Advice on Turkey Itinerary
 

Hi.

I am traveling with kids to turkey. Need advice on the following itinerary:

Istanbul
Izmir
- kusadesi, selcuk
Pamukkale
Antalya
Konya
Goreme

Is it too packed? Would we have enough time to visit key attractions?

Thank you.

It depends. How long do you have for your holiday? How many kids? What ages?

Hi there,

I lead tours in that itinerary in 10 days however this is for adults and in general I dont have children in my group. Even though you cover everything in 10 days, you are doing the highlights of each region, consuming rapidly and hitting the road to the next one. When travelling with children, it is better to put something which will motivate them to the itinerary. 14-15 days we spend with families within the same itinerary covering your wishlist. So if you can let us know the number of people in your party, time frame and ages of your children, i will be happy to make suggestions.
Cheers...

Hi. Thank you all for the replies.

I have about 4 kids ages 9, 4, 3, and 1 with me.

And we planned to travel about 15 days.
Do you think I should skip pamukkale? We already plan to skip Konya and go straight to Goreme from Antalya.

Really overwhelmed as there r so many places to cover but need to ensure a comfortable holiday for all too

With 15 day, yes, I think you are aiming to do too much. :-( Istanbul itself easily merits at least 5 to 6 full days IMO. Goreme / Cappadocia at least 3 or 4 days IMO. With you time frame, and with a family, I think you could add Ephesus / Selcuk OR Pamukkale / Afrodisias OR Antalya, and you MIGHT be able to squeeze in two of them. But you would need to plan carefully.

I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from the train/bus station or whatever, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

Turkey is a wonderful country -- enjoy!

Hi there,

4 kids? Masallah we say in Turkey. You can cover those sites in 15 days without rushing wiht your children. spend 5 days in Istanbul, it is better to do it on your own, half day trips. Please book a centrally located hotel in Sultanahmet area. Fly to Izmir and it is better to rent a vehicle down to Antalya may be, leaving the car in Antalya airport and flying to Nevsehir city in Cappadocia. If you choose a central hotel in Goreme may be, you can easily do daily trips around the area, camel rides and short horseback rides may keep the attention of the children up. Leave cappadocia one day earlier so you stay in Istanbul near the airport for your international flight. It is not easy to take an international flight with that much of children :)

a rough itinerary may be;

1-5 day istanbul
6 day flight to izmir, rent a vehicle or get a half day trip to Ephesus
7 day, Aphordisias on the way (you will love it) to Pamukkale and stay in a thermal hotel so the kids have fun in the pools
8 day, do pamukkale, swim in cleopatras pool and travertines with kids, drive to Antalya afterwards, kids sleep on the way :)
9 day, Perge and Aspendos tour, guided or on your own...
10 day, beach day with children
11 day, fligth to cappadocia, pelase check turkish air for Antalya - Nevsehir flights, book a private transfer not a shuttle, it will be easier with your children
12 day, cappadocia, walk around visit Goreme open air museum
13 day, cappadocia, horse or camel riding, visit an underground city
14 day, half day cappadocia may be, leave the children to my office and spend some private time with your wife :) then please come back to pick them up and fly to istanbul for your last night
15 day, fly back home!

I am serious about baby sitting in cappadocia by the way, for a dinner only :)

cheers and happy travels,
K

Thank you again for the suggestions. I'm new to the forum so your suggestions are very helpful.

I'm actually traveling in a big group with my family. Bout 10 of us. And the kids are my sister's :)
May I know how the driving there is. Is it safe and how easy is it to drive from one place to another? My dad likes scenic drives so we were thinking to drive from pamukkale to Antalya. We want to use Antalya as our base before heading to cappadocia.

Hi there,

driving is safe and pretty easy in Turkey. however, there are not much vehicles that your whole family can fit in. Car rental companies are focusing on small cars with smaller engines so their maintenance are low.

the road from Pamukkale to Antalya is very scenic but i recommend to skip Antalya - Cappadocia drive and fly from Antalya to Cappadocia airport.

cheers,
K

Hi all.

I've finally finalized my itinerary.

I'll be flying in to istanbul and will take a direct flight to Izmir. I will be spending about 3 days there before heading to Pamukkale. There we will spend a night before driving off to Antalya.

In Antalya we would spend 4 nights. Before flying off to Cappadocia. (But there's no direct flight?) From there I'll fly back to istanbul where I'll spend about 5 nightS.

Please advice on this. Is this too much. What are the must sees for these places.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand your itinerary. How many days / nights are you planning for Cappadocia? Do 5 nights in Istanbul mean 4 days, 5, or 6? It would help if you lay it out something like the following:

Day 1: Fly to Istanbul and then to Izmir; night in Izmir
Days 2-5: Visit Izmir, nights in Izmir
Day 6: Drive to Antalya, night in Antalya
and so forth.

AnadoluJet have some direct flights from Antalya to Nevşehir.

Apologies.
My itinerary is as below.

Day 1 Izmir - Free and easy
Day 2 izmir - day trip to ephesus
Day 3 izmir - day trip to alacati
Day 4 drive to pamukkale
Day 5 drive to antalya
Day 6 antalya
Day 7 antalya
Day 8 antalya
Day 9 fly to cappadocia
Day 10 capaadocia - hot air balloon?
Day 11 cappadocia - underground city?
Day 12 fly to istanbul
Day 13 istanbul
Day 14 istanbul
Day 15 istanbul
Day 16 istanbul
Day 17 fly home

I'm still really confused on whether I should go to Antalya or some other city. This is as we would like to bring the kids to the beach.

Antalya seems like a good choice cause there is an airport that has flights to Cappadocia. But I've read that the beaches isn't suitable for swimming.

Great if you can suggest as well

Thank you

Have you comsidered Fethiye?

Hi. I've about 7 days in Izmir as I'm skipping antalya altogether. Was thinking of day trips from Izmir. For now weve allocated 1 day each for:
1. Cesme and alacati
2. Ephesus and Sirince village
3. Pamukkale
4. Izmir - city
5. Bodrum (maybe)

Any advice on places to go around here? And which is a better place to stay Izmir or kusadasi as a base for these trips.

Thank you.