Hi,
I need advice about a trip to Greek Island and Turkey for about 15 days. Which is the best way to visit these countries? Can we do it by our own or is it more suitable to travel through a travel agency? We are a couple. Thanks.

Hi Haydee,

First you have to know how many days are you going to stay in Turkey and greece, Because 15 days is not enough for Greece and Turkey both country has many thing to see and visit.

Sinan Akdeniz
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If you go to Crete you can take the ferry to Rhodes then to Bodrum in So. Turkey. You can also fly if you have the budget for it. But Sinan is correct, it is difficult to see both of these countries in 15 days. Choose your itinerary wisely.

Hi Haydee,

Contact Mehmet Ozbalci at [email protected] He is a licensed tour guide and also a licensed travel agent and tour operator. He has a web site too.
Cheers

I'm sorry but I disagree that you cannot do a visit to the Greek Islands and Turkey in 15 days. It all depends on what you are most interested in seeing. You might consider taking one of the week-long Greek Island and Turkish west coast cruises which often include Istanbul; you could also spend a week on the Greek mainland doing Athens and the "classical" sights. You could do this either on your own or through a travel agent.
I think it is always more constructive to tell people what they CAN do rather than what they CAN'T do when it comres to travel. Hope this encourages you a bit.

15 days isn't long enuf - but if that's all u have - then depends on how resilient and independent u are. U Could fly to Athens and on to, say Rhodes or Samos. (or Chios, or Lesbos). Mention these cos they have ferry connex to Turkey. Then check out Izmir (for Ephesus) - but not from Lesbos unless u want to double back. Then spend a few days in Istanbul which is the most amazing city. Get on to Google and have a fish around.

But if u don't like the idea of pitching up somewhere where nobody speaks English and so can't tell u where the bus station is - then a tour as Intrepid advises would be the thing to do.

It is a little more difficult to arrange independent travel in Turkey than say in France but it can be done, just depends on what kind of traveler you are. I arranged airfare through a local travel agent in Turkey (lower cost), hotels by contacting the hotels directly and rental car by contacting Budget.

Of course you can't see all of Turkey and Greece in 15 days but after you figure out what it is you want to see you can see a lot in 15 days.

A cruise is another option as mentioned above but you will just get a tiny bit of each of the places you visit. We did it that way the first time we went and then returned to Turkey independently several years later.

Here is my recommendation, assuming you have 15 days including flights to/from Europe. If not, add a second Greek island:
- Fly to Athens, stay in Plaka, 1 day for Plaka walking tour, changing of the guard, Acropolis, and jet lag;
- Fly domestic to Mykonos or Santorini, 3 days including travel, you could push this and go to both but I don't recommend it, Mykonos if you like partying and Santorini if you like peace;
- Fly to Rhodos, 2 days including travel, walking tour of old town and tour of walls;
- Catamaran or hydrofoil to Marmaris, bus to Dalaman, fly to Istanbul, may have to overnight in Marmaris, so see the gulets;
- Istanbul 3 days including travel, stay in Sultanahmet, see 2-3 things each day, must sees are Blue Mosque and the area nearby, Cistern, Grand Bazaar, Topkapi, Haghia Sofia, watch closing days;
- Fly to Kayseri on a tour including transfers to Goreme or Urgup and a cave hotel and the 2 day guided tour (buses of 11 people), need a third day for travel, skip the underground cities if you are claustrophobic;
- fly back to Istanbul and fly home from there.

This is really tight but gets you the highlights.

more...

The 2-day Cappadoccia tour I was talking about can all be booked at any travel agent in Istanbul. We booked the day before leaving on all our flights in May (although the flights can be delayed for days in the Greek islands due to high winds year round).

I would take advantage of advice from Sinan, who often posts here, to try to pre-book Turkey hotels, flights, and tours if you are going in high season. I don't know about Greece, but a couple we met in Athens were the ones who told us about the cheap domestic flights, and they had booked from the US.

Domestic airfares are quite cheap, they were under $100US in both countries when I was there in 2000. The planes are typical of regional planes here, and the service good. You get a non-alcoholic drink, a sandwich, and some cake on Turkish Air. On the Greek flights you get Tang. The Greek flight we were on had a more worn looking plane than the three flights in Turkey.

If I were doing it again, I would not have done the two countries in one trip, each deserves more time. But it still can be done.

Hi Haydee,

I am from Turkey and travelled to Greece recently. I had to travel a lot of islands within a week. It was a rush but not impossible. The best thing to do if its a must to see both countries, narrow down the sites you would like to see. For instance 2 Greek islands than Turkish coast, Cappadocia and istanbul would be perfectly possible to visit.

You need to use air travel a lot. Domestic flights both in Turkey and Greece are relatively cheep.
In greece Aegean Airlines was perfect both by the service and the quality of the airplanes, in Turkey Turkish Airlines will be your only chooice, it has a good reputation and have many domestic flights/connections regularly.

If you give some hint about the budget and the desires about what you really want to do & visit I may give you some more help.

Have a good trip,

Murat

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