Amisid

Hi
we are palning to visit Turkey in coming April for 8 days. We are realy interested to visit Istanbul, Cappadocia and pamukkale.can anyone give me a possible Itinerary with the must see things in these three palaces please. I know, may be it will hard to cover three cities in 8 days.
I am getting 8 full days.
***
Besides do we need to book Cappadocia hot air balloon tour and underground city tour in advance? Or just can reach Ghoreme and find some tour operator? Which one will be more cost saving?

Michael

The underground city tours are purchased at the site.

To save time,fly between Istanbul and Cappadocia.

Pamukkale is more problematic. You could use the alternative of Ephesus and fly to Izmir.

kja

As you note, that itinerary would be very ambitious. Are you sure you can see and do what you want to do in the time you have? 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, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

As Michael noted, you do not need an advance reservation for the underground cities.

You would do well to book your hot air balloon ride in advance, and to book it for the first possible day you could take it. That way, if the weather doesn't permit a launch on that first day, you might be able to go the next day. And do some research before picking your balloon operator -- the least expensive is not necessarily the best. They vary in things like safety records; number and location of launch sites -- and so ability to launch on any given day; length of flight; and size of basket and so the number of people who share the ride with you.

You might find some useful information in my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ern-turkey.cfm

Amisid

Hi
Kia,
Thanks for your reply.I know it's a very short time but what to do. I m planning in this way that we will spend first 3 days in Istanbul . Third day night flying to Cappadocia. Aranged a hotel pick up from air port. Now need some advice on balloon tour.

**** Any particular suggestion from any one..not so expensive but good one..
My hotelsays €100 per person but didn't give me any name of the operator. On the other hand I found in net from €75 to €140. Confuse which one to choose as I m on quite tight budget.

Thanks Micheal as well for your advice. My plan is in this way first day ballon tour and open air museum. Second day ihlara (forgive me if it's not a correct spelling) valley tour and underground city.
How to reach there? Available public transport from goreme?

Sassafrass

IMHO, a hot air balloon flight is not the place to start cutting on the budget. I would not even consider anything in the 75-100 euro range! Good ones charge a reasonable price and charge what they are worth. Safety and experience costs because the best companies replace balloons more often, have experienced pilots and carry fewer passengers, etc.

You want:
1. Pilots that have experience and full professional licenses.
2. Balloons that are in good condition.
3. No big, crowded baskets. A 16 person is good and even better if the company limits it to 14 or 15. A 20 person basket limited to 18 is OK.
4. A company that will cancel if conditions are poor.
5. A company with 2 take-off or landing sites.

Do some research! Book ahead.

PegS

Agree with Sassafrass. Balloon rides have a good safety record, but if anything goes wrong they can be deadly. 100 Euro is very low. Butterfly Balloon, for instance, has a discounted rate of 140 right now. I don't remember what their normal rate is.

Amisid

Thanks for the reply.

Amisid

I need some more details about the ihlara vally and underground city tour. .like transportation

How to reach there? Available public transport from goreme?
or need to book in advance?
Can we reach there ( reaching at 7:30 pm) and check with travel operator? Or need to do an advance booking through net? Is 7:30pm is a late night for this place?

Sassafrass

Look at tours offered through viator for ideas, but you can book through your hotel or hire a taxi.

We hired a taxi through our hotel. Let the hotel know ahead what you need. The driver dropped us off at each place and picked us up at a pre-set time. It was perfect. He talked about the history and landscape as he drove us around. His price was no more than separate tours would have cost. The cost through the hotel was less than what we had been quoted.

You could also rent a car. Roads look easy. Maps were clear. Many people do this,

Get tickets for the underground when you get there. Hire a guide at the entrance. You do need a guide for the underground.

Amisid

Thanks to all.

Amisid

Thanks to all.

kja

I don't believe there is any public transportation between Goreme and the Ihlara Valley, but I could be mistaken, and agree with Sassafrass's advice to check with your hotel.

If your budget is very limited, then I might suggest a radical solution: Skip Cappadocia on this trip. A safe balloon ride will be costly. Actually ANY balloon ride will be costly, but as several of us have now noted, that is NOT an item for which you should try to cut costs! Getting to the Ihlara Valley or one of the underground cities will also be costly. And since you are already trying to do more than the time you have allows, it might make sense to wait to visit Cappadocia.... Just something to consider.

There is MORE than enough to keep you fully occupied in Istanbul and Pamukkale for 8 days.

Croesus

Re: Ihlara Valley and underground city - there's a "green" tour that covers them. This chap has good (if a little out-of-date) info:
http://www.captivatingcappadocia.com...ia-green-tour/

kja

@ Croesus: thanks for providing this information -- good to know!

I must admit that I still think that skipping Cappadocia would make sense for THIS trip for THIS budget-minded traveller... JMO.

Croesus

Also re: balloon ride - I think this year might be worse than last year for tourist numbers in Turkey. Cappadocia was very quiet last summer and there are loads of balloon companies. You should be able to haggle it down to at least another 20% off if you pay cash (and considering that the lira has dropped by about 50% against the euro over the last few years).

I can never justify the price of a 1 hour balloon flight when it's the equivalent of 4 days' motorcycle rental.

Croesus

"I still think that skipping Cappadocia would make sense for THIS trip for THIS budget-minded traveller"

I think I might agree with that.

Michael

I would not skip Cappadocia simply because the balloon ride might be beyond one's budget. We went there and did not take the balloon ride, nor intended to. The unofficial guide we later hired for one day felt that the ride was ecologically noxious because the balloons, quite noisy, go up at a time when the raptors also go up and the balloons scare them away.

yorkshire

I fully enjoyed Cappadocia (still one of my most amazing trips ever) without a balloon ride. The Ihlara valley was a highlight (though everything seemed to be a highlight there). We spent a portion of the money saved on a private driver who took us to an underground city and waited while we toured, then he dropped us at one end of the Ihlara valley and picked us up at the end. Then we visited a mosque and Selime monastery, plus a couple other scenic stops. It was a great day, arranged by our hotel and a bargain at 100YTL--though this was many years ago and the price has likely changed.

kja

@ Michael: I must admit that I'm glad I didn't know about the raptors before I took my balloon ride! it is important to consider the impact, and I had not.

vipsha

Loved Cappadocia, like Yorkshire we did not take the balloon ride either. We took taxi cabs (relatively inexpensive, we were 4 of us) to the underground city, to Goreme, and to Uchisar. There were plenty of guides at the sites except maybe at Uchisar where the climb to the top is really simple and intuitive. We stopped at several small villages on the trip to the underground city, including Ayvali, Soganli, and Shahinefendi. Soganli was surreal. We skipped Pamukkale, spent 6 days in Istanbul and 4 in Cappadocia. We found Cappadocia (in terms of hotel, meals, shopping) to be way less expensive than Istanbul. $75-140 sounds like a lot for Cappadocia. We stayed in a 2 bedroom suite in a cave hotel with a bathroom as large as a living room, fitted with with a hamam for under $200 a night in Urgup, with breakfast included. It was one of the nicest rooms we stayed in.