Michael

In terms of flying to other Turkish cities from Istanbul, is there a preferred airport?

Does Pegasus Air still exist? Its site tells me that there are no flights available around May 4 to Izmir. Hard to believe.

Weadles

Try Turkish Airlines and Atlas Air, which is a discount carrier. If neither of these work, get a Turkish travel agent. We used Anker Travel, which I recommend, but there are several others noted on the website Turkeytravelplanner.com

Michael

Thanks.

julies

We used onur air in May of 07 to fly from Istanbul to Kayserie SP??

propertravel

Hi Michael,
Pegasus has two flights on 4th of may. You just should look from Sabiha Gokcen Airport instead of Ataturk airport. Having said that býth flights mentioned are full at the moment.

Low cost airlines in Turkey are; Atlasjet, Pegasus and Onur Air. Only some routes and some restricted hours might be challenging with Turkish Airlines but its no way a low cost carrier, but is a good carrier....

Happy travelling,

Murat

HappyCheesehead

Turkish Air is twice the price of Onur Air for our May flight from Istanbul to Kayseri. Murat, if you poke your head into this thread again, can you tell me if there are safety concerns with Onur Air?

I should probably start a new thread Michael to ask this, but thought you might like to know too

Michael

HappyCheesehead,

No problem. In fact, it looks like all flights from Izmir to Kayseri are booked, and I may have to go via Istanbul or take a very long bus ride.

HappyCheesehead

Hmmmm, Izmir to Kayseri?? I am waiting for the same, but in reverse. I understand Sun Express has a 3x a week non stop flight service between the two towns, but that schedule will not come out til probably March. I hate having to wait til then!

propertravel

Hi Happy,
Onur Air is the second largest airline in Turkey. I do not use them often but did use them 2 times return recently one international flight and other one domestic and they are fine.

Yes Sun Ekspress still did not anounce their summer schedule I am also awaiting some flights to be confirmed from and to Izmir from Kayseri.

Happy travelling,

Murat

HappyCheesehead

Thank you Murat!

Turkish Air is at 169 YTL and Onur is at 102 YTL (both one way, per person and includes all fees) so there is quite a savings to use Onur. The Onur flight is two hours earlier though,6:30 am, so it is a toss up!

Does Turkish Air, in your experience, offer regular air fare sales for May a few weeks or months prior? I might hold out for a sale if it is reasonable to expect they may have one coming up soon.

propertravel

Unlikely Turkish Airlines would go cheaper. But time to time they have offers for limited seats. Like now early bird a week prior to flight until march for the flights till 7th march a 20% discount applies. Also 65+ gets discounts throughout the year. You might also consider flights to nevsehir if the hours suitablei this fligt is always cheaper than Kayseri flights.

Happy travelling,
Murat

HappyCheesehead

Hi Michael,

FYI - I purchased my late May Tix - Kayseri to Izmir today. I got a good deal, 59 TRY per person. I had to charge them in GBP tho - the website would not charge in USD. The only choices were TRY, EUR, CHF and GBP. Not sure if you are in the US but at this time there is no option to charge in USD

cherylcoolbaugh

Help! I would like to know how much it would cost to fly from Istanbul to Imzir and return. I would like to make Istanbul my home base for this trip; but would like to spend some time near Imzir. I need an airline that will allow me to use english as my language.

Please advise me, we would like to make this our next international trip

HappyCheesehead

Hi Cheryl,

The three airlines I have been checking(and buying from) Turkish Air, Onur and Sky Express all have the ability to choose English. Onur Air was a little tricky, when I clicked the flag to choose English I had to temporarily allow pop ups.

When are you looking to go back and forth from Istanbul to Izmir?

cherylcoolbaugh

I am just beginning to plan this trip. My husband and I will be flying into Istanbul; and staying with the hilton hotel chain. They have a hotel in Imzir and I thought that we could see Ephesus on a day trip and maybe a trip to Bodrum. I just don't know about travel methods or time needed to get to these cities. Any help would be appreciated

propertravel

Hi Cherylcoolbaugh,

You can travel to Ephesus from Izmir but the rest of the areas requires longer travel period so better to relocate yourself for Bodrum and Marmaris.

Happy travelling,
Murat

Weadles

Bodrum is about a 3 hour+ drive from Izmir. Other than a quick tour of the harbor and castle, we really didn't find much to see there other than hordes of other tourists and lots of jewelry/jeans shops. We took a boat tour, too, but it just wasn't nearly as interesting as we'd hoped. If I had it to do over, I'd go in the opposite direction, to Pamukkale.

JaneB

Cheryl, we took day tours to Pergamon, Pamukkale and Ephesus from Izmir. We were the only people on each tour. The trips were long but very worthwhile--I booked them all online in advance. You can probably arrange for them after arriving at the Hilton.

cherylcoolbaugh

janeb,

Thank you for the information. I am currently deciding between hawaii with the whole family at a resort vs. Turkey: the hubby and I.

My concern has been transportation inside Turkey. We have traveled to many international destinations; but I am trying to plan this one on short notice...for April.

I also need to get airfare from Istanbul to Imzir...do you have any idea what the cost is? When I look at the websites...I do not see final cost; and why are there so many different costs listed?

JaneB

Check out Mobissimo.com for air fares. We didn't go to Istanbul directly from Izmir. We went via Canakkale to see Troy and Gallopoli.