I am going with two friends to Turkey at the end of August-September. We know that we are going to stay in Istanbul for at 5 days. We definitely want to get to Cappadocia (thanks to all of the other messages), possibly Ankara, Ephesus, and Kusadasi. My main concern is getting from Cappadocia to Ephesus. We were thinking of doing one of the mini-tours with Pasha or would it be better to go on our own? We will have about a week to travel. Any suggestions about possible itineraries? Thanks - I really like reading about everyone's experiences.

Hi ShaSha32

After Istanbul you may use TRAIN (Sleeping) or BUS to Ankara visit some important places like Anatolian Civilization Museum and Mausoleum of Ataturk. Stay overnight in Ankara or continue your trip to Nevsehir, Goreme or Urgup for your Cappadocia tour.

After Cappadocia you can take a bus to Konya or NIGHT BUS to Selcuk to visit Ephesus. I wrote Konya because you may visit MEVLANA (whirling Dervishes)museum, Karatay Medresesi (Religious School) Ince Minare Mosque.

If you are using BUS instead of PASHA TOUR there is one more place to visit Between Cappadocia and Selcuk (Of course after Konya) that place is Pamukkale and Hierapolis.


Have a nice trip in Turkey

Sinan Akdeniz

Hi ShaSha32,
Alternatively to Sinan's suggestion; Fly to Kayseri from istanbul, hire a car and follow Konya, Pamukkale Ephesus route (1) or Konya, Antalya, Fethiye, ( or Kas & Kalkan, Dalyan )Kusadasi, Ephesus (2) depending on your time concerns.

Happy Travelling,
Murat

I'm with Murat. Driving in Turkey was a pleasure compared to most of the rest of Europe. Nice, uncrowded well marked roads, and nice to get off the beaten path and stop at will. It all depends on how much time you have, but those long overnight bus rides never sounded appealing to me.

By the way we got a very cheap flight from Istanbul to Keyseri where we got our car and drove to Konya and Antalya then followed the coast to Kusadasi, turning our car in there.

Thanks for the suggestions? Any suggestions about what airline is the cheapest to fly from Istanbul to Keyseri? I understand OnurAir is decent, but is it reliable?

I have a few additional questions:

1. Any suggestions for hotels in Ephesus or Kusadasi (nice, but not overpriced)

2. Is Turkey safe to travel right now?

3. Is Ankara worth missing? From all of the other replies I have read, it is worth spending additional time in Cappadoccia.

Thanks again for your advice!

I.m also traveling from Cappadocia to Kusadasi and I would like to travel by car. I am VERY nervous about driving on roads that have sharp drop offs. Is there a way of getting there without driving on roads that are high up with sharp dropoffs (like cliffs, high and not so high).

thanks...Gzzer

We were in Turkey in October 2003...Instead of staying in tourist-laden Kusadasi or Selcuk, we opted for Izmir, where my husband had played in during college when he toured with USO band entertaining US Troops in Turkey.

We stayed at the Hotel Aksan, a 4-star hotel for about $50/night, and rented a tour guide and driver from there to take us to Ephesus. Tildem, our guide, was by far the best thing that ever happened to us in Turkey. She was wonderful to talk with and after a full day there, we had made a new friend...we talked about politics in our respective countries, and enjoyed helping each other debunk myths about both. Most Turks (at least the several we met) were pretty scared of our Texan president, and wondered if we were all "like him". Oi.

Just a note: buses in Turkey are by far the nicest buses I've ever traveled on. We took a 9-hour bus ride from Izmir to Turkey, and they have a steward, driver and baggage guy on board. They stop for lunch and you have to pay attention to when they're leaving, but they stop at nice places to eat. In fact, the short 1.5 hour trip from Kusadasi to Izmir had the same 3-person staff, and they served tea and other beverages "inflight". I was amazed at the service.

I can't begin to tell you how wonderful our 2-night stay was in Izmir. I was stared at like I was a celebrity walking down the street in some areas. We went to dinner on the waterfront and had a waiter whose only foreign phrase was "auf wiedersehen"...so every time he brought us a course of food, he said "goodbye" in German. LOL. They were positively THRILLED to see us try Turkish, working on it at our meal as we read through our phrasebook.

Never in my life will I forget the kindness and generosity of the Turks. They are by far the friendliest, most wonderful people to meet so far in my travels.

Jules