Do we need a full tour when in turkey? We're arriving in Oct
 

Hello

We (2 of us girls) will be visiting Turkey in Oct, Flights are booked to arrive Oct 4. We are looking to move from

Istanbul - Cappadocia - Pamukkale - Kusadasi - Ephesus

then from there we will go to Santorini. Looking to arrive in Santorini Oct 14.

Do we need a guide or can we arrive in each city and book the daily tours from there?

Thank You!

You certainly don't need a guide and you can book on with a tour when you arrive at each town but it really depends on your level of comfort. A guide would certainly be more expensive.

I agree that there is no need for you take take a tour, although you might want to consider a guide for your visit to Ephesus.

More importantly, do I understand correctly that you hope to visit all of these places in less than 10 days? That seems to me extremely ambitious. Istanbul alone easily merits 5 or 6 days and Cappadocia merits 3 or 4. And then you'd need to get from place to place.... But it depends on what you want to see and experience.

HThanks for the reples, am thinking if a guide is worth it as they will also be allocating us to join daily tours.

Kja - may I know why u think we will need a guide in Ephesus.

Yes 10 days is short but unfortunately we are not able to go away for too long.

> may I know why u think we will need a guide in Ephesus.

Check my trip report -- just click on my name to find it. It might also help you decide how/whether to narrow your list of destinations to better fit your available time (if you do try to see all the places you list, you'll be spending a LOT of time in transit relative to the time you have to see anything) and whether it makes any sense to sign up for tours since you can see almost everything on your own.

Bottom line for Ephesus: I think it would be very difficult to understand what you see in the Terrace Houses without a guide. Just my opinion.

Dear kja

When you say, see everything on our own, what do you mean?

I dont think they are close enough for us to walk - are public transport reliable? Or taxis/scooters?

Thank you again

I'd avoid the scooters (from a safety point of view), a taxi will be happy to sort you out and Turkey has a good public transport system. Generally very friendly they will help to make your trip a fine one. Mrs Bilbo did a trip that way two years ago and the locals were wonderful.

Thank you all

> When you say, see everything on our own, what do you mean? ... I dont think they are close enough for us to walk - are public transport reliable?

Sorry I missed your question!

Reading your question again, I think there are two possible questions:

1: "Do you need a tour to visit Turkey at all?" I don't think so, but it depends on what you want to see and do; as I said before, I think your plan is too rushed. Whether you rent a car (as I did) or take a bus, you'll probably have more freedom to do what you want to do if you go on your own. If you are really intent on touching your feet to the ground in each of the places you mention, a tour that includes overnight buses and opportunities to make sure that sleep-deprived tourists move quickly through the motions of a visit might be your only option.

2. "Once in a location, whether you need a tour?" Again, it depends on what you want to see and experience. In general, it seemed to me that there were good options for public transportation options from cities/towns where lodging was an option near the nearby sites. So, for example, one could easily get from Selcuk to Ephesus. But the exact options, and how convenient they are, would depend on where you decide to stay.

FWIW, I thought the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet provided better information about public transportation options than the other guidebooks I used.

I still think you are trying to visit a lot in very little time, and I wonder whether the time you spend in transit will seem worthwhile in comparison to the time you actually have to see things -- especially given all the things you won't have time to see, even though you will be right there. But that's your choice.

Again, my apologies for the delayed response. Hope it helps!