Where should I go when I leave Istanbul?
 

So I'm finally getting to Turkey in September! While it feels like I've been planning this trip for years, I really have done no research. We're only going for about 8 days (once you take away the travel time) which doesn't seem long enough for three stops. I'm thinking four days in Istanbul and then... what? At first I thought the Aegean coast, but we just did a big ruins trip and I don't want beaches. SO now I'm rethinking about flying to Cappadocia, since that's something that would be totally new. But will we be bored with 3-4 days in Cappadocia? If we rent a car, can we daytrip somewhere? Also, if we do this we would have to fly back to Istanbul the last night and stay at a hotel near the airport because our flight leaves at noon. Is this at all worth it? or should I stick to the coast? Help!

You will not be bored! We spent 3 days in Cappadocia and wish we could have spent more. It is indeed other-wordly, a truely magical place, but you must plan to do some walking to get to many of the sites. As Cappodocia is a rather large area you will definitely need a car to get to all the sites. With a noon flight you will not need a hotel near the airport. Check with Turkish Airlines - they might have a morning flight from Kayseri to Istanbul. Enjoy your stay in Turkey!

Hi Charlie --

Thanks for responding! Where did you stay in Cappadocia? I'm thinking Urgup, but I just e-mailed Esbelli Evi hotel and they are booked already! They sent me the name of Kayada Hotel. Ever heard of it?

oops -- meant Kayadam hotel!

amy-- We stayed at the Esbelli Evi - too bad it is fully booked and I have no knowledge of the Kayadam Hotel. If you stay in Urgup try the Somine Restaurant - best food we had while in Turkey. We were there on our anniversary and I toasted my wife with a glass of good Turkish wine with "I love you" in English, German, French, Spanish, Greek, and Polish. Not knowing the Turkish, I glanced quizically at the young waitress, who giggled and obliged. I now know how to say "I love you" in Turkish and was also rewarded with a free dessert. Also try the Greek House restaurant in Mustafa Pasa for lunch - a truly Ottoman experience. I know you will have a wonderful time!

Hi Amy - seems to be a few of us Fodorites going to Turkey in Sept. We might need to start a thread to see if any of us are going to overlap times and towns. When will you be there? Hubby and I will be there Sept 10 through 25.

Yes, September will be a busy time in Turkey for Fodorites. We'll be there the last two weeks of the month!

Well, now I know who booked all the rooms at Esbelli Evi! Hubby and I will be there the 10th through the 18th. Too funny! We'll be in Cappadocia the 14-18. Actually, if we find enough fodorites there during that time, we may want to try to organize a group tour since they're cheaper... something to think about!

OK, as for hotels, Yunak is more than we wanted to spend. Anyone heard of Urgup Evi? My Frommer's book says that if Esbelli Evi is booked to stay here... I'm not sure how much I trust them though.

Thanks for the restaurant recs!

We'll be in Turkey from Sept 3 to 21 - can't wait!

Amy! We will be in Cappadocia Sept 14-17! (And yes, we ARE staying at Esbelli Evi, sorry for taking your room!) I would love to discuss getting together for a tour. I have heard of Argeus in Cappadocia for good tours, I know there are more, lets look into them, or perhaps a private guide. Anyone else???

BTW Amy, are you coming to Cappadocia from Istanbul? We arrive Istanbul very late the 10th and have ressies at Empress Zoe. I really think we ought to start a September Turkey thread to see where we might have overlaps. Plus, if we get to internet cafes while there, we can pass along handy tips to those coming after us!

Turkish trail run comfortable sleeping cars with good restaurant cars attached. So I suggest to overnight trips, to Konya and to Ankara. Konya has the tomb and shrine of the founder of the whirling dervishes (a great order of Sufi mystics), a pleasant city centre with several houses for coffee and cake, a sultan’s garden a bus ride up a hill where you go for lunch and the view, and a small but good museum of classical sculpture. You get a strong taste of Moslem devotion, and much of the time you are cool, indoors. Just by the shrine is a hotel, well accustomed to tourists, which I made my base for my day, breakfast to dinner.

Ankara is of course the capital, an attractive modern city on hills, with a large museum of all the past Anatolian cultures, not just the Greek and Roman, and without Islam, which gets a look-in with the winding hillside lanes of the old town in the Citadel.

You can book your journeys at the Sirkeci station in the old city, just below the Topkapi Saray. You want to be sure that you take the trains that have sleepers (smaller, and with their own wash basins) not couchettes (washbasin along the corridor). I am afraid my detail is two years old, but little will have changed. You start with a ferry from Europe (Karakoy) to Asia (Haydarpasa). This runs several times an hour, takes 15 minutes, and gives you a grand view of the old city, as the sun sets behind the great mosques. As your boat makes to tie up at Haydarpasa you should enjoy the view of the station, a combination of Turkish and German imperial taste, at the gateway to the Baghdad Railway. If your feet are tired you might leave Karakoy early, to have time enough to dine slowly in the good station buffet, with some wine to help you sleep (the restaurant car has beer but no wine). In 2003 the Meram Express left at 1920 and reached Konya after a restaurant car breakfast and omlette at 0821. Times back were Konya 1750, Haydarpasa 0630, but if the train is late you have the comfort of a fuller night, and perhaps breakfast on the train as you trundle through the Asian suburbs of Istanbul, while businessmen beside you tap their fingers. In case the train is late you should take an upper berth, and ask your conductor to wake you just 30 minutes before Haydarpasa. That way you actually want the train late, to let you sleep till 0730 or so.

The Ankara Express ran from Haydarpasa 2230 to Ankara 0800 and from Ankara 2230 to Haydarpasa 0800.

You should talk at Sirkeci about how to book the sleepers back to Haydarpasa. Two years ago trains with sleepers, couchettes, and restaurant cars ran daily from Ankara at 1808 to Sivas at 0700 and Cetinkaya at 0901, and daily except Tuesday and Thursday from Sivas at 1905 or 2005 to Ankara at 0730 or 0658. Trains are poor between Ankara and Konya, so you may need a bus.

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Sorry that I forgot to say that Sivas and Cetinkaya are good bases for touring in Cappadocia. Also, that there are a detailed and able survey of rail travel, country by country at http://www.seat61.com/, and a note on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.geocities.com/rexbickers/...ghttrains.htm/.

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Geees ! We will be busy in cappadocia this september ;-) Nice to hear great enthusiasm from you guys.
Esbelli might be fully book, yes September is high season in Cappadocia.
Since Esbelli is the one of the first Cave Hotel of the region and run by a Gentleman named Suha and they look after their guests in a good manner and reputation no wonder they are full. Urgup house close by is a good guest house too. All the hotel at that area are Ok. Yunak is also good one with more modern amenities etc. I assure you that you wont be bored after 3 days. 1stanbul and Cappadocia combination is one of your best choice. You might connect your noon flight from Kayseri.
Consider a hot air balloon ride when in Cappadocia. Would be nice to meet fodorities at Somine restaurant one night while chatting with local wine being consumed !!! if locals are allowed.

Have a great time in Cappadocia.

Murat

Hey Ben -- thanks for the info.

HappyCheesehead, I think we're taking the same trip. We are getting to Istanbul the morning of the 10th (and the Empress Zoe looks lovely), but we're staying at the charmless and utterly unTurkish Intercontinental. We have hotel points that we need to start using :) I'm hoping Esbelli Evi will have a cancellation. They are booked only one of the nights (the 15th) of our stay so I'm still trying to figure the whole thing out.

The tour I keep seeing mentioned is Cappadocia Tours, which was started by a guy that everyone keeps raving about -- saw his name in several other threads. I will dig it up.

Amy, you are starting to freak me out - and I only mean this in a "what a coincidence" way. In addition to the Empress Zoe ressie we have, I ALSO have InterContinental rooms reserved on points . Hubby travels for business quite often, and he has about a half a million points with Holiday Inn right now. I thought we might want to stay in Sultanhamet instead, but am holding the Intercontinental room in case I change my mind.

That's too funny! What a coincidence. I think I'm going to book at Urgup Evi and if Esbelli has any cancellations I will reshuffle things around.

Hi Amy:

Are you flying from Istanbul to Kayseri on the 14th? Right now we are planning on taking the 8:35 Turkish Air flight to Kayseri and then renting a car. I am trying to work on the rental now. Have you looked into car rentals at all yet?

Hey Cheesehead, I hope you're still on here. I got swamped at work and just looked at this thread.

I think that's the flight we'll take too (I haven't booked that part though). I think the hotel I have reserved has a free airport pickup, so I'm not sure yet if we'll rent a car. If you do, I highly suggest AutoEurope -- if you can't drive stick, be sure to tell them! there's some thread on here where I asked this group about renting a car in Paris (if you search by my screen name, you'll find it) and got some good suggestions.

ok, here's my current logistical jam: Right now, we are on a Delta direct flight from Istanbul to the states that leaves at noon on Sept. 18 and lands around 4 p.m. I wanted to spend 4 nights in Cappadocia and leave the morning of the 18th, but the only flight that I could take is at 6 a.m. I don't know if I'm up for that kind of morning. Any idea how far the airport is from Urgup? The other option is we could take the next flight at 11 a.m., land at 12:15 and then change our Istanbul flight to a connection through Amsterdam -- an itinerary that would mean two plane changes and ultimately landing at 10 p.m. Or, we could leave Cappadocia the night before, stay at the airport the night of the 17th and fly out on the direct flight.

I am so torn, I don't know what to do. I hate the idea of cutting the vacation short and staying at the airport the last night because we only have 9 days there. And I hate the idea of getting up at the crack of dawn or landing so late.

What would you do?

Hi Amy:

Yes, hubby and I can both drive stick. I have quotes from Auto Europe but was a bit worried because they were not quoting any agencies with airport pick up. I started a thread about it and got spanked by Patrick because I was not making it clear I knew how Auto Europe worked, LOL. I also got quotes from Argeus (using Thrifty and Budget) and they advised they would bring the car to me from Urgup with no additional charge. Auto Europe was quoting a pick up through EuropeCar, but according to them I have to make my own way from the airport to downtown Kayseri, which, also according to Patrick, is not any big deal.

Your situation is a bit of a conundrum. I agree that it would be very hard to trade in a last night in the Cappadocia region for an airport hotel. I assume you are going back to work Monday morning and a 10pm arrival (which will be about, what, 4am body clock time?) would be pretty rough. I would HATE to give up that non-stop. I believe that the Kayseri airport is approximately 60 to 75 minutes from Urgup, approx 55km. Will your hotel take you to the early flight? By the way, I think it is at 5am, not 6 if it is Turkish Air you are going to be flying. Argeus usually runs a shuttle to the airport, but not for that early flight, according to their website. I am sure there must be some sort of transport that can be arranged. I would be just a tad nervous myself counting on a local flight getting me to Istanbul in time for a flight home. I mean, what if for some crazy reason it did not fly that morning??

I guess I personally would choose to fly to Istanbul the night before given your three options, but that’s just me. I wonder, though, if it would make any sense for you to spend two days in Istanbul, go to Cappadocia, then come back for two days? I don’t know, you are then losing parts of two days for travel so there is a downside to that also.

Right now hubby and I are wrestling over our return date, originally scheduled for Thursday the 22nd . We just cannot see both the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts in the 4 days after Cappadocia and we are unwilling to give up either one. I think we are going to bite the bullet and use another 50,000 points (and the 100 dollar change fee) to rule bust our flight to leave September 25. I hate to do it, I mean 50,000 points is a full R/T ticket to Europe in exchange for only three additional days but I just don’t know if we will ever get back, the world is too big a place.