pknaster

I am plannng a trip to Western Turkey this October. Trying to deside which company to use for the trip. Has any one used any of these and have any recommendations? I read variuos reviews and all have positive and negative. Also, how is the weather in mid October in western Turkey?
Thank you all in advance.

P_M

I am one of the few people on this board who occasionally does tours but it's your lucky night, as I have taken the Gate 1 tour of Western Turkey. It was wonderful and I highly recommend it. I think the weather will be very nice at that time of year but if you want to see stats check out www.weatherbase.com.

If you have any specific questions about the tour I will be happy to answer if I can.

latedaytraveler

pknaster, I am glad that P_M was able to give you advice from his own experience. I have not been to Turkey (some day!) But I have taken several Insight tours in Europe and have been very satisfied with them all, particularly the hotels.

pknaster

P_M, thanks for your response. I am concern about the accomodations, the pace and it looks like a lot of excursions are extra. How was the bus and did it feel like you spend a lot of time driving? I am looking at 13 dat trip. This is the first time I am concidering the bus tour. I have been around the world on my own and very suspicious of organized tours? Any insight you have will be very welcomed. Thanks again

pknaster

latedaytraveler, thank you. I did hear a lot of good things about Insight tours, unfortunately, the days I want to go are sold out. so I need to decide either to go later or choose another company.

otherchelebi

There was a very recent trip report on Trip Advisor. The OP had a tour with another company but covered many of the subjects which are concerns to tour participants to Turkey:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...ey-Turkey.html

adrienne

I took a tour of western Turkey with pachatours.com and thought it was a good tour. Great tour guide.

pknaster

otherchelebi, thank you for the link. it was very helpfull.I am still somewhat aprehensive about the bus tour. Do they stop every day in a different hotel or spend a couple of nights in the same?

otherchelebi

pknaster, sorry i cannot help. i and my wife are DIY people.

If you wish to go ahead om your own, i can come up with different itineraries, which will not have you buzzing around on buses in a not so small country, and not visiting carpet, jewelry, leather and ceramics shops. October is a reasonably good month where the lodging prices come down in the resort areas, domestic flights are easier to book and you can still combine history, nature and beach time with istanbul and cappadocia, and mostly fly rather than bus around.

you could also just have a look at the many trip reports of former travelers on Fodor's and decide to follow in their steps, asking them to dig up more from their memories. This is preferred by some Fodorites to advice from a resident, i guess because they trust what travelers know about locations, culture, history, scenery, restaurants, etc. more than they would trust a resident's perspective knowledge and experience.

P_M

pknaster, regarding the optional excursions: At the beginning of the trip I did all of the Istanbul stuff on my own. Istanbul is easy to navigate using the tram and I like having time to explore and linger. I am a woman who took this trip solo and I always felt safe in that city. Regardless of your gender you will be approached by carpet vendors so don't let them waste too much of your time.

I did not take any of the extra optional dinners on this tour. Those who did thought they were way overpriced and nothing speical so I recommend avoiding those. Restaurants in Turkey are inexpensive and offer better food.

I do recommend the Cappadocia tour, that was fantastic. A highlight of my trip was the hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia. That is not mentioned on Gate 1's web site but it will be offered and I think it's not to be missed. The Bospherous cruise was also worthwhile as well as Ephesus. The Whirling Dervishes, well, that got mixed reviews from my group. I'm glad I saw it because I would have felt like I missed something if I hadn't. That show as at a caravan and I did enjoy seeing the caravan at night so I have no regrets for doing that excursion.

I only remember one or two days with long bus rides, for the most part it wasn't too bad. If you check Gate 1's itenerary you will see there are 2 nights at several hotels so it's not a different place every single night.

If you click my name and scroll to the bottom of the page you will find my trip report. If you think of any other questions please post back.

buddd

We are Rick Steves afficinados. They stay multiple nights at each stop and you have lots of time on your own. You do have to find places for half your dinners but we like doing that on our own. You need to be able to walk quite a bit and find your own flights though.