Time of Year to visit Turkey?
Oct 10th, 2009, 03:51 PM
#1
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Time of Year to visit Turkey?
Because of a family commitment we "have" to go to Turkey either from approximately May 5-27 or later from May 30-June 18. We would like to include a gullet trip on the Turquoise Coast as part of our itinerary. Generally will it be warm enough in the earlier time frame or better to go later. Will it be too hot for the rest of our trip in the June segment?
Oct 11th, 2009, 01:42 AM
#3
It depends on how warm or cool you prefer your sea during the gulet trip. In May sea temperaturs will range from 18to 20 and in June you can add another two and sometimes even three degrees to that. The further south you take your trip the warmer it will be. The most scenic areas are between Gocek and Fethiye.
- I recommend taking the gulet from Gocek for that time of year.
- Without knowing what your commitments are,i would say do Cappadocia first if included in your plans, followed by Hieropolis, Aphrodisias and Selcuk (Ephesus,Miletus, Prienne, Heraklia, Bodrum, Gocek, gulet or from Cappadocia to Side, Manavgat, Aspendos, Perge, Phaeselis, Olympos, Kas, Kekova, Kalkan, Tlos, Fethiye, Gocek, blue trip, fly back to istanbul for last few days from Dalaman airport.
- I recommend taking the gulet from Gocek for that time of year.
- Without knowing what your commitments are,i would say do Cappadocia first if included in your plans, followed by Hieropolis, Aphrodisias and Selcuk (Ephesus,Miletus, Prienne, Heraklia, Bodrum, Gocek, gulet or from Cappadocia to Side, Manavgat, Aspendos, Perge, Phaeselis, Olympos, Kas, Kekova, Kalkan, Tlos, Fethiye, Gocek, blue trip, fly back to istanbul for last few days from Dalaman airport.
Oct 11th, 2009, 08:15 AM
#4
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I can have four weeks in either time table. We are planning to go to Cappadocia from Istanbul and then the Ephesus area. Can we also cover the more "southern part"near Fethiye and Gocek also? We do not have to go to every ruin or town in these town areas.
Oct 11th, 2009, 10:13 AM
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Michael, You are quite a traveler! I appreciate your thorough report on your trip to Turkey last year. We too are from the SFO area. We have two groups of friends who took on separate occasions private,guided, individual trips in Turkey. Now that I am beginning to study the land, I am thinking maybe we can do this more on our own with rental car as you did. In fact the only trip we have taken that we did not do on our own was SE Asia where driving is very difficult. I have some questions for you.
Did you make all the arrangements including domestic flights, rental car, hotels on your own or did you have a Turkish Travel agent do it? if you had an agent, who did you use?
Did you make all the arrangements including domestic flights, rental car, hotels on your own or did you have a Turkish Travel agent do it? if you had an agent, who did you use?
Oct 11th, 2009, 03:11 PM
#8
Dear Zinfanatic,
You can easily do everything on your own.
Some pointers:
- The time of your visit in either time frame is suitable for having a flexible itinerary except for the flights and the gulet trip.
- All large hotels and holiday villages in Anatolia will be at reduced pre-season prices. The smaller hotels usually cannot afford multiple pricing but even then, some may be cheaper than July/August.
- The roads are good quality with some motorways and quite a bit of divided multilane highways. The signage is European and not much different than American.
- Driving ethics are poor and knowledge of traffic rules are also minimal, but there is little congestion, except close to major cities. Watch out for pedestrians also.
- Rural areas may have slow tractors.
- Speed limits are 120 +10% k on motorways but almost no speed checks, so people drive 140-150k usually.
- Quite strict speed checks on all other roads including highways where the speed limit is 90k but can drive up to 98-99. Radar and spot checks are usually close to major towns.
- Make sure you specify Automatic, because most rental cars have manual shift.
- I would recommend toyoto corolla, VW Passat, Renault Laguna, opel vectra, and if none of those Renault Megane or Ford Focus. The Civic and Hyundai Accent have low ground clearance, and the Fiats do not have enough power.
- Unless you read quite a bit and prepare, having a guide for the duration of your visit in Cappadocia makes good sense. There is a great deal to see, good hikes, visits to typical regional restaurants and village homes, etc. you may not be able to find on your own.
- Avoid any guide or tour agency which includes a visit to a carpet weaving exhibition or a carpet or leather or other types of souvenir shop.
If you are very culturally inclined, i will recommend Fest Travel for any part of the country. They employ very qualified knowledgeable guides, who could easily bore someone like me to death.
- If you arrange a guide for Cappadocia, you will not need a car there.
- i strongly recommend that you fly from cappadocia to either Southwest or West and not drive, unless you want to follow one of my alternate routes to Mersin and silifke or Karaman, Mut, Ermenek, anamur, even if it means that you go through Ankara.
- if you like nature ans the discovery of new places, tell me and i will give you the above alternatives. Each will take about 4-5 easy, picturesque days to reach Antalya from cappadocia.
Antalya to Gocek for the Gulet can easily be done in one day, or leasurely, on the scenic roads in two or three days.
Selcuk/Ephesus/Sirince can be done after the Gulet trip.
- The reason I mentioned Side, etc. in the South is that you will find good beaches and white water rafting at Side which is a resort built on the ruins of an ancient town.
- The road from Antalya to Kas is very beautiful with young high mountains, covered with pines meeting the very blue sea, not at all like what you will see on the gulet trip or at Greek islands.
- You do not have to visit every antique site. In fact there is no way you could do that in one season. I would recommend those that are also at scenic locations or have something that other sites do not have.
- If you fly to Izmir airport from Cappadocia and rent your car there, Selcuk is only 90 k mostly on motorway.
- I strongly recommend that you pick most of your hotels from the 'small hotels of turkey" web site. We have stayed at some tremendous hotels and all with character.
- You can stay in hotels Nazhan or Bella in Selcuk, simple, with small rooms, very special breakfasts and very different. Bella also has a very good restaurant.
-You can also stay at Sirince, where you have a bigger choice of special hotels, and again very good restaurants which will serve you the incredible semi-wild regional greens which you will not find anywhere else. Regular hotels and restaurants have standard tourist menus.
- Before going down to Gocek, consider staying at a B&B at Kapikiri (Heraklia) on Bafa lake and take a guided hike up to the neolithic caves with early men drawings and/or to the deserted monastery.
- Try to find and look through the dull but very informative books by John Freely on these regions.
- Aphrodisias and the travertines of Pamukkale can be done as a long day's tour from Selcuk.
- For lively night life you may try Bodrum. The upscale Golturkbuku area will not have started livening up but for luxury lodging with the Turkish jet set you may try one of the hotels there, like Divan Palmyra.
You can easily do everything on your own.
Some pointers:
- The time of your visit in either time frame is suitable for having a flexible itinerary except for the flights and the gulet trip.
- All large hotels and holiday villages in Anatolia will be at reduced pre-season prices. The smaller hotels usually cannot afford multiple pricing but even then, some may be cheaper than July/August.
- The roads are good quality with some motorways and quite a bit of divided multilane highways. The signage is European and not much different than American.
- Driving ethics are poor and knowledge of traffic rules are also minimal, but there is little congestion, except close to major cities. Watch out for pedestrians also.
- Rural areas may have slow tractors.
- Speed limits are 120 +10% k on motorways but almost no speed checks, so people drive 140-150k usually.
- Quite strict speed checks on all other roads including highways where the speed limit is 90k but can drive up to 98-99. Radar and spot checks are usually close to major towns.
- Make sure you specify Automatic, because most rental cars have manual shift.
- I would recommend toyoto corolla, VW Passat, Renault Laguna, opel vectra, and if none of those Renault Megane or Ford Focus. The Civic and Hyundai Accent have low ground clearance, and the Fiats do not have enough power.
- Unless you read quite a bit and prepare, having a guide for the duration of your visit in Cappadocia makes good sense. There is a great deal to see, good hikes, visits to typical regional restaurants and village homes, etc. you may not be able to find on your own.
- Avoid any guide or tour agency which includes a visit to a carpet weaving exhibition or a carpet or leather or other types of souvenir shop.
If you are very culturally inclined, i will recommend Fest Travel for any part of the country. They employ very qualified knowledgeable guides, who could easily bore someone like me to death.
- If you arrange a guide for Cappadocia, you will not need a car there.
- i strongly recommend that you fly from cappadocia to either Southwest or West and not drive, unless you want to follow one of my alternate routes to Mersin and silifke or Karaman, Mut, Ermenek, anamur, even if it means that you go through Ankara.
- if you like nature ans the discovery of new places, tell me and i will give you the above alternatives. Each will take about 4-5 easy, picturesque days to reach Antalya from cappadocia.
Antalya to Gocek for the Gulet can easily be done in one day, or leasurely, on the scenic roads in two or three days.
Selcuk/Ephesus/Sirince can be done after the Gulet trip.
- The reason I mentioned Side, etc. in the South is that you will find good beaches and white water rafting at Side which is a resort built on the ruins of an ancient town.
- The road from Antalya to Kas is very beautiful with young high mountains, covered with pines meeting the very blue sea, not at all like what you will see on the gulet trip or at Greek islands.
- You do not have to visit every antique site. In fact there is no way you could do that in one season. I would recommend those that are also at scenic locations or have something that other sites do not have.
- If you fly to Izmir airport from Cappadocia and rent your car there, Selcuk is only 90 k mostly on motorway.
- I strongly recommend that you pick most of your hotels from the 'small hotels of turkey" web site. We have stayed at some tremendous hotels and all with character.
- You can stay in hotels Nazhan or Bella in Selcuk, simple, with small rooms, very special breakfasts and very different. Bella also has a very good restaurant.
-You can also stay at Sirince, where you have a bigger choice of special hotels, and again very good restaurants which will serve you the incredible semi-wild regional greens which you will not find anywhere else. Regular hotels and restaurants have standard tourist menus.
- Before going down to Gocek, consider staying at a B&B at Kapikiri (Heraklia) on Bafa lake and take a guided hike up to the neolithic caves with early men drawings and/or to the deserted monastery.
- Try to find and look through the dull but very informative books by John Freely on these regions.
- Aphrodisias and the travertines of Pamukkale can be done as a long day's tour from Selcuk.
- For lively night life you may try Bodrum. The upscale Golturkbuku area will not have started livening up but for luxury lodging with the Turkish jet set you may try one of the hotels there, like Divan Palmyra.
Oct 12th, 2009, 07:05 PM
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Otherchelebi, Thank you so much for your thorough answer and suggestions. I am actually leaning toward not driving if possible. After doing some reading over the weekend I am thinking about the following:
Istanbul-
Troy and Gallipoli environs on tour transport to Ephesus area ???
Fly from Izmir to Kayseri and hire local guide and driver for Cappadoccia area
Transport to Antalya ??? and then see some ruins and stay in small village on coast-maybe rent a car????
Gullet?
Fly from Dalaman back to Istanbul
This is a very rough attempt.!!! I am attempting to do Cappadoccia first and leave the coast until later when we can maybe swim. Zinfanatic
Istanbul-
Troy and Gallipoli environs on tour transport to Ephesus area ???
Fly from Izmir to Kayseri and hire local guide and driver for Cappadoccia area
Transport to Antalya ??? and then see some ruins and stay in small village on coast-maybe rent a car????
Gullet?
Fly from Dalaman back to Istanbul
This is a very rough attempt.!!! I am attempting to do Cappadoccia first and leave the coast until later when we can maybe swim. Zinfanatic
Oct 13th, 2009, 12:12 AM
#10
Zinfanatic, unless you have a special interest in the Dardanelles battles of WW1, although Gallipoli is a scenic area, there is very liitle to discover there except Anzac and turkish war memorials and cemetaries.
Troy also does not have much left because it was plundered too many times, the last one being in the 19th century. Even behramkale/Assos 70k South and Pergamom further East from assos have more to see and imagine.
Also Gallipoli/troy has no real proximity to Ephesus, and they do not need to be combined. You would be wasting time at Gallipoli and about 12-14 hours on a bus.
Directly Cappadocia from Istanbul, Flight to Izmir, rental car for ephesus and environs (very easily down on your own)
Fly from izmir to Antalya, rent car, a small village, in an interesting botanical environment but with pebbly beach is Cirali, close to the fires of the Chimera.
Do not take gulet from antalya because the coast from Antalya towards fethiye or Marmaris, although quite nice, does not have the multitude of secluded coves, promontaries, and the trip is more on open seas.
Continue driving to Dalaman airport, return car and pick gulet at fethiye, marmaris or Gocek. Fly back from dalaman to istanbul.
Although i would find it a bit cold myself, my wife would swim at Antalya area and during the gulet trip at these times and enjoy it tremendously (19-22 degrees centigrade)
Troy also does not have much left because it was plundered too many times, the last one being in the 19th century. Even behramkale/Assos 70k South and Pergamom further East from assos have more to see and imagine.
Also Gallipoli/troy has no real proximity to Ephesus, and they do not need to be combined. You would be wasting time at Gallipoli and about 12-14 hours on a bus.
Directly Cappadocia from Istanbul, Flight to Izmir, rental car for ephesus and environs (very easily down on your own)
Fly from izmir to Antalya, rent car, a small village, in an interesting botanical environment but with pebbly beach is Cirali, close to the fires of the Chimera.
Do not take gulet from antalya because the coast from Antalya towards fethiye or Marmaris, although quite nice, does not have the multitude of secluded coves, promontaries, and the trip is more on open seas.
Continue driving to Dalaman airport, return car and pick gulet at fethiye, marmaris or Gocek. Fly back from dalaman to istanbul.
Although i would find it a bit cold myself, my wife would swim at Antalya area and during the gulet trip at these times and enjoy it tremendously (19-22 degrees centigrade)
Oct 13th, 2009, 12:02 PM
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So is this the order you would do it as I understand the preceding?
Istanbul- Cappadocia
Cappadocia to Izmir to do Ephessus
Izmir- Atalaya to see ruins and the coast.
Rent a car? Is that the only way to see the coast? and then fly back from Dalaman to Istanbul
I do understand that there is a certain part of the coast that is pretty for the gullet trip if we do it. Renting a car is problematic for us, but if that is only the way to get around that is ok. Thanks so much for your input.
Istanbul- Cappadocia
Cappadocia to Izmir to do Ephessus
Izmir- Atalaya to see ruins and the coast.
Rent a car? Is that the only way to see the coast? and then fly back from Dalaman to Istanbul
I do understand that there is a certain part of the coast that is pretty for the gullet trip if we do it. Renting a car is problematic for us, but if that is only the way to get around that is ok. Thanks so much for your input.
Oct 13th, 2009, 12:06 PM
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I would rent a car from Cappadocia to the time when you take your gulet cruise which should be at the end of your trip. For me, that would be the most logical order. You probably would rent the car in Kayseri.
Oct 14th, 2009, 12:11 AM
#13
With due respect to Michael, renting a car in Cappadocia and driving the rest of the trip is an ardous task even for a resident like me, let alone a first timer who has reservations about renting/driving. We have done it when we had a lot of time on our hands and wanted to explore areas such as Nigde, Manazan, Karaman, Mut, Ermenek, which would mean at least two nights on the way.
The longer distances like Istanbul-Cappadocia, Cappadocia-Izmir or Cappadocia-Antalya are best done flying.
the alternative for rental car between Izmir airport and Antalya or Dalaman/Gocek is to take busses. The busses are usually very comfortable but you would lose flexibility and have difficulty in visiting interesting antique or nature sites once you get to where you are staying, except with expensive private tours, or herded with others to leather and carpet shops in addition to the sites selected by the tour operator rather than yourself.
Driving is not difficult in those areas during the time of your trip. You will not need to enter any major congested cities. Antalya airport towards the west you would take the ring road which is busy but clearly signed. You would never need to enter Izmir as the airport is to the South of the city and reasonably close to Selcuk (Ephesus).
In summary, yes you could possibly do the Gulet from Antalya to Gocek for flight back to Istanbul from Dalaman.
You can also take bus to Cirali, and from there to Kas and Kalkan for a few days of rest at a nice quiet and interesting area, and take the gulet from there.
And, actually if your Gulet trip is 7-10 days you can actually take time to see some sites where you overnight and also have time for the prettier parts.
I am thinking out loud. If it is not too big a deal, rent the car only in Selcuk for Ephesus and environs, do Antalya to a resort West of the city by bus, take gulet from there to Gocek, thus limiting your driving.
The longer distances like Istanbul-Cappadocia, Cappadocia-Izmir or Cappadocia-Antalya are best done flying.
the alternative for rental car between Izmir airport and Antalya or Dalaman/Gocek is to take busses. The busses are usually very comfortable but you would lose flexibility and have difficulty in visiting interesting antique or nature sites once you get to where you are staying, except with expensive private tours, or herded with others to leather and carpet shops in addition to the sites selected by the tour operator rather than yourself.
Driving is not difficult in those areas during the time of your trip. You will not need to enter any major congested cities. Antalya airport towards the west you would take the ring road which is busy but clearly signed. You would never need to enter Izmir as the airport is to the South of the city and reasonably close to Selcuk (Ephesus).
In summary, yes you could possibly do the Gulet from Antalya to Gocek for flight back to Istanbul from Dalaman.
You can also take bus to Cirali, and from there to Kas and Kalkan for a few days of rest at a nice quiet and interesting area, and take the gulet from there.
And, actually if your Gulet trip is 7-10 days you can actually take time to see some sites where you overnight and also have time for the prettier parts.
I am thinking out loud. If it is not too big a deal, rent the car only in Selcuk for Ephesus and environs, do Antalya to a resort West of the city by bus, take gulet from there to Gocek, thus limiting your driving.
Oct 14th, 2009, 10:41 AM
#15
Heliopolis and Aphrodisias are only two and a half hours drive from selcuk, and it is not necessary to waste two days on dull roads to see them as Michael also admitted in his trip report.
If you are a resident traveler, doing these roads for the past 40 years then you could do discovery trips to remote and not so remote areas, looking for remnants of older civilizations and incredible naturally scenic lakes, canyons, streams, cliffs, mountains,etc., especially after you have been to most major and minor touristic or non-touristic sites on the standard roads between towns.
otherwise, there is no reason for driving long hours when you have limited time, especially if you are not very happy with driving on the arid middle anatolian plateau. (unless you go to the Manazan caves, and strange black lakes and sink holes, and talk to the farmers about how they manage to survive and grow crops by destroying their environment, and distribute presents to very poor village children, and books and games to schools, and dog and cat food to starving strays.
just read what people write, look at the web for suggestions, look at some travel books and make your own decision according to your own views, values and interests. Sorry this sounds very pedantic, but I find it strange that people try to force their own experiences on others without empathising with the OP.
If you are a resident traveler, doing these roads for the past 40 years then you could do discovery trips to remote and not so remote areas, looking for remnants of older civilizations and incredible naturally scenic lakes, canyons, streams, cliffs, mountains,etc., especially after you have been to most major and minor touristic or non-touristic sites on the standard roads between towns.
otherwise, there is no reason for driving long hours when you have limited time, especially if you are not very happy with driving on the arid middle anatolian plateau. (unless you go to the Manazan caves, and strange black lakes and sink holes, and talk to the farmers about how they manage to survive and grow crops by destroying their environment, and distribute presents to very poor village children, and books and games to schools, and dog and cat food to starving strays.
just read what people write, look at the web for suggestions, look at some travel books and make your own decision according to your own views, values and interests. Sorry this sounds very pedantic, but I find it strange that people try to force their own experiences on others without empathising with the OP.
Oct 14th, 2009, 12:54 PM
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Otherchelebi,
Would you go to Ephesus first from Istanbul and then Cappadoccia and then from there to the coast? Or Istanbul to Cappadoccia then back to Izmir and then to Antalya by flying? I can definitely see the value of having a car on the coast west of Antalya.
I do want to limit the driving. Can one drive from Selcuk to Heriopolis and Aphrodisias as you stated in 2 1/2 hours, stay one night to see all the sights and then drive back to the airport at Izmir? Perhaps it would be better to hire a car and guide.
I am reading a watching this board. This board is invaluable in planning because it often gives infor you cannot get in books. I have used this forum with much success on many trips.
Would you go to Ephesus first from Istanbul and then Cappadoccia and then from there to the coast? Or Istanbul to Cappadoccia then back to Izmir and then to Antalya by flying? I can definitely see the value of having a car on the coast west of Antalya.
I do want to limit the driving. Can one drive from Selcuk to Heriopolis and Aphrodisias as you stated in 2 1/2 hours, stay one night to see all the sights and then drive back to the airport at Izmir? Perhaps it would be better to hire a car and guide.
I am reading a watching this board. This board is invaluable in planning because it often gives infor you cannot get in books. I have used this forum with much success on many trips.
Oct 14th, 2009, 02:19 PM
#18
Zinfanatic,
i think I would do cappadocia first. it does seem to be a good idea to fly Kayseri-Izmir.
however, once you do the 2 1/2 hours driving to Denizli/Pamukkale area and see aphrodisias on the way, you are already reasonably close to Antalya.
You can do denizli-Korkuteli-Antalya, shorter distance but narrower winding road. Or Denizli- Dinar-Burdur-Antalya wider and faster road, possibly 5 hours.
Thus you could pick the car at Izmir airport and drop it at Dalaman easily.
If I missed giving you this info:
-speed limit 120k +10% on motorway and 90k+10% on other roads unless specified.
- Many speed traps and radar, especially on divided highways close to bigger towns.
- Watch out for reckless driving and follow vehicles behind you on rear view mirrors.
- pedestrians have no respect for vehicles!!!
Overall, i will say that the areas you will be traversing, the driving is definitely easier than Italy, Spain and France.
You will not need to take guides with you anywhere. You can probably find guides at each location you visit (except for Miletus, Didyme and Prienne maybe) Even at Heraklia by lake Bafa, if you go there, there will be someone to give you information. You should also read on aphrodisias.
i think I would do cappadocia first. it does seem to be a good idea to fly Kayseri-Izmir.
however, once you do the 2 1/2 hours driving to Denizli/Pamukkale area and see aphrodisias on the way, you are already reasonably close to Antalya.
You can do denizli-Korkuteli-Antalya, shorter distance but narrower winding road. Or Denizli- Dinar-Burdur-Antalya wider and faster road, possibly 5 hours.
Thus you could pick the car at Izmir airport and drop it at Dalaman easily.
If I missed giving you this info:
-speed limit 120k +10% on motorway and 90k+10% on other roads unless specified.
- Many speed traps and radar, especially on divided highways close to bigger towns.
- Watch out for reckless driving and follow vehicles behind you on rear view mirrors.
- pedestrians have no respect for vehicles!!!
Overall, i will say that the areas you will be traversing, the driving is definitely easier than Italy, Spain and France.
You will not need to take guides with you anywhere. You can probably find guides at each location you visit (except for Miletus, Didyme and Prienne maybe) Even at Heraklia by lake Bafa, if you go there, there will be someone to give you information. You should also read on aphrodisias.
