Hello everyone,
After reading many trip reports and studying the Lonely Planet and RoughGuide books this is what I have planned so far for our adventure in Turkey. We arrive in Istanbul on Sept. 24th.
-3 nights Istanbul
-night train to Pamukkale
-2 nights Pamukkale
-2 nights Patara (to visit Xanthos)
-2 nights Kas
-2 nights Cirali
-1 night Konya ( to break up the trip to Goreme)
-3 nights Cappadocia (renting a car)
-2 nights Ankara (to see museum) fly to IST
-3 nights Istanbul

We have visited Ephesus on a previous trip to Greece. We are a middleaged couple, usually rent a car for our travels in Europe but have decided not to this trip, hopefully stretching out our retirement travel budget somewhat.
Questions-
-should we buy our train ticket in advance (if so how) or wait til we get to Istanbul?
-for the bus to Patara, will we have to go to Fethiye to change buses?
-is it better to stay in Antalaya and take the long bus ride to Goreme? thought Cirali would be a nicer place to stay
-Pegasus air has some reasonable flights to Istanbul from Ankara but should we just take a bus or train from Ankara rather than the airline due to the difficulty in getting from the asian side airport to Sultanahmet?
-should we be dealing with a travel agency in Turkey to buy bus tickets in advance?

Any suggestions you have on this itinerary would be appreciated! Once I have this planned will start booking accommodation. Thanks!

- bus to Patara, I doubt if they go direct from Pamukkale. Instead of going all the way into Fethiye, you could change here, and flag down the first bus going south on the D400:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...,0.055275&z=14
- Çıralı is a tiny village, Antalya is a city - I prefer Çıralı.

<i>Pegasus air has some reasonable flights to Istanbul from Ankara but should we just take a bus or train from Ankara rather than the airline due to the difficulty in getting from the asian side airport to Sultanahmet?</i>

It turns out to be not particularly difficult. One can take an airport bus to Taksim Square or take a public transportation bus to the end of the metro line that goes to Taksim square. But it does take quite a bit of time.

You might want to look at my trip report. Just click on my name to find it.

Firstly as far as I am aware of you cannot take the overnight train to Pamukkale from Istanbul as it is not up and running at the moment and when I becomes available I do not know..Pamukkale Ekspess is not running till they finish rebuilding the tracks.

You can take the train from haydarpasha to Afyon and the bus from Afyon to denizli. The train is Iç Anadolu Mavi Train leaving haydarpasha at 23.50 and arriving at Afyon at 8.25 in the morning. They have pullman seats and also nice sleeper cars. Pullman seats 20 TL and sleeper cars 50 TL per person. Metro turizm, Kamil Koç at Ikbal, pamukkale Turizm at Otogar, have bus services to Denizli.

https://etcdd.tcdd.gov.tr/tcddrezweb...let?ulkeid=ENG

http://www.e-yasamrehberi.com/otobus...lari_index.htm

http://www.e-yasamrehberi.com/otobus..._firmalari.htm

I also prefer Cirali however..I would also like to say that just one night only in Cirali is hard pressed and very rushed to try and see all the sights...you are better with a minimum of 2 nights or 3...you will need time to visit the ruins of Olympos along the beach and as well possibly time to visit the Chimaera in the evening...to do all of this within one nights stay is very rushed and tiring. You would benefit by staying a bit longer in Cirali if your plans allow.

sorry just re-read and you are planning 2 nights in Cirali..I read 1 night..I guess that I got it mixed up with Konya..

The most important feature of Konya is the Mevlana Museum.If you have any interest in the history of the Dervish's and in Mevlana himself then I think it is worth it. however it would not be on my top priority list..and I would add that day to Cappadocia instead..

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/g...nya/index.html

as the Mevlana museum does not hold interest for me..however the nearby Catalhoyuk does..I much prefer old historical sites..

If the idea of staying in Patara is only to visit Xanthos and some other sights near by, instead of check-in and out twice stay at either place, Patara or Kas ( better Kas ) and make a day trip to the sights would save you time and efforts.

Happy travelling,

Murat

Thank-you for your suggestions. I could not get any information for the Pamukkale express on the TCDD website so I guess that it is not running explains why. Stopping in Patara was mostly to just see Xanthos so I think we will follow your advice of staying in Kas and Cirali for three nights.
I have not checked the bus website yet but is it possible to take the bus from Cirali to Goreme in one day? Thanks for the tip of using Google translation, hadn't thought of that, I am always looking for someplace to click "english".

<<< have not checked the bus website yet but is it possible to take the bus from Cirali to Goreme in one day? <<<

Yes..the easiest way to get from Cirali to the Cappadocia area is to take an overnight bus from the Antalya otogar ( bus station ) to either Goreme or Nevsehir..about 45 liras for the bus ticket and it takes 9 hours..the buses leave from antalya at about 830pm..approx..and there are 3 companies..Suha, Metro and Nevsehir tur..

From Cirali to Antalya you need to take the smaller local buses from Cirali to the main road junction on the antalya highway ( about 6 liras per person ) then catch the local dolmus from the Kas or Kumluca direction to the Antalya bus station ..about 10 liras per person..

the local buses from the Cirali junciton run about every 20-30 minutes to antalya..

Metro tourizm – 35 TL
1005 ANT-SIVAS(MERKEZ) 19:30 04:15 SETRA 42,00 YTL
http://www.metroturizm.com.tr/
METRO TURİZM : Daily 730pm
Phone: 444 34 55

Süha Turizm – 35 TL
http://www.suhaturizm.com.tr/
22:00
Kemer->ANTALYA->NEVŞEHİR->KAYSERİ
Travego15
ANTALYA Avanos 45,00 45,00
ANTALYA GÖREME 35,00 35,00
ANTALYA GÖREME 45,00 45,00
ANTALYA KAYSERİ 35,00 35,00
ANTALYA KAYSERİ 40,00 40,00
ANTALYA KAYSERİ 50,00 50,00
ANTALYA NEVŞEHİR 35,00 35,00
ANTALYA NEVŞEHİR 45,00

Süha Turizm - Agencies
Antalya
City Agency Code Phone Mobile
Antalya (Merkez) Otogar 242 331 31 38 - 331 17 38
Kemer (Burdur) 242 814 43 68

http://www.kentturizm.com.tr/
22:00
Kemer->ANTALYA->KAYSERİ
ANTALYA KAYSERİ 40,00

Lüks Göreme Turizm 22:00 06:30 8:30 O403
Lüks Göreme Turizm 20:30 05:00 8:30 O403
Antalya (Merkez) 242 3311060 - 3311061
Nevşehir Kapadokya 20:30
Antalya otogar phone number 242 3311250
Nevşehir/ Goreme Seyahat - Agencies
Antalya otogar - Nevsehir tourizm - 331 1066


GÖREME SEYAHAT : Daily 830pm
PHONE: 0.242. 331 10 66
Lüks Göreme Turizm - Agencies
Antalya
City Agency Code Phone Mobile
Antalya (Merkez) 242 3311060 - 3311061

Nevşehir Kapadokya - Agencies
Antalya
City Agency Code Phone Mobile
Antalya (Merkez) 242 3311007 - 3311008

Metro Turizm – Agencies
METRO TURİZM : Daily 730pm
Phone: 444 34 55
Antalya


Süha Turizm - Agencies
Antalya
City Agency Code Phone Mobile
Antalya (Merkez) Otogar 242 331 31 38 - 331 17 38
Kemer (Burdur) 242 814 43 68
Suha : Daily
Antalya 10:00pm
Kemer 830pm