On a tight vacation schedule to fly in late May from Bologna, Italy to Kas, Turkey. But the ~ 9 hour flight & ~4 hour bus means I would spend my 1st night in Turkey at the airport city of either Antalya or Dalaman. I am seeking a watery vacation, so instead of losing a day like this, how doable & wise to fly from Bologna (or a nearby city) to one of the Greek Isles? And then from there a day or three later, a ferry (preferably) or flight to Kas or another Turkey port or one of those Turquoise Coast airports? My own uninformed search of flight & ferry schedules indicates this to be difficult. Many thank you's for your expertise!

I do hope someone else more familiar can chime in, but from doing baseline research, it does not look like this is will be an easy trip and you may end up losing that day in transit regardless.

It is possible Rhodes to Kas is an option via ferry - but would be about 7.5+ hours in transit. But the next hurdle would be to see who flies to Rhodes from Italy.

Maybe check out Rome2Rio.com for your options in all directions. Be sure to verify the information in the underlying links.

Are your flights to Bologna and (assuming home) from Kas already set? If they are not, then perhaps you just need to retool your itinerary. It seems awfully complicated.

You're trying to square a bunch of weirdly shaped circles.

May is early in the season for Italy to Greece flights. Worse the airlines serving these routes change things every year. Maybe look at Vueling they tend to fly Italy to Greece and they start earlier. Other than that not sure. Worse rarely are these flights very often. They can be one very early morning flight a week.

The other option would be connecting in Athens.

The second issue is getting to Turkey. I'm not going to say it isn't done but Greece to Turkey I don't think is an easy option.

Bologna doesn't help. Its not a huge airport . You may need to look at one of the other Italian airports. Depending on the Greek island literally anything from Naples in the south to Bergamo in the north. Or you may be lucky and Bologna may be the airport that got the flight.

Are you stuck on Turkey and Greece? How many total days do you have? Where are you flying back to? Also depending on how late in May you risk running into the June 2nd long weekend. The flights the days before the holiday are going to be pretty full already.

The Greek mind is more relaxed than this Anglo-American rush.

I'd slow down.

IMO, Antalya is a delightful city. If your goal is Kas (or thereabouts), I have difficulty understanding why you would balk at a night or two there.

The places around Dalaman and Antalya are both nicer and more interesting than Kas.
IMO the best sandy beach around Kas is Demre (Sülüklü Plaj/Andriake Beach Club)

Buit if you MUST go to Kas, the closest airport is Kastellorizo:
Timetable for random date May 25th:
Rome Fiumicino dp 6.05 - Rhodos Diagoras ar 9.35, dp 11.05 - Kastellorizo ar 11.45, dp by local ferry 16-00 - Kas ar 16.20
Fares/pax:
Ryanair Rome - Rhodes: from 13 EUR without luggage
Olympic Air Rhodos - Kastellorizo: 52 EUR, economy
Meis Express Kastellorizo - Kas: 30 EUR
In the case you miss the Rhodes - Kastellorizo flight, you may go by catamaran (dp 16.30) from Rhodos Tourist port to Fethiye (ar 18.00) and by bus dp 21.00 (company Fethiye Seyahat) to Kas ar 23.00

BTW: the beaches around Rhodos (Tsambika; Agathi, etc.) are much nicer than those around Kas

You may also fly daily with Aegean from Milan, Venice or Rome to Athen or Rhodos (via Athens), sleep there and go on the next morning,Flights Rhodos - Kastelloriizo are not daily, however.

Immense gratitude for your informative response. On 5/24, I travel from Ebensee, Austria to Bologna. Probably by train. On 5/27 or 5/28, I am thinking of traveling from Bologna to Turkey's Turquoise Coast. (First time in Turkiye). I will travel from Turkiye to US East Coast on 6/2 or 6/3. I will follow the persuasive advice that jamming in a stay mid-route on a Greek Isle is unwise. Turkiye is the one place where I will have a car. I hope to drive to lesser populated vistas along the coast, plus ruins and other somewhat out-of-the-way sights & natural wonders hopefully well away from a lot of settlement. I know little about Kas, Patara, Antalya or Fethiye. To stay in a easy-going, lesser-touristed coastal town or city as a jumping off spot for such forays ~ if you's like to suggest your choice for those qualities, I'd be thankful. From my research, I am assuming I would not as much enjoy those larger populated cities, even though they have more urban curiosities. Is it possible to find on that Coast a town that is more like Turkiye and less like a tourist meetup? Now I want to say I am especially grateful for the positive views of Antalya. An overnight there I will likely do. "...you risk running into the June 2nd long weekend" I see both Greece & Turkiye have holiday weekends 6/6-6/10, with Eid that same weekend. I don't know if you mean travel those few days ahead of this major holiday will be difficult. Or if travel the weekend of 5/29-6/1 will (also) be difficult. I am reassured because you and the other respondents have developed such useful & succinct knowledge.

Thank you for your sage advice. I will try.

I’m sorry I can’t recommend a specific location, but I would note that even if you stay in one of the more touristed cities along this stretch of coast, there is no need to immerse yourself in the heart of tourism. You will almost certainly need to rely on tourism infrastructure to at least some extent, but you have a lot of control over what you experience. IME, whether you experience something as a “tourist meetup” depends much more on what you do than where you stay.

Booking.com should allow you to identify some options for accommodations in the outskirts, and if you have a car, I would think you would have quite a few options.

If I’m understanding your plans correctly, you’ll have as few as 4 nights to explore a large area filled with amazing sites. That’s ambitious! If I were you, I’d be looking for the most convenient base. JMO.

Hope that helps!

Coast between Gazipasa airport and Bodrum airport:
Gazipasa: rather small place with almost only Turkish tourists and a rather bad stony beach
Alanya, Manavgat, Side: full of Western tourists. Many big hotels, mostly good sandy beaches.
Antalya: big noisy city. The scenic old city is a noisy open air disco from 9pm until 4 am. During the day, it's calm. Tons of hotels, tons of package tourists. Traffic hub for the whole area and for the stunning ancient cities of Side, perge, Aspendos, Termessos, Phaselis.....
Kemer - Tekirova: a lot of big and expensmive hotels, full of Western European and Russians package torurists..
Phaselis: 3 nice and almost empty sandy beaches desppie the fact that they can be reached by frequent buses from Antalya and from Tekirova. Sundance Nature village with b asic cabanas and restaurant for guests onloy closse to the beach.
Cirali, Olympos, Adfrasan: pebble beaches with many small hotels and pensions behind. Individual tourists from all over the world. Never crowded.
Demre: beautiful sandy beach and pebble beaches. Many Turkish and some Europen and Russian tourists. Never crowded.Greek ruins, among them the cathedral where St. Nicolas come from.
Kas: crowded and partly noisy city with tons of toruists from Western Europe and Russia. Lycian sargophagu and rock tombs to visit. No good beaches around.
Kalkan: small hotels and B&Bs. some pebble beaches
Patara:: small hotels, individual tourists from all over the world,, excavated ancient city, long sandy beach, never crowded.
Xanthos, Letoon: archeological sites around Kumluova. Long sandy beach. small hotesls behind.
Kabak: sandy beach with some rather basic, but expensive accommodation. Very touristy. No local settlement.
Fethiye/Olu Deniz: big connurbation with tons of hotels, noisy discoes and European and Russian package tourists.
Günlüklü: private sandy beach of a incredibly expensive beach club and hotel.
Inlice: sandy beach with some small hotels behind. rather Turkish tourists
Göcek small city with rather Turkisch tourists. One good small sandy beach and some pebble beaches.
Dalaman: sandy beach a mile from the runway of Dalaman airport.
Sarigerme: rather sandy beach with 4 German (TUI) holiday clubs behind. Many moscitos in the evening.
Iztuzu: long (never crowded) sandy beach with few accommodation around (at Gozleme, in walking distance). Most people arrive by bus, boat or car from Dalyan city. Ancient site of Kaunos naerby.
Ekincik: Sandy beach with some small hotels behind. Rather Turkish Tourists.
Marmaris: small town, corowds of toruists from all over the world. All kind of beaches around.
Maris Bay: nice sandy beaches managede by Mais bay hotel (prices for a double start at 500 EUR)




.

I am at once grateful & enthusiastic to receive your on-the-mark info. Just what I need. I hope that others seeking such a rundown will happen upon your informative post. Now, if only I could direct to you some of the money I spent on Lonely Planet's Greece travel book.

If that is what Antalya is like now, I surely am glad I saw it when I did! Traffic in the area was congested, but the old city had a lot of charm. No disco parties.