live42day

My husband and I are coming from Canada and spending the first 12 days in Russia, flying from Moscow to Kayseri arriving there at 845PM on May 7th. We will have a transfer from the airport and arrive at he Kelebek Hotel that evening and spend a total of three nights, two full days in Cappadoica.
Is that enough time?

From there we have two options that I am unsure about. (maybe three)
we have a total of 9 full days after Goerme.
Rent a car and drive south and then west, ending up in Izmir on May 19th?
Take a bus to Antalya and then rent a car from there to Izmir?
Or, fly to Izmir and rent a car from there to explore the area and then return to the same airport, no drop fee this way.

We fly from Izmir to Istanbul on the 19th and have three nights in Istanbul until our flight home.
Things I want to see:
Ephesus
Troy?
Fethiye
Pamukkale

Just in the early planning stages for Turkey so any help would be appreicated. Thanks very much.

leuk2

Three days in cappadocia would be more relaxing.The balloon ride is a must, but not cheap. the underground cities are also a must see. Then there's the rock formations and cave houses & churches. We spent 4 days there. were busy every day. stayed in Urgup, a short bus/taxi ride from Goreme. We stayed at the serinn inn in urgup and the owner/ manager arranged for a taxi to take us to an underground city and other sites. 70-80 us dollars for private tour (9:30 a.m.-4:30p.m. It was a highlight.
You could spend weeks in Istanbul. We didn't get to the coast.(next trip).

Michel_Paris

Quick summary...
We only had 1 night in Goreme, could have used another. We had car. On way south we stoped for easy hike in Ilhara valley to see church caves, followed by lunch over stream. Overnight in Konya, then on to Antalya. Bit touristy, 2 nights, decent beaches. Then drove along coast to Kas. We should have stopped by Olympos but we felt need to rush on to Kas. Loved Kas, fishing village, boat cruises out to see Lycean ruins, lunch, and swim stops.

Views over Med during drive are memorable.

after fethye, stopped and overnighted inMarmaris. Busy, interesting harbour. From there, Ephesus.Ephesus and overnite in Bursa. Next day verry to Istanbul.

live42day

yes I have read your report Michel.Thanks very much for the info. Did you find driving any problems?
Thanks too leuk, I think we are going to do the balloon ride.

My Husband just informed me that he really wants to go to Sanliurfa and Mt. Nemrut which is near the Syrian border. It looks facinating, but just wondering if it is a good place to go right now.

Michel_Paris

I still owe the board a trip report

I rented when landed at Istanbul and drove into city every day. An experience. We then drove (2 cars total) to Ankara and on to Goreme.

There roads were very good, in some cases better condition than home (Canada, yay!). In Cappadocia, roads are simpler but still paved everywhere. My one little incident was a stone chip in windshield that car company made no comment on.

rented diesel VW. Fuel is expensive ~100 a fill, but good mileage. At the time we had no GPS, but guidebooks and occasionally asking for directions worked fine. MY first embarassing moment was fueling up at airport when arrive and not being able to put car into reverse (special button).

Car gave us flexibility to leave when we want, stop when we wanted. For example, along with Ilhara we wanted to see an undergorund city. So while driving along, saw marker for one (and was in Lonely Planet). After about a 15 minute drive off of main road, arrive in 'viallge' of about 5 buildings. get out, chicknes scurry away..guy shows up, and we pay. More of a cave than city but interesting. A little adventure that still remember.

Never really got lost, so I guess it is not too bad driving.

Along the Med your averahe speed goes down. There are mountains in the eastern section, so sometimes the road goes over and back. Often no guardrails, but wide enough for 2 cars. The views down..nice.

For Olympos, we decided after elavign Antalya to go see. Pulled into small road and drove for a while. Passed interesting 'hippy' village, kept going. Since we had kids with us, decided that if we were to make Kas, had to turn back. Someday !!

In Kas, parked car and never used it again while there. Our hotel as Kas Otel. friendly owner. Our room had no window, just large open space looking over Med. About 20' from water. No beach at hotel, but patio and ladder/diving board into ocean. Their good restaurant was rooftop, overlooking ocean. The harbour, shops, restaurants were 5 min walk from hotel.

Just west of Kas is 'secret' beach, you can't miss it from road.

In Marmaris we again selected hotel such that we could walk to waterfront.

At Ephesus, parked at bottom, along with tour buses and took dolmus to top, so could walk down hill hack to car.

chickenlittle

We stayed 3 nights (2 full days) at the Esbelli Evi in Cappadocia -- the favorite hotel of all my travels. I wish we had stayed 1 more day as that area was by far the highlight of our trip and there was still more we wanted to see. So glad I did the balloon ride.

Ian

My wife was adamant about avoiding the boring 6 hour drives. We ended up flying a bunch of short hops to skip the long drives in Anatolia. We rented cars in Antalya to drive to the Olympos area & Izmir for Ephesus - so no drop fees. Pamukkale, Pergamon, Troy etc were misses because I just couldn't work them in while leaving enough time to relax. See my trip report for details. Check Pegasus & Anadolujet for schedules that might work for you. fwiw

Ian