal area around Antalia and Alanya. Cosmos also do a shorter tour, Highlights of Turkey, which doesn't take in Cappadocia. Personally, even though having visited many times, I wouldn't want to miss Cappadocia so I'd recommend the Leisurely Tour. Despite the title touring that much of Turkey in 13 days is far from leisurely, tho enjoyable, Turkey is quite a large country with large distances between sights, you'll be on the move most of the time, however you'd be hard put to cover a fraction of the ground in that time as a freelance. In Turkey tours are run by an agent but are on a par with Cosmos' directly run tours in the rest of Europe. Watch out for Cosmos' optional extras for which you'll need extra money (in Turkey possibly cash or travel cheque as the tour operator sometimes doesn't accept credit cards), these include some city tours, entrance to some sites, lunch each day and dinners in Istanbul. Thankfully Turkey is fairly cheap. Your travel agent should be able to get a list of optional excursions and approx costs. Some of the evening trips in Istanbul include dinner in the cost. Apart from the travel agency, credit cards are widely accepted in Turkey for buying souveniers but you'll probably need to carry cash for lunch and dinner. EC residents have to pay an entrace fee to enter Turkey payable at the border but US citizens were exempt (check this).

I visited Turkey last year and stayed in Hisaronu (near Fethiye). We travelled to Esphesus and Pammukkale by bus and although it was a long distance the journeys weren't bad. It's much cheaper than going on excursions offered by tour operators (around half the cost) but I don't go how it would compare to the touring holiday your thinking of.
The buses (coaches really) cover most of the major routes i.e. to the main sights and usually have air coditioning. I can recommend the Kamil Koc company for reliability and comfort.

Dear Barry
Turkey is an ideal holiday destination. A truely magnificant country travel. Tours are OK but I would prefer to travel independently - rent-a-car is excellent as is the local bus service. Clean, smokefree buses with regular departures and very cheap! I live in Göreme, Cappadocia and often travel to other places in Turkey using the local bus network which I find extremely suitable. Cappadocia is certainly one of the areas of Turkey not to be missed with its amazing lunar landscape. If come to Cappadocia, look us up at the Ottoman House. Enjoy your travels whichever method you choose!
Happy travels, Ruth

I visited the Anatolya region of Turkey in June '96 and May '97. We landed at Dalaman in '96 and stayed two weeks at Marmaris and took an overnight tour available locally to Ephesus and Pemmukale for about 35 pounds sterling including meals, hotel, coach, and entrance fees. Other day tours were available from our hotel very reasonably. Car rentals were fairly expensive I found. In '97 we landed at Ismir and coached to Bodrum and stayed there for a fortnight, taking various tours and boat cruises... All were reasonable.... The people are friendly and honest, and I certainly felt very safe there. I live in Vancouver, British Columbia and took a charter flight to Manchester England both times and booked the tours on English charter companies on arrival... They have very cheap last minute tours available, (perhaps 40 - 60%25 less than the regular price - which was much cheaper than if booked from here) In '97 we arrived in England Friday, visited the travel agents on Saturday, had a wide selection of trips and destinations available (all drastically reduced) and selected 'Named accomodation' tour from Sunset Tours leaving Monday morning for 2 weeks to Bodrum, Turkey from Manchester including transfers to hotel, Turkish breakfast everyday and 3star hotel (comfortable) for the rediculous price of 119 pounds Sterling.... best time for reduced tours is May, early June - the weather in Turkey is best too, not too hot... Our hotels in Marmaris and Bodrum were within 2 blocks of the Aegean and both in decent locations... I certainly would recommend Turkey to anyone - and never had a bad experience either trip.... email me if you need any further information....

Turkey - Hotels in Fethiye. Does anyone know of a three or four star hotel here. We are going to be in Turkey in September.

How safe is eastern Turkey? Specifically the area near the city of Diyarbakir?

We went to Turkey (western half) with Cosmos two years ago. Highly recommend it! Wonderful hospitality, great food, amazing sights. Turkey is the size of Texas plus Louisiana -- it's big. Don't go wandering around strange places after dark. Use your head. Drink bottled water only. Good advice anywhere...including the U.S. Had a wonderful guide, a Turkish archeologist who supplemented his income by leading tours -- made everything come alive. We're going back this May, to the eastern half with Grand Circle Tours. Van, Ararate, Black Sea Coast, Cappadocia (again -- it's fantastic), Nemrut Dagi, Antakya, Adana. Plus extra time in marvelous Istanbul. Be sure to take the day cruise from Istanbul up the Bosphorus and back. Write us if you have other questions.

Hi, I highly recommend Delta Dream Vacations. Went on a 12 days tour with them last April. Everything was excellent. If you would like any more info feel free to E-mail me.

Dear Barry:

I last visited turkey in May 1997 and hit Istanbul, Ephesus/Kusadasi, Antalya, Side, and Pammukale. I would recommend that you not take a tour in favor of seeing the country on your own. It is quite safe (safer than large cities in the U.S. in most places) and very cheap. Renting a car was no problem and the roads were fairly good, but the cost was about the same as in the U.S. for a Turkish Fiat with manual trans and no A/C. I would avoid cheap restaurants and eat instead at the finest establishments you can find since the cost is unbelievably low for excellent food and service. For example, a full six course meal in Antalya with wine, coffee and dessert while overlooking the Mediterranean was U.S. $35 for two! For trips of any distance, the internal air service by Turkish Air was quite reasonable. The only unreasonably costly encounter I had in two weeks was when I attempted to ship some things home by UPS!

Have fun,
Lee Krantz

Hi:

I have been to Turkey 5 times and know you will love it! My last trip took me trough all of eastern Turkey (Kurdistan) and then the Kackar mountains in the northeast. I found the people to be wonderful. The Kurds are very friendly people. They will be anxious to show you their way of life. Although they are very poor, they will go out of their way to make you welcome. I know that if you ask the U.S. government they will tell you that it is not safe. But, if you travel during the day you should have no problem. Make sure you carry your passport as you may encounter roadblocks. Just show them your passport and speak in English and they will wave you right on through. They do not get many tourists in the east so the people will stare at you. They literally lined up just to touch me! If you have the chance, you should try to see the northeast. It is fantastic! The Kackar mountains are like the Alps. We went camping near Artvin and didn't see another person for 4 days. Drank right from the rivers. I could go on and on. E-Mail me for more if you want. I will be glad to help any way I can.