eastern turkey in late May, 2012
 

Is late May, 2012 a good time to visit eastern Turkey ? I seem to have seen something in the newspapers that this has been a very snowy winter and the area may not be good for travel. I know it's only March; perhaps too early to say. We've been to the western part and loved Turkey. Thank you..

You are right about it being too early not only because of the unusually cold weather we are still having but also because of impending problems with Iran.

Since may is not a busy time, you can delay your plans but tickets to Turkey from the United States have already gone up and are increasing almost every week. May is when some 20,000 Turkish students studying in the Unite States come back home for their Summer vacations. Consider getting your international tickets and then be flexible on the local ones according to the weather.

Currently, The Eastern BlackSea has major landslide an floding risks all theway up to Kars. A large area in eastern Central is under about 10 feet of snow. However, the Southeast like Mardin, Gaziantep, Urfa should be fine in May, as well as the Central Black Sea and Cappadocia.

Otherchelebi will it be cold in Western Turkey in Mid may too do you think?
Around Ephesus an Fethiye.

It may already be getting warm in and around Fethiye, with daytime temperatures getting up to 28 C or so. Sea temperatures should also reach about 20 degrees C in Fethiye but possibly less, 17-19 near Ephesus at Kusadasi.

This will be a very good time for hiking and walking about discovering antique cities. Probabbility of precipitation should be low and the late Spring fruit in abundance. (try the local green plums and the excellent cherries)

Wear a hat, carry water, have comfortable walking shoes rather than flip flops or loose sandals. Have some mosquito repellent which you can get localy also) and use sun screen.

otherchelebi, thank you very much.

As far as I remember when I visited Van-Doğubayazıt-Trabzon in May '86 I had no problems weatherwise. Lovely spring sunshine all the way.

thank you very much otherchelebi.

and thank you too Croesus. I am getting very excited about this trip!!!