Turkey itinerary help
 

I am planning a trip to turkey in mid may. i will ferry into either marmaris or bodrum from rhodes, greece. if i was to choose either Marmaris or Bodrum which one would be a better choice?
next stop ephesus, cappadocia and istanbul. i need help routing the trip so i am not wasting too much time. are their bus/train routes between these cities or flying the best option? i plan on staying atleast 2 days in these cities. thanks

There are buses between Ephesus and Istanbul. If you want to maximize your time, take an overnight bus. Info: http://www.visitingeu.com/turkey/201...o-ephesus.html

you will get more frequent ferries from Rhodes to Marmaris, which is much closer. However, Marmaris to Selcuk (Ephesus) will take about 5 hours by bus.

Selcuk is 45 minutes to izmir airport, and it is told that there are sunexpress flights from Izmir to kayseri or Nevsehir at Cappadocia. Otherwise you would have to fly via Istanbul.

Two days at each of these locations will not do justice to Istanbul or Cappadocia. Two days is enough for Selcuk and environs, but will not allow you to visit Aphrodisias, Pamukkale and Hieropolis, or even Herakleia which is closer on the way from Bodrum.

all three areas are worthy of your attention and time, but it really depends on you whether you wish for a whiff or a good taste.

i really wish i had more time in turkey. but this is what i call an orientation trip. i am sure i wud want to go back. since bodrum is closer to the selcuk area, i am going to be looking for ferries from rhodes to bodrum. since we r not planning on renting a car, how easy it is for me to get to ephesus. i dont have much time to check out a lot in selcuk- was thinking of probably doing ephesus and pamukkale. then take a flight from izmir to nevsehir. is sun express the only flight between these 2 cities? also how easy is it to get to goreme from the airport? since i am planning to end my trip in istanbul, will have to catch another flight from nevsehir to istanbul
i am sorry if i sound all over the place. i am trying to make the most of my trip and squeeze in as much as i can. thanks for all the advice

Selcuk is the name of the small town that is nearest Ephesus (2k) It also has a small museum which has all the things that were excavated in Ephesus. There are the remnants of St. John's basilica (large), a castle you cannot visit, a not too exciting old mosque and the Saturday street market.

If you manage to find a fery to Bodrum, you will probably reach it in the afternoon (5 hours?)

you take a txi to the inter-city bus depot. wait for whatever it takes, ang get a bus towards Selcuk. Note that there may not be direct busses, in which case, you would take a bus to Soke or Kusadasi and wait for one to Selcuk from there or stay the night at Kusadasi.

The next morning, early, you take a minibus, dolmus from kusadasi or a taxi from Selcuk to Ephesus (recommend upper gate). Hire a guide at the entrance (live, not audio), also visit the Terrace Houses. Possibly three hours but you could rush it.

Get to town, visit museum and basilica (lrave virgin Mary's retreat to another trip), and take bus to Pamukkale. (leave Aphrodisia to next trip) Stay at Pamukkale.

Visit the travertines, heliopolis, possibly cleopatra's pool.
Take bus to Izmir, getting of at airport intersection to take taxi to Izmir airport for evening or night flight to Cappadocia if sunexpress flies at that time, or through Istanbul via THY or Anadolu Jet, or Pegasus. If no connection, you stay one more night at Selcuk or Istanbul.

All of the above can be done without a rental car.

If you rent a car, i believe you will save something light 5-8 hours in two days, which you can use to visit VM and Aphrodisias, as well as making better flight connections.

A third option is to leave yourself in the hands of a good, experienced tour guide like Fatma Acar (that is the name i remember from Trip Advisor Forums, but there are other good ones according to the posts). They will make sure that you see the most and also arrange your connections. Their costs may not be that much more than those of the other alternatives.

You can fly to Nevsehir or Kayseri to get to Goreme. Kayseri is the larger airport with more frequent flights. Nevsehir is closer but has fewer flights. Neither of them are very close.

I recommend that you ask your hotel to arrange the transfers.

You probably should also either join tours, or hire a private guide, or read a great deal and rent a car or scooters in Goreme area. There is no way you're going to visit most areas with dolmus and on foot.

Thanks otherchelebi for ur help. I was informed there are no ferry services to bodrum from rhodes till june. So i guess it will have to be rhodes to marmaris. how easy is it for me to get buses from marmaris to selcuk? If i can squeeze in Pamukkale, would it be easy for me to get to Izmir from there or from Selcuk? thanks

Actually, Marmaris to Pamukkale, and then to selcuk makes a lot of sense, if you check any highway map of Turkey.

"Pamukkale" bus company runs a number of busses from Marmaris to various destinations, through Denizli. About 3.5 hours. The price will be about 20TL. You would need a local dolmus minibus to get up to the travertens and Hieropolis.

The route from Denizli to Selcuk is also easy and will take about 3 hours.

Izmir airport is to the South of the city of Izmir and North of Selcuk. Denizli/Pamukkale is almost due East of Selcuk.

There is also a 45 minute train service from selcuk to Izmir airport.