Request for Info about Turkey
 

Hi,
I'm an Indian & planning my first trip abroad. I have a limited budget & would like to explore Turkey over 4 days in October 2018. I would greatly appreciate information on the visa process (since I do NOT have a Schengen visa) & suggestions on women-friendly & vegetarian-friendly places. I do not drive, so will need details of cheap, safe & reliable transport options too. I'm open to staying in hostels or couch-surfing too.
Thanks in advance.

Turkey is enormous and is changing even as we exchange these message. With only 4 days, you might want to spend ALL of your time in Istanbul OR Cappadocia OR Antalya -- depending on what you want to see. Do some research to determine what part of Turkey you want to visit and search this board for posts by otherchelebi, a resident of Turkey who has provided invaluable assistance to many people about their travel plans in light of recent political developments.

Good luck!

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Would places near Istanbul & Marmara be doable? I could extend my trip to 7 days depending on the visa & cost.

I don't know that anyone can answer that question for you. I wanted 6 full days just for Istanbul itself; others are happy with just 3 or 4 days in the city. I think you need to decide exactly what you would like to see, maybe even plotting things out on a calendar. And again, the region is undergoing rapid change, so I would think you would want to take that into consideration. JMO.

Hello Gayathrıö
You do not have to ask your questıons through private messages.
I cannot answer many of your questions because you did not give your,
-age
-interests

I cannot help with recommending lodging. You will have to check on Trip adviser and similar sites.

Turkish food is very vegetarian friendly. We have excellent fresh salads and vegetables and many vegetable dishes cooked in olive oil.
If you eat cheese, you will also have a large choice of savories like "borek" and "poacha", "gozleme" containing dill, cheese, potatoes, spinach, wild greens, egg plant, etc.
The sesame bread rolls, sold on the street are good especially if they are warm out of the bakery. Other street vendors sell corn on the cob, boiled or grilled.

Many simple and reasonably priced restaurants display their food and you can pick accordingly.

You may wish to check posts and threads, of other Indians like Ashwin Barulkar a younger Indian man, who traveled a month or more in Turkey.

Also check trip reports like that of kja to give you ideas which you can evaluate according to your interests.

In Istanbul, buy an Istanbul Card at small shops near tram or in metro stations stations. You can fill them using 10 or 20 TL notes at automatic machines at all stations. The card gives you a discount on single tokens.

Internal flights and buses are reasonably priced, but do not forget that abus trip can use up a whole day, One way of savings is taking overnight buses to places like Cappadocia, Ephesus, Antalya, Fethiye, Kas or similar locations. The bus companies will either seat a woman next to another woman or lave the seat next to her empty. Most buses are also quite luxurious, with water on board and rest stops every few hours.

There are frequent small minibuses between small towns and villages, many of which have A/C.

Thanks for recommending my page, otherchelebi.
Addint to OC's answer here, https://ashwinbahulkar.wordpress.com...ocia-and-urfa/, getting vegetarian food is not hard in Turkey, especially in the west, although I would encourage you to search for more specialized, vegetarian friendly restaurants than the ones I went to. On a low budget, you have mezze, pide, cig kofta, kursufaliye and such. And gozleme is delicious.
Applying for a visa in India is easy, you can even go through an agent, without having to go to the consulate yourself.

With only 4 days I would just concentrate on Istanbul or maybe Cappadocia. I think it's easy to eat vegetarian, just look at the menu posted outside. We walked everywhere but took public transit to visit Taxim Square. I wrote a trip report with our itinerary, photos, and some costs:
https://fanofblank.blogspot.com/2014...i-mykonos.html

Hope it helps you get some ideas.

Cappadocia is a one off, you can't compare it to anywhere else in Turkey. Might eat up a bit too much of your time getting there.

I'd stick to Istanbul, one of the world's great cities. You'll only skim the surface in a week.

Tourism in Turkey is not as expensive as tourism in the rest of Europe. and I bet that you won't regret if you've planned to try Couchsurfing there rather than staying in a hotel, as the Turkish people are very friendly and welcoming. and by Couchsurfing, you will find that the flatmates or whatever the local person that you are going to stay with during your trip, will support you by offering the best options regarding the women-friendly & vegetarian-friendly places, also will inform you about the best and the cheapest transportations you could use in turkey. I would also suggest reading this article which offers the top touristic places in Turkey, to help you decide which are the best cities to visit, and which are the best monuments and places that you should visit in each city in Turkey. but it's in Arabic so, you will have to google translate it first :)