Early July visit to Turkey?
 

trying to figure out where to go end of June/early July. With the dollar so weak and the weather hot so many places, having trouble deciding. Now that i see that Capadoccia is not oppresively hot, am considering Turkey since I didn't make it to Cap on last trip.
We are middle-aged, adventuresome couple.
Questions: Summer weather and crowds -- I looked up weather and it should be very hot in Istanbul and on coast, but okay in Capadoccia. Any comments from previous summer visitors? Also, can the infrastructure handle the crowds? (for example, we were in Cinque Terre at this same time of year and still loved it regardless of the crowds.)
Suggestions for coastal part of trip -- we would fly istanbul to capaddocia and then drive to the coast. WE would want to see ruins and villages, etc., and end up at Ephesus before flying back to Istanbul. Any itinerary suggetions with rental car? we do NOT want exclusively beach resorts.
Another fodorite suggested visiting Black Sea instead. Any input on that?
Costs -- I see from other posters that gas is very expensive. Are hotels/meals (we are comfort, middle of the road travelers, looking for nice inns) comparable to Europe? Please tell me it's cheaper than Italy where we paid about $150 a night.
Thanks so much. Always appreciate Fodorites and all your suggestions.

Hi Alison,
Cappadocia in June is still mild and gets hot in July. Means you can trek, walk, tour around easy. Talking about infrastructure; we never had problems for that in Cappadocia. Even everywhere is full you won't face problem of crowds, except at Goreme Open air museum and this can be avoid by choosing a better time to visit.

Good hotels are from 120 Usd per double/night incl. breakfast and VAT.
Cappadocia despite to weak dollar which we all suffer from for different reasons, still a bargain comparing other parts of the country.
Happy travelling,

Murat

My wife and I just returned from Turkey and drove from Cappadoccia to the west coast. We had planned on taking our time and stopping at some villages along the way. There really was very little of interest on this drive of eleven hours.
We stayed overnight in Egirdir...pretty area but the town is nothing special. If I was to do it again I would fly from Cappadoccia to the west coast. If you like to visit villages do not miss Sirince. It's best if you stay overnight and see it after the tour groups have left.

We were there in mid-June, and the only part that was hot was the southern and SW coast. Instanbul and Cappadocia were both very pleasant, and we lucked out on a rare cooler day in Ephasus as well. Our family has done a lot of traveling, but Turkey is definitely everyone's favorite.

Suggestions for coastal part of trip - we would fly istanbul to capaddocia and then drive to the coast. WE would want to see ruins and villages, etc., and end up at Ephesus before flying back to Istanbul. Any itinerary suggetions with rental car? we do NOT want exclusively beach resorts.

If you plan to drive yourself this is the best route to take Goreme - Konya - Seydisehir - Manavgat road to Antalya. This is a full day's drive. You may wish to break up the drive by stopping in Konya of take the longer route to Egirdir.

The longer route will be KONYA -ISPARTA ( Egirdir Lake ) - BURDUR - GOLHISAR. While in the Isparta are check out the ancient site of Sagalassos as well as possibly the Burdur museum.

And then drive south towards Antalya. After Antalya driving southwest along the D-400 highway make sure to stop along the way to visit the historical site of Phaselis.

After Phaselis check out the rural village of Cirali 7km off the main highway.

Cirali is a very small rural village and boasts a beautiful secluded 4 km beach, the ruins of Olympos, the flames of the Chimeara, as well as a protected area by the WWF for the nesting of the Caretta sea turtles.

More people tend to know of this area as only Olympos but the acommodations in Cirali are much better and designed for the mature traveller, anture lovers and families. Whereas the village of Olympos tends to draw more of backpaker crowds to the famous treehouses. These 2 neighbouring villages are very different to each other but share the same beach.

After Cirali you can easily drive towards Fethiye and there are plenty of ruins and ancient sights to check out like Demre, Myra, Kekova, Xanthos, Telmessos, and Kayakoy.

I would recommend that you stay in the village of Kaya Koyu over Fethiye as once again this is a small rural village.

After Kaya Koyu and easy drive towards Selcuk. Again stopping along the way to visit the ruins etc.

Before Selcuk and Kusadasi there are some great historical sites to see like Euramos, Diyma, Miletus and Priene. Also the Baffa Lake area is really pretty as well.

Brenda, thanks for the tips. Can you give me estimated driving times? i have not been abe to easily find them for the coastal area.
Also, i had thought we had the option of flying keyseri to antalya, but a travel agent told me no direct flights, would have to go thru istanbul. I was surprised since others on this board had recommended flying from Cap to the coast. thanks -- just the type of input I was seeking.

Hi Alison,

You can fly from Cappadocia (Keysari) to the WEST coast (Izmir) directly 3 times weekly. The last time I looked it was Sun, Mon, and Thurs. I am hoping to use that route next May. I cannot remember the name of the airline right now, sorry, but I could find it if you are interested. I never heard of a direct flight from Kayseri to Antalya when I was researching.

The airline is Sun Express

First time ever this summer there was twice weekly flights from Kayseri to Antalya. Probably they will schedule again next year. To fly Izmir also considered flying to the coast !

Happy travelling,
Murat

Hi Alison,

Here are the approx. driving times for the areas betwen Antalya and Fethiye. For an average rate of speed.

Antalya - Kemer 30 minutes
Antalya - Phaselis 40 minutes
Antalya - Cirali 1 hour to main jucntion of Cirali and then 10 minutes into the village( 7kms off the main highway )
Antalya - Kumluca 1 hour 10 minutes
Antalya - Finike 1 hour 20 mintues
Antalya - Demre 1 hour 50 minutes
Antalya - Kas 2 1/2 hours
Antalya - Fethiye 4 hours

Kas - Kalkan 20 minutes
Kas - Fethiye 1 1/2 hours

Let's hope Sun-Express starts up again next year for direct flights from Kayseri to Antalya.

Goreme to Antalya will be about just over 600kms I would estimate the drive should take about 7 to 8 hours depending on how many stops you make.