I am in the planning stages of a trip to Turkey next May (3 to 4 weeks). Are there any guidebooks travelers to Turkey would recommend?

I found Frommers ( sorry, Fodors!) and EYEWITNESS guides to Turkey particularly helpful. Also check out the website Turkeytravelplanner.com, which has a lot of excellent planning information.

I used Lonely Planet and Rough Guide and Turkeytravelplanner.com was very good.

I forgot to mention that I used LONELY PLANET, too! It was very helpful.

They do have a guidebook (Small Hotel of Turkey) but you can also access the information on places to stay at this website which I found very helpful for interesting (non-chain) hotels:


www.nisanyan.net


Where do you plan to go in Turkey?

Fodor's and Lonely Planet worked for us. The hotel recs worked out great for us, for restaurants we free-styled mostly.

Thanks for the information.

<i>Where do you plan to go in Turkey?</i>

Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus. But nothing is solid until I have read the guide books.

I'll be interested to hear your progress. I'm looking at visiting those three places as well and just starting my research too.

Peg,

Here is some information you might find interesting.

Using Kayak.com and http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp I discovered the following:

This covers the period between April 22 and June 27.

Going from SFO to NYC to Istanbul to CDG to SFO would cost us $3706 for two.

Going SFO-NYC-Berlin then CDG to SFO would cost us $3225, taking into account Berlin-Instanbul RT and Berlin-CDG one way on separate tickets.

Going SFO-NYC one way then booking NYC-Berlin, and CDG-SFO, and booking all other in-between flights separately, would cost us $2781.

It so happens that we have relatives in Berlin, would be stopping by NYC anyway, and plan to spend 4 weeks in France.

But the main point is that with an overnight in Berlin in both directions, it might be cheaper than booking the flight to Istanbul from the States. In fact, since trans-Atlantic flights tend to arrive in Europe in the morning, it might be possible to catch an afternoon flight from Berlin to Istanbul on the same day, but I would not count on it.

We used Lonely Planet and Eyewitness and didn't know about Fodors at the time!

At any rate, if visual or historic interest is key with you, please drop by my photo-report of a 4-week trip to Turkey, at
http://www.pbase.com/andrys/turkey

We covered a lot of that country, including the usual and some of the unusual too. It was a really GREAT trip. I hope the pictures and some info I found might help.

- Andrys
--
http://www.pbase.com/andrys

Try to get a recent edition of the guidebooks as some establishments might close down or chance owners. I always have the dilemma reading those books as mostly reflects the styles of the writers travel habbits. One recommends a hotel while otherone even does not mention about.

However to use them as referance point and for the history and sites they will all serve the purpose.

If you planning April-June period the triangle of Itsnabul, Cappadocia, Ephesus region is a freat route to explore.

Happy travelling,

Murat

In addition to the website I linked above, for hotels, I liked Cadogan and the Rough Guide. You will need either of these, or LP, if you plan to veer off the usual tourist routes. With 3-4 weeks you will have lots of time to explore!

Wow, Michael. Fascinating! Hmmm, maybe we'll have to consider a stop-over in Berlin!

On the same but different theme, I was in Turkey last year and spent a day in Bergama. It appears that most of the stuff was carted off to Berlin by the German bloke who discovered it. Hence this year I'm planning a trip to Berlin to see what wasn't there in Bergama.

Hi
When I went to Turkey I used the Cadogan Guide. found it very well written. It has a touch of humor and was accurate. I was the only book I used.

Gertie3751,
You will be amazed by what you will see at Berlin, how on earth they could smuggled the whole temple? What a big loss for Bergama.

Enjoy,

Murat