First time to Turkey - NEED HELP!!
 

Hello All,

We will be taking a trip to Turkey this October 2008 and have so many questions regarding how to travel within the country. Our itinerary is as follows:

10/1/08 - depart Chicago

10/2/08 - arrive Istanbul

10/2/08 - depart Istanbul and arrive in Izmir (going to Ephesus)

10/5/08 - depart Izmir (going to Cappadoccia)

10/8/08 - depart Cappadoccia (going to Istanbul)

Now, the airfare from Chicago is pretty high and I'm finding that trying to find flights within these 3 cities is very expensive or the cheap flights are sold out. Is this because of the holiday after Ramazan? If we were to travel by train, how long would it take us? Bus transport seems way too long, so, that isn't an option.

It seems as if getting around Turkey is pretty difficult. Am I wrong? I look forward to any advice that can be given. Thanks.

Judi

Will you have time in Istanbul at the end of the trip?
Did you check all of the airlines in Turkey? I think the low cost carriers are somewhat seasonal, that may account for your difficulty.
You can find all of the transportation options on the turkey travel planner website--it helped me a lot in planning my upcoming trip.
Getting around isn't difficult, it is just that the places you are going are very far apart and it isn't summer.

Yorkshire,

Yes, we will spend 4 days in Istanbul on our way back from Cappadoccia. I noticed that Turkey is pretty big and have seen posts where people are taking overnight trains. I guess it's an option. The other low cost carriers, are they reputable? Where can I find their names and websites? Thank you for your post.

The overnight train gets you to Ankara, then you have to bus 4 hrs to Goreme. Then there is the overnight bus--I agree not so appealing, but cheap.
Not sure of Izmir options.
Turkey Travel Planner has it all and then some:
www.turkeytravelplanner.com

Go to the transport page to find out about train and bus (nothing as good as flying), then the Planes page, where you'll find the airlines listed, then you can get to all of their websites.
Good Luck--not sure why fares would be sold out so far in advance.

Have you checked fares by looking at Turkish airlines on http://www.whichbudget.com/? I just booked a May 14 flight from Cappadocia to Istanbul on Pegasus for $66 for two. I have difficulty believing that you cannot find a similar fare for October.

We used Onur Air for their reasonable rates between Istanbul, Kayseri and Izmir

Thanks for all the replies!

I will look into it. The cheap fares I've seen that are sold out is due to Ramadan the whole month of September and then the first few days after it (October 1, 2 and 3), I believe is another holiday. Plus, now that the Euro is at 1.53, I really need to budget wisely. Thanks again!

Turkey still uses the Lira

Although turkey is not officially on the Euro, when we were there two years ago, everything was priced in euros and we went to Istanbul, Ephesus and Cappadoccia and also around the coast (the coast was the most expensive). Frankly I was pretty shocked by the high prices after being there in 2001 and finding it pretty cheap.

By the way, we flew, and I used whichbudget.com. And,as mentioned, turkeytravelplanner.com is an EXCELLENT resource.

Good luck!

Check out Atlas Jet, too. I think that's the name, anyway! It's one of Turkey's discount carriers.

On another note, I'm not sure why you need two days in Izmir. Ephesus is a day-long tour at most. Do you have other plans for that area?

As others have already advised,definitely check out Turkeytravelplanner.com. Great website! Also check previous posts here written by Murat,a poster and travel agent based in Cappadochia. He could offer a lot of help to you, I think!

Turkish Airlines, Onur Air, Pegasus and Sun Express are the companies flying to Kayseri airport.
Sun Express from Izmir and Antalya only.

Atlas does not fly to Nevsehir or Kayseri (yet)

Another option is to take Turkish Airlines Istanbul - Nevsehir flight. Because of wierd flight times fare is a lot cheaper than Kayseri flights of THY. Having said that close to the flight date some cheaper options might open as well.

11th August 07:00 am Nevsehir - Istanbul is 99 YTL per person......

10th August 15:25 Kayseri-Istanbul is 129 YTL p.person ( cheaper to go Kayseri if you use shuttle, as you need a private transfer to Nevsehir airport which would cost about 70 Usd per vehicle)

Happy Traveling,

Murat

Thank you Murat. I tried looking for a flight on Sunday, October 5th from Izmir to Kayaseri and I didn't have any luck. Am I looking at the wrong city to fly out of? Do airlines not fly on Sunday?

One more question. What area in Istanbul should I look for hotels in? Want to be close to the attractions, nightlife and restaurants. Thanks.

The more I read the more confused I become! So, I've decided that it is best not to stay in Selcuk (Ephesus) since there isn't much to do once you've seen the sights.

Is it best to stay in Izmir or Kudasi? We'll have two full days to spend there before trying to fly to Cappadocia on a Sunday.

Kusadasi is better located to see the main sights around Ephesus. We enjoyed just walking along and looking at the water and the people.

You could always arrange a day-trip to Pamukule to see the ruins and the travertine deposits. It's a long day - but quite doable.

No need to be confused but a bit patience is needed :-)

Sun Express flight schedule is up and running up untill 10th June. There will be flights but days and timings are not set yet. Hopefully end of march it will be clearer.....I am experiencing the same difficulties.
Having said that if you have not finalize your itinerary wait a bit more couse, they may not fly on sunday but saturday for example. I have a timetable but can not rely on it at the moment.

Staying in Kusadasi is easier for logistics than staying in Ýzmir and probably more cost effective....

Happy travelling,
Murat

You also asked about where to stay in Istanbul. I am currently planning my own visit and this is what I found:
For nightlife and restaurants, Beygolu.
For sights, Sultanahmet.
I chose the latter, but will walk and tram/bus to Beygolu in the evenings.

Turkey doesn't have the rail system that most of Europe has. Most of the country is accessible best by road, although you can fly into most of the major cities.

I'll assume you are flying directly from Istanbul to Izmir. Izmir is a pretty big city and has all the modern amenities and night life (if you can stay awake with jet lag) you could enjoy. It is about an hour by road to Ephesus. If you are good with a map you can drive it yourself. The roads aren't bad and the traffic reasonable. You just need to make sure you pay attention to the destination cities on the road signs.

You will most likely need a hired guide and car in Cappadocia. There is a lot to see and do, but there is a lot to miss if you don't know where to start (you could just trail a tour bus). If you have the opportunity to take a hot air balloon ride, do so. It is amazing.

When we went to Turkey, we had (based on Lonely Planet's advice) decided to travel between centres by overnight train. Luckily we befriended locals in Istanbul who advised us against this (reliability and comfort were issues), and who steered us to overnight buses instead. They recommended to us a bus company called Nevtur.

We travelled Istanbul to Urgup by bus, changing buses at Nevsehir, which is near Urgup and Goreme. Goreme was an option too, but again these same locals recommended Urgup (what they said was "Do you want to see a tourist resort town, or a real Turkish town?". All the tours of Goreme, Utichar, the underground cities etc, are as available from Urgup as from Goreme.

Next we overnight bussed again from Urgup (changing at Nevsehir again) to Izmir, via Konya, and took a local bus on from Izmir to Celcuk. Compared with the industrialised Izmir, Celcuk was a delightful place to stay, only a 10-minute taxi ride (if that) from Ephesus.

After a few days there we moved on to Kusadasi, and from there by ferry to the Greek Islands.

Thanks everyone for all your tips.

Yes, we'll be jet lagged from our flight from the US to Istanbul and then to Izmir. If Izmir is an hour away from Ephesus, than I guess we'll make Kusadasi our base for the 3 days we are there and then head back to Izmir for our flight to Cappadoccia.

Now to another question. Has anyone ever stayed at the Aysel Apartments in the Tacsim area of Istanbul? We'll be there for 4 days and thought an apartment rental would be a nice option than a hotel.

Just to confuse you more--from what I saw of Kusadasi, that would not be my choice of where to stay. We stayed in a cottage up in the hills behind Selcuk in a village called Sirince at a wonderful place called Nisanyan House. We were only there one night but we wished we had much longer! It would be a great place to get over jet lag. With 3 nights you could spend a day seeing Ephesus, then a day going to Didyma, Prienne and Miletus.

I would recommend working with a local tour operator to book your flights and book tours. We found the costs for 2 people for the private tours were very reasonable and the local agent was able to get better rates on the internal flights than we could find. The Turkey Travel Planner site is very helpful and has some suggestions for local operators, or if you want to email me, I can get you the name of the tour guide we used in Ephesus.