Turkey in October
 

I have posted this on TripAdvisor, but thought I might get some additional feedback on this forum. I have used both forums to get as far along as I am in this plan. I know I will soon have to look for air and hotels/apartments. Please give me honest feedback!

I have read many messages here and am firming up my plans for a visit of 2 weeks arriving around Oct. 12.

We are in our mid 60s and love to travel independently. We never have done a tour or hired a guide. Lately, we have particularly enjoyed travel where we use public transportation. We are less and less comfortable with renting a car. However, from my reading, it seems that we may need to rent a car and hire some guides.

Here is my current plan. I would like honest feedback and suggestions.

First 6 nights in Istanbul seeing the major sites. We would probably rent an apartment. Side trips would include: Erdine, Bursa, and a Bosphorous Cruise (using local ferries?).

Fly to Cappadocia for 3 nights. While here we would hire a driver guide for at least one day to tour an underground city. We would stay in Goreme and tour the open air museum very early on one day and then hike in the countryside. Can we do this by hiring a driver for just one day? Or are there short (1/2 day) small tours we could arrange upon arrival?

Fly to Izmir and rent a car. Drive to Selcuk. We would do side trips from here. One early morning (I understand 8-10 are the best hours) we would visit Ephesus. I have seen recommendations for Heraklera, Kriene, and Parmakkule-Aphrodsis.

Return car to Izmir and fly (take bus/train?) back to Istanbul for an overnight prior to our flight home.

Again, please tell me if this makes sense. I would love to think we could avoid the rental car in Selcuk....but is seems that those roads are quite good.

Thank you for your time and comments.

Your schedule sounds fine.

I was in Gorome for 4 days. Like you, I also hired a driver only to see two of the underground cities. For most of the other sites like the Open air museum and hikes in the valleys, I walked ... a lot and/or I used a combination of bus/dolmuses more walking :). Here are some things to note about Gorome:
1. The trails are not well marked at all, which was surprising for me since hiking is popular there. You'll see an arrow pointing to The Love Valley, for example, but when you follow the direction of the arrow, you most likely end up a dead trail end. I wasted way too much time trying to find where certain trails start, etc.

2. The walk up the open air museum is up a hill and can be tough under the hot sun.

3. I did ok with not having a car, but having a car will make seeing sights like Devrent Valley and Pasabagi much easier though. For Pasabagi, for example, I took a bus to Cavusin and then walked a few kilometers the rest of the way; It felt like a very looong walk to me. If I knew how to drive a stick shift I would probably have hired a car for a few hours :) But like I said, depending on what you plan to see, a car isn't really necessary.

4. There are a lot of tour agencies in Gorome, and they all offer various day trips of some sort. You should have no problem arranging day tours once you arrive. I hired a car and driver for the Underground cities from Yama Tours; The guys working there were very nice to work with.

5. Public transportation seemed to stop running after 6 or 7 ish. Twice I found myself having to walk back to Gorome from Cavusin in the evening.


You don't need a car for Selcuk if all you plan to see if Ephesus and some of the local sites in Selcuk. If you want to venture out to sites like Priene, Parmukkule, etc, then it's better to have your own car. I guess you can also hire a car and a driver from one of the agencies in town.

6 nights in IST sounds good to me also. I was there for 4 days but wish I had more. There are a lot to see beside just the major sites in Sultanamet.

Enjoy your trip. Turkey was sort of a last minute trip for me in the spring, but I ended up really loving it.

ethelsue, i may already have responded to you on TA, but anyway.

I do not recommend Edirne or bursa trips from Istanbul. Edirne has one major mosque, a few other Ottoman structures and fried liver restaurants, Bursa has two mosques and the skiing resort on the mountain that bears down upon the large industrial city.

I recommend Iznik and/or Bergama (if the Bora Jet flights to Korfez airport for Bergama are suitable) as day or overnight trips from istanbul.

be careful with your spelling of place names you wrote on your post, because you will not be able to google them or ask about them once the misspelling becomes mispronounciation and stays with you. -:)

>>The trails are not well marked at all, which was surprising for me since hiking is popular there.

I will certainly concur with this. See my Trip Report about Pigeon Valley . . . But on the other hand, I easily wandered across the street (and down the hill, of course) from the Kelebek & I was walking amongst the formations in 10 easy minutes. Guides can be hired easily in town.

>>The walk up the open air museum is up a hill and can be tough under the hot sun.

Agree again. It is 1.2 kms. It starts nice & easy, dips down a slight vale & up the last stretch to the Museum. But take it easy & it is certainly walkable if you pace yourself. You can always taxi back. ;)

In Göreme, you can hire guides for virtually any custom tour you want.

Ian

I would agree, as an avowed non-walker, that the Goreme Open Air Museum is an easy walk - there's always a small snack bar halfway to it where you can stop for an Efes!

I'd recommend you to read this trip report by someone I am quite familiar with and which will give you a lot of information on the area in general:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop...appadocia.html