Greece/Turkey Itinerary, please comment or tear apart.
 

Please let me know what you think, this will be for the middle of next year.<BR>DAY 1 : AUSTRALIA TO ATHENS <BR>DAY 2 : ATHENS <BR>DAY 3 : ATHENS/SANTORINI (ferry)<BR>DAY 4 : SANTORINI <BR>DAY 5 : SANTORINI TO RHODES (ferry)<BR>DAY 6 : RHODES<BR>DAY 7 : RHODES/MARMARIS/BODRUM (ferry)<BR>DAY 8 : BODRUM<BR>DAY 9 : BODRUM/KUSADASI<BR>DAY 10 : KUSADASI/PAMUKKALE/HIERAPOLIS<BR>DAY 11 : KUSADASI/SELCUK/EPHESUS/ <BR>DAY 12 : KUSADASI TO CANNAKALE<BR>DAY 13 : CANNAKALE/Gallipoli<BR>DAY 14 : CANNAKALE TO ISTANBUL (car)<BR>DAY 15 : ISTANBUL<BR>DAY 16 : ISTANBUL<BR>DAY 17 : ISTANBUL TO CAPPADOCIA (plane)<BR>DAY 18 : CAPPADOCIA<BR>DAY 19 : CAPPADOCIA to ISTANBUL(plane)<BR>DAY 20 : ISTANBUL TO AUSTRALIA

Too much ??<BR>I want to use a private guide for the Turkish side of things, anyone have a recommendation?

It depends on what time you arrive in each place. For instance if you are taking the ferry from Athens to santorini then I think you arrive early in the morning so you actually have two full days there but if you are traveling somewhere and arriving mid to late in the day and then only have one full day there, I think you aren't giving it enough time. <BR>IMO, Athens is fine for one day, Santorini is okay for two but you may be cutting that a bit short, same with Rhodes. Bodrum is okay for just one night although you may consider cutting that out to spend more time other places. I didn't go to Kusadasi or Ephesus but my friends said it was great. You should get others input into time there. I also don't know about Cannakale. Istanbul is okay for two nights but your Cappadocia time is too short. <BR>We had a guide meet us in Kayseri and take us on to see the caves and a general tour of the area. He then dropped us in Urgup where we were staying at the end of the day. It was an exhausting day and would have rather taken the Turkish air bus from Kayseri airport to Urgup and then done the tour then next day. If you are an outdoors person there is great hiking among the rock formations and caves. <BR><BR>This intinerary is going to be exhausting. I would probably take out one or two places and allocate those days to certain locations so you have a few less nights of unpacking and travel. I would also fly between Athens/Santorini/Rhodes instead of taking the time on the Ferry. It is inexpensive and you want to see so much, you need the time in these beautiful places instead of on a ferry.

We used Suleyman from Cappadocia Tours to visit Cappadocia for 1 day and really enjoyed the time we spent with him. The website is www.cappadociatours.com.<BR><BR>He also helped us book our airfare from Istanbul-Kayseri and from Antalya back to Istanbul at a lower rate than I could find on the internet ($85 USD each way in May 02) and also a balloon ride over Cappadocia.<BR><BR>The airline tickets were delivered to our hotel in Istanbul with no problem and we paid for them when we got to Cappadocia (we did have to secure with a credit card though).<BR><BR>Istanbul was easy to negotiate on our own.<BR><BR>Feel free to drop me an email if you want some more info<BR><BR>[email protected]

one less day in Bodrum one more day in Kusadasi ???

This will seem like a reversal for me as I'm one of those people who usually likes to see as much as possible.<BR>But we spent two and a half weeks in Turkey and four weeks in Greece and felt we wouldn't have wanted to do it any quicker. Granted we did 6 Greek Islands plus three days in Athens, so by only doing two islands you've made that more doable, but I'm looking at too many distance travel days followed by only one day at a destination. As mentioned above it may also depend on arrival times, particularly if some of these ferries are overnight leaving you at least the better part of two days in Santorini and in Rhodes so you at least get a fair sample of each, but you will still be cut short even then. <BR>And I certainly wouldn't have wanted any less than three full days in Cappodocia, not the one day it looks like you have. It also looks like just two full days in Istanbul --very rushed in my opinion.<BR><BR>The real bottom line is I'd forget about Greece all together unless you wanted to &quot;sample&quot; it which is all you're really doing anyway with a day trip from Bodrum or Marmaris to Rhodes.<BR>Less than three weeks is hardly enough for Turkey alone if you want to include Cannakale, Selcuk, Pamukkale, etc. in addition to the coast, Cappodocia, and Istanbul.

<BR>I agree with Patrick that this is a bit too ambitious. I'll suggest that on day 3 that you just fly to Rhodes (or Istanbul or elsewhere in Turkey) from Athens. <BR><BR>The ferry boats that you have in your itinerary are going to take longer than they tell you. My nephew and I took ferry boats to get from Athens to Rhodes. There were a pair of stops and change of boats. Then the long haul boat to Rhodes which may have been scheduled for something like 14 hours, but which actually took 24 hours.<BR><BR>Rhodes was a good visit and the boat to Marmaris is a hydrofoil and a decent trip. We went from Rhodes to Bodrum and enjoyed staying in Bodrum.<BR><BR>Day 3, Athens- Rodos in the morning.<BR>Day 4, Rodos- Bodrum in afternoon<BR>Now you have an extra day or two to chill in Bodrum and get over the jet lag that should be hitting hard about now.<BR><BR>The hotel on top of the hill in Pammukkale is a nice place to stay. Overnighting there was worthwhile because the bus trips (from Bodrum and to Ephesus) took a while.<BR>

I personally think you need more days in Athens and Istanbul. There is so much to see in Athens-I was there for 4 days and wanted more. A lot of people don't like Athens, but I love big cities. Istanbul has so many things to see you could spend a whole week! Please consider adding at least 1 day to Istanbul. The Grand Bazaar could take a whole day in itself! Istanbul is my most favorite place on earth-the sights, smells, sounds.....You'll feel like you're in another world.

Thanks guys, a great help ...or possibly now I am even more befuddled, but hey TOO much information isn't bad.

Hi Marko,<BR>I do not know Greece,but it's a good decision to visit Turkey.We just came back from there with all family.We spent nearly 2 weeks in Turkey,and travelled through the land.I can recommend you to spend 2 or 3 days in Istanbul as Gino wrote.And if you have more time,you can visit other interesting sites,such as Ephesus,Pergamon or Cappadocia.We had a really well-informative &amp; excellent guide,named Umit, during our whole trip.If you want,you can contact him.You will definitely enjoy your tour with him.And also you can visit his web-site(www.mysticturkey.com) to get more information about the routes before your trip.We took our tour via his web-site(Tour code MYS-7 on the tour-page). <BR>Have a nice tour in Istanbul &amp; further.<BR><BR>Umit's e-mail is :<BR>[email protected]<BR><BR><BR>

Thanks dennis, I checked the site out..very good information. Any other comments ?

OK looks like plane from Athens to Santorini and maybe one more day in Istanbul at the end. anything else ?

Hi Marko,<BR><BR>To little for Cappadocia, if it has to be that way istanbul - Kayseri morning plane, Kayseri - Isatanbul evening plane will give you some time but still alot of rush or less to see.<BR><BR>I can recommend an excellent travel agency whom you can get a private guided tour depending on your needs.<BR><BR>Enjoy Turkey fully :-)

Are there lots of Istanbul to Kayseri flights each day ?

One flight, in the early morning, one in the evening. Actually same plane comes and goes:-))

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