Turkey: Revised Itinerary! Please Help with Final Plan!
 

I posted our loose itinerary a couple of months ago when we were originally planning this trip. I have done much more research so I am posting our new itinerary and I would appreciate advice! We were originally going to be gone for 19 days with 17 nights in Turkey after travel time. We may bump that to 18 if I can convince my boyfriend to stay an extra day.

Arrive in Istanbul on Friday morning, May 20th. 2 nights/3 days in Istanbul (we are also spending our last 2 nights there). We prefer exploring a city on foot outside rather than spend hours on tours through castles, churches and mosques so we may not want to go inside all of the attractions in Istanbul. I know that the must sees are The Blue Mosque, Topkapki Palace, Aya Sofia and the Hippodrome. If we were to skip an interior tour which one of these 4 things could we skip on this trip? We often prefer just a visit to the site admiring the exterior of a building.

Night train to Ankara. Arrive early a.m. Take bus to Cappadocia. 3 nights in Goreme or Urgup. Hot air balloon ride one morning, explore the area, possibly renting a car for the day to allow for more flexibility. Another option for us is to stay 2 nights/ 2 1/2 days and take the night bus to Antalya. It is nearly impossible for me to sleep on any mode of transport, even a plane in 1st class, but traveling at night would allow us to spend an extra night along the coast.

Has anyone taken this night bus? Out of the 2 options above, which would you recommend and why?

2 nights Antalya - We would like to see Aspendos, Perge, Termessos, Chimaera and Olimpos in this area around Antalya and Kas. Is it best to visit the first 3 from Antalya and Chimaera and Olympos on our way to Kas?

2 nights Kas - Scuba dive one day, kayak and explore Kekova the next. What is the best dive in this area? I have done most of my diving in the tropics and I have heard the sea life isn't as abundant in Turkey so maybe a wreck dive would be best? Has anyone done any kayaking from Kas?

1 night Dalyan - River cruise to see the Lycian Ruins.

2 nights Bodrum - Day trip to Rhodes, Greece. We would spend a day exploring Rhodes old town, sipping a cold beer or 2 and relaxing. Is this a nice excursion?

2 nights Selcuk - Explore Ephesus, Priene, Didyma and Miletus. If we choose to skip one of the last 3 areas which one should we skip? It seems like a lot of ruins to see in a couple of days.

Due to the size of the country I am sure we will return some day.

Are we making a mistake by missing Pamukkale, Afrodisias and Pergamum? If you had a choice between visiting Pamukkale and Afrodisias or Pergamum, which would you choose? If we add another day it will be done in one of these two areas. If we don't add another day should we cut one night from Istanbul in order to see one of these areas?

Fly from Izmir back to Istanbul.

Last 2 nights in Istanbul

I thank you in advance for any kind advice that you will offer!

Cheers!

Tamara

Tamara:

Your trip is looking awesome! You are certainly going to be seeing some wonderful parts of Turkey. You are correct that there is just not enough time during a two week plus vac to see even a fraction of what Turkey has to offer. We are having the same problem trying to narrow the focus. Looks like you are going to have a ball.

Just a quick suggestion before I digest the rest...why not fly from Istanbul to Yaseri instead of the long bus ride, internal arifares are relatively cheap.

I did mean Kayseri and airfares...sorry about the gibbering finger !! ;)

Hi eurotraveller,
I see you worked a lot on your trip already. My remarks/questions are the following.
Is there no possibility to make 1 stay in Istanbul, and have it combined with an open jaw ticket arrival/Istanbul departure/Izmir if you visit Istanbul first or arrival/Ankara departure/Istanbul if you visit Istanbul at the end of your trip? You would cut travelling at least by half a day and have less hassle with luggage/hotel check-in.

Istanbul: you are not obliged to take tours. Just by a good guide book and hit the town. You should unevitably see the Aya Sofia and the Topkapi Palace, and it would certainly seem strange to stand in front of the Blue Mosque and not enter... You should also see the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Way down from Ankara, your biggest problem seems to be the estimation of travel time.
Your Cappadocia trip could comprise Göreme, Avanos, Zelve, Ürgüp, maybe Kayseri. Try to get information on these sites. Renting a car will be a very great help.
Your Antalya/Kas part is interesting but is only doable by car if you want to see all of these spots. See at the most Aspendos, Thermessos and Perge, try to have a trip to Side.
Dalyan is OK.
Bodrum. From time to time the custom formalities between Turkish and Greek territories can be (have been) a strain. Try to get all the custom information you need before doing this excursion.
Selcuk. I would concentrate on Ephesus and Milete.

So, do not underestimate the scale of the country and the time it takes to get from one town to another and then to all these places of interest.
As I see your trip, I would need a car from Ankara- till Izmir-airport to see your entire program on a leisurely tempo.

I hope Marko has digested your trip schedule by now and can add some useful information.

The Blue Mosque, Topkapki Palace, Aya Sofia and the Hippodrome., these are all must sees and you can easily cover all of the first three in one [long] day. The hippodrome you don’t go into you go on ! Second day see the Grand Bazaar and the Spice markets...just for the fun !! Do not buy anything, if you see anything you want leave it until you come back to Istanbul.

As I said I would fly to Kayseri for Cappodocia, I have heard that the Balloon flights are stunning and possibly the company you are using may provide a guide and car for the day.. Well worth the money. It is an amazing place and is visually and historically stunning. Have dinner at Somine in Urgup.

I can’t offer any advice up until you get to Bodrum, when we were there it was early in the season and we had to go to Marmaris to get to Rhodes, if that’s the case it will make for a looong day and Baldrick was right about the customs formalities very abrupt! Bodrum castle is a nice half day !

Staying in Selcuk puts you in a great spot for Ephesus, which was my favourite place in Turkey. We were advised to skip Miletus. We took in Pammukale which was great but it was a long drive from Kusadasi and we were very tired at the end of the day and really spent too long in the van !

Of the places you mention possibly skipping in Istambul, I would skip the Hippodrome -- since I already have -- I though it was essentially outdoors, anyway. Of the other three, I found Topkapki least interesting; however, it is well worth seeing. In my opinion the experience of seeing the Harem Quarters seemed hardly worth the wait (separate line) to get in, and I would not repeat that aspect of Topkapki. I would also put on my must see (or, in my case see again) list the underground cistern -- I found it very interesting, but you can pop in, get a sense of it and be on your way in about 30 minutes. One experience that I definitely would repeat is going to the big several hundred year old bath house (cannot remember its name, but your hotel will likely have ads) -- after the initial trepidation, it was a very memorable experience. And, whether you expect to or not, you probably will end up in a carpet showroom drinking apple tea somewhere in you trip; it's not a bad experience -- just go with the flow -- and keep your sales resistance intact (unless you want one of the carpets).

I would try to get to Aphrodisias which will one day outshine Ephesus - we found it quite amazing all that was being unearthed. Pammukale is a bit of a distance from the Izmir/Selchuk area, but if you were coming up from Antalya via the Taurus mountains this could be done. However, since you're traveling via the coast towns, you might have to skip this.

Visiting Aphrodisias will take up a good portion of the day. Pergamum is way out of the way (NE of Izmir) and since you don't have time to include all, this would have to wait for a return visit.

Thanks to everyone for your quick and helpful responses!

I had forgot to mention that we will most likely rent a car in Antalya and drop it off in Selcuk.

Baldrick, we had considered continuing on to Selcuk on the same day we arrived in Istanbul but due to the distance between Portland, OR and Istanbul and the fact that I can't sleep unless fully reclined in a bed, we chose not to continue on from Istanbul. That would have added several hours on to our already exhaustingly long travel time to Istanbul.

We had originally thought of flying from Istanbul to Cappadocia but Tom B. of www.turkeytravelplanner.com speaks so highly of the express sleeper train that we decided to give that a shot. We enjoy the overnight trains in Europe.

I realize that it is still another 4 1/2-5 hours to get to Goreme or Urgup but I am not concerned about that. By taking the train we will also not have to make the trip back to the airport. Who knows? We may still decide to fly to add a few hours to our trip.

I think we will skip Rhodes, Pamukkale and Pergamum. Too much to see in Turkey!

We really want to see the Lycian ruins around Dalyan but I am a mosquito magnet and I have heard this area is the worst place for mosquitos! I would rather not stay the night. Is there another area to see the tombs in the rock walls? Can we see them with a quick stop in Fethiye.

What would be a good place to stop between Kas and Selcuk? I would almost skip Bodrum but it seems the most logical stopping point before Selcuk.

Thanks again!

just a bit to add from aprevious post from last year , another must see from Istanbul.
I woke very early,about 5am, wide awake !!! a knock on the door it was the twins wide awake showered and fully dressed ready to go go go ! So I was up and took them up to the roof to watch the sunrise over the Blue Mosque, an almost surreal moment with the bright blue sky, the gleaming sunrise and the staggering size of the Mosque ( I hope the photos turn out !)
The Blue Mosque was the first stop when our guide picked us up, the immensity of the place is hard to relate to, the massive 5 metre pillars that support the dome make one feel very small ! The fact that I am a quite unreligious person doesn't stop me from being in awe of the faith that drives people to build places like this. The hippodrome is just across the street so we toddled over there, its interesting to compare the two Obelisks, the Egyptian one and the Roman (ithink) one, the red granite obelisk is in marvellous condition and its twin looks like it is going to fall to bits. Close your eyes and you can imagine the chariots rushing around a la Ben Hur style, today they would be beeped at by the numerous yellow taxi's. Next some underground entertainment, the Yerbetan cistern. A wonderfull example of Roman recycling with columns and supports dragged from all over the empire. The kids were more interested in throwing bits of bread to the fish that swim around. The lighting and the classical music create quite a moody atmosphere also heightened by the fact we were virtually by ourselves. Is there really a huge city bustling above our heads?"

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