Best way to plan 2 weeks in Turkey - please help
 

Hi
We are going for 17 days to Turkey in the beginning of September. We are overwhelmed with so man places we want to visit and so little time. Especially difficult is to plan the route along the coast.

Here is the itinerary we came up so far

1.Flying from NY to Istanbul and right to Cappadocia
2.Cappadocia
3.Cappadocia and Flight to Antalya in the evening
4. Antalay in the morning, take a car and drive to Cirali visit Phaselis,Chimaera, swim in Cirali and Olympos evening tour
5. Cirali-Myra-Kekova-Kas - necropolis of Myra and Boat tour to Sunken City
6. Kas - Day Tour Xanthos, Saklikent, Patara, Tlos, Kaputas Beach
7. Kas -Kalkan-Pinara-Oludeniz-Fethiye
8. Fethiye - may be take 1 day boat tour to 12 islands?
9 Fethiye - Aphrodisias-Pamukkale
10.Pamukkale-Hierapolis-Kusadasi
11.Ephesus-evening flight from Izmir to Istanbul
12.Istanbul
13.Istanbul
14.Istanbul
15.Istanbul
16. Istanbul - Home sweet home

Please critic our itinerary. Any suggestions are very much welcome.
There are 6 of us ( 3 couples) and we are looking for private guides in Cappadocia ( 2 days) Istanbul, Ephesus. Any recommendations?

Are our days (4 to 10) on the coast realistic?

I saw boat tour to Sunken city for the whole day or juts a few hour. which one would you recommend? what is the difference?

Any advices , suggestions much appreciated!

Hello Irina,

There is a great deal of information on a current thread by Suki1, which covers quite a bit of your planned itinerary. Please check that and if you have additional questions, I will try to help.

Re guides:
- Istanbul is an excellent DIY city. Armed with a map per couple and one or two books, you will be fine.

- Get just an Ephesus guide at the gate of the historic site. You can do other locations easily by yourself.

- Guide in cappadocia is not a bad idea. Your hotel can easily arrange and negotiate one for you.

- Forget about Kalkan, stay at Kas and then Fethiye area
- take boat tour of Kekova bay from Ucagiz. Get your private boat tour since there are boats suitable for 6, and you will enjoy the flexibility. You can negotiate a flexible time between 2-6 hours and come back when you wish and pay the negotiated price on the time you have been using the boat. The sunken city is not fully visible. There are more ruins on the cliffs and islands and at Kalekoy, but if you kayak, it can be fun.
- Our boatmen harpooned fish and cooked them for us on the rocks on a desert island. You can read about it on my "fumbling family''''''" trip report on Fodors Lounge.

- 4 days on the coast would be too little. 10 days would be good.

- Fuel is very expensive in Turkey and unfortunately rental vans are also expensive. You will probably be looking at Ford Transits. I recommend the bigger rental companies, although all of them are licencees of the international companies.
Avis may have some specials because they have the biggest fleet. Also, if you are flying in with Turkish Airlines, you may get a special deal with Avis, Hertz and/or Budget. check with THY. Will also help to immediately apply for a Star Alliance Frequent Flier Membership. Herts No.1 Club Gold is useless here (never got a deal myself)

Otherchelebi, many thx for your response. I have read the threads your recommended and they were very helpfull.

We always travel independently with books and maps. But I always prefer to visit historical sites with the knowledgable guide.

We can not find any local tours in Myra. They all go from Antalya. Should we be looking for a tour there or is it just quick stop to see necropolis?

Is it easy to find a private boat in Ucagiz? How far Ucagiz from Kas?

What is the best way to visit Mount Olympos? In the evening? I understadn that it probably not much there but we just could not skip it!

We had to re-arrange our itinerary a little since there are no direct fligths from Cappadocia to Antalya. So we will be flying to Izmir from Cappadocia and then driving from Izmir to Antalya.

- all historic sites will have some local guides to tell you about the site. Just ask to see their touristic license so that you do not end up with someone like the kids in the Indian film "Slumdog Millionaire".

- All historic sites also have a large bilboard with a description and a short history of the site, as well as a map.

- Myra is not a very large site but has a beautiful theatre in addition to the necropolis. It is still a short walk from the parking lot. You do not need to sign up on a tour.

- It is very easy to find a boat at Ucagiz. In fact, they will probably rush to greet you and get you to go with them.

- Ucagiz is only about 30 minutes from Kas, Take a right some kilometers after you get on the Antalya highway. The road is narrow and winding but with little traffic.

- Olympos is down another side road and you will not find much again. The next side road towards Cirali will get you to the fires of the Chimaera, which requires some not so steep climbing and is best seen after sunset. But this may require that you stay one night there.

If I may make one comment on itinerary; since Cappadocia-Antalya direct flights are still a mystery, planning to fly from Kayseri ( Cappadocia ) to Izmir and reverse the program may be less costly and time saving.
One disagreement with Othercelebi :-) I love Kalkan more than Kas but it is my personal view, however love both places and they are about 20 min. drive apart from each other....

Enjoy beautiful Turkey,
Murat