lauramsgarden

I'm beginning to wish we had way more time for this trip! Here's my newest theory - Otherchelebi and other kind Turkey travel advisers let me know if this sounds like a reasonable plan that would allow us to visit the major sites without feeling too rushed:
1. arrive Bodrum on the morning ferry from Rhodes - see Castle of St. Peter and explore the rest of the city, spend the night in Bodrum
2. Day two drive to and visit Ephesus and spend the night in Selcuk
3 Day three drive to Bergama and visit Pergamon - stay overnight in Bergama or Assos
4. Day four drive to Canakkale - visit Troy on the way - overnight Canakkale -
5. Day five visit Gallipoli and then on to Istanbul

we would then spend five nights in Istanbul. Does this sound reasonable? thanks

Croesus

1. Are you sure there's a ferry? This is the only timetable I know - http://www.bodrumferibot.com/en/calendar.asp

MmePerdu

When looking for ferries, in general, I check Google maps, not definitive maybe but a start. I see no ferries at all from Greece to Bodrum. Also nothing shown on a search here: http://www.directferries.co.uk/rhodes_bodrum_ferry.htm

lauramsgarden

right now at least there are two a day, and it looks like they only take an hour (they land at Marmaris)

http://www.go-ferry.com/

Croesus

Will you still want to visit Bodrum?

The rest of your plan looks fine.

lauramsgarden

Isn't Bodrum close to Marmaris (that's what comes up on the ferry site when you click Turkey(Bodrum) as the destination....I think our main objective is a simple way to transition from Greece to Turkey and begin our exploration of the Aegian coast - there is so much to see that I know we will not be able to see everything.

MmePerdu

Google maps says Marmaris to Bodrum is 2 1/4 hours, by car & ferry, or all by car. Have a look:

http://tinyurl.com/oukapdn

MmePerdu

Well, the Mu Art Cafe entered itself, pretty sneaky. Knock off 10+ minutes.

yestravel

Marmaris is a couple hours drive from Bodrum. Rather than drive we drove down the Datca peninsula and took a ferry over to Bodrum. Are you wanting to see Bodrum or are you going there because of the ferry? Bodrum was a busy touristy seaside resort (with cruise boats) and one of the least favorite places we saw while in Turkey.

Croesus

I've always had a soft spot for Bodrum. Although nowadays it's superficially touristy, it has a long and interesting history, especially in the 20th century when it was used as a place of internal exile for lefties and arty types, so it gained a quite a reputation.

However, it's not really on your track if you arrive at Marmaris, so it might be best to head straight for Selçuk.

There are two road routes, via Aydın or via Milas. Lots of ancient sites on the Milas route after you turn left at Yatağan - Lagina, Stratonikeia, Milas, Euromos, Herakleia (Latmos), Didyma, Miletus, Priene, Magnesia. It might be worth stopping at one or two of them.

Other options would be to skip Rhodes and arrive in Turkey on the Kos-Bodrum or Samos-Kuşadası crossings.

kja

"five nights in Istanbul"

not enough for my interests! But what matters is whether that is enough for what YOU want to see and experience, and IMO, none of us can answer that. You might benefit from plotting the places you want to see on a calendar, blocking out time before and after for transportation, and seeing how things fit together.

Enjoy!

lauramsgarden

Thanks all for your input and advice - I'm finding the making connections part of this trip the hardest to plan. This all started with the idea of tagging five days in Istanbul onto the end of a planned trip to Greece. Then I discovered how close Troy and Gallipoli were to Istanbul and thought "oh we must see those, " then thanks to all the good advice on this Forum realized how many other wonderful sites there are to visit on the Aegian cost -

and since we are really intrigued by Rhodes, it seemed logical to try to transition from Greece to Turkey via ferry so as not to have to travel all the way back to Athens in order to get to Istanbul.

The catch being that we don't really want to spend time on Samos so it doesn't really make sense to go there to catch the ferry to Kusadasci, hence why I was thinking Rhodes to Bodrum - but if that doesn't truly exist and would add extra driving from Marmaris, then maybe we should fly to Istanbul, concentrate on that area, and do a two or three night excursion from there. does that make more sense?

At this point I'm thinking 8 to 9 nights total in Turkey - what would be the most efficient way to handle the travel part in your view? thanks.

yestravel

If you can't get a ferry to somewhere where would like to be without a long drive, then I would fly to IST and do a side trip from there. Spend 5 days or so in IST and pick a place you could easily fly to and stay there a few days. Where you decide to go would depend upon your interests. We stayed 5 nights in IST on our arrival and saw many of the top sites. Then we spent 3 nights in IST upon our return from traveling around Turkey. While I thought the sites in IST were fantastic, I enjoyed the 3 nights away from the old quarter. I have read that cruise ships are not docking in IST these days. While I'm sorry for the Turkish economy that may make your stay there less crowded and thus more enjoyable.

OTOH, I'm not completely clear on what is available by ferry from Rhodes. I enjoy driving and going from Marmaris to Ephesus by car would be fine by me & not a long drive. Roads were good, not crowded and easy to travel about. The Datca peninsula was lovely with some gorgeous scenery so driving it to the ferry to Bodrum is nice.
You could spend a couple days in Selcuk and then drop the car off in Izmir at the airport and fly to IST.

lauramsgarden

That sounds really practical and helpful. I think part of the problem is that the ferry companies change the schedules by the season so it is hard to know now what will be available come summer. We certainly don't need to decide right away, but I do want to pin it all down by early spring so we can start choosing hotels etc.