Hello All,

Every Year, me and my wife visit a new destination and in 2018, we wish to do Turkey . We have a total of 9 days.

A friend of mine suggested Istanbul, Goreme, Pammukale and Selcuk. I personally would also like to visit Antalya.

1) Is all this possible in 9 days. Can you please suggest an itinerary. If we need to skip any one of the destinations...which one would it be?

2) Can we do a trip to Turkey on our own using public transport OR do we have to use a tour company?

3) Is December a good time to visit?

Thanks....

1. Yes, but rather hectic
2. It's very easy to do it on your own
3. No, probably one of the worst months

As neckervd said, you CAN see all thse places in 9 days, but whether it makes sense to do so depends on your interests. For example, I wanted 6 full days for a first busy visit to the highlights of Istanbul, 3 full days for Goreme, etc. Here's what I recommend: Get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting lost/oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

I agree that there is no need for a tour – it is easy to do on your own. Whether you will need a car or can rely exclusively on public transportation depends on what, exactly, you end up choosing to see.

For historic climate data, see wunderground.com or timeanddate.com