Turkey Travel Tips: 2007
Ancient cultures, delicious food, and warm, sunny beaches: We love and Turkey! What tips do you have for your fellow travelers to the East Mediterranean?
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Pacha Tours
We were on a tour with Pacha tours,returned a few days ago. Had similar experiances to Chris (below).
Most of the tour was OK, (Turkish delight), but the last few days back to Istambul were'nt really fun.
Sitting all day in the bus, with short stops at another Greek or Roman ruin.
On the last day we only saw tha ANZAC war memorials at Gallipoli.
(Everybody not from Australia or New Zealand who travels to Turkey to see Australian+New Zealandian war memorials raise your hands!)
If you can arrange I suggest you fly back from Izmir.
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The communication with the Turkish pacha tours office was terrible. They didn't answer my e-mails, luckily they answered my wifes mails, but if there were two questions in the mail, we only got answer to one of them.
We arrived at the hotel and couldn't find out how to find our tourguide, had to continuously check in the lobby. Most of the other tour members had similar experience!!!
After returning from the tour they don't even answer my wifes e-mail.
I don't think it is a lot to ask.
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Apart from the above we liked the tour, the hotels, restaurants, guide, sights.
Andras
Budapest, HUN Wed 11/07/2007
Central Turkey advice
Here is my sister and my advice for planning a trip: Take the overnight train from Istanbul to Ankara and Konya to Istanbul. You will not miss any sights and you will save on time, hotel room and get a good nights sleep in the sleeper car. Try information on http://www.seat61.com. We had a private tour guide who drove us to Cappadocia, which allowed us to chat along the way. Take a bus to Konya. Add a balloon ride in Cappadocia!Our tour agency booked C?HANG?R BALLOONS, Pho: +90 384 219 26 65, Fax: +90 384 219 26 76, cihangirogluballoons@hotmail.com, www.cihangirballoons.com, NEV?EH?R. There are many companies available. Spend a few hours in Ankara. The Anatolian Civilizations Museum is great if you ever studied art or ancient history. Go to Atatürk's Mausoleum to really appreciate how much the man did for the country and how much the country loves the man. We had a private guide that glowed with his love for the nation's founder. Don't bother to stop in Konya: The Museum Mevlana Rumi, spiritual father of the Whirling Dervishes was okay. The Karatay Medrese, tile museum was closed for renovations. The tour (from arrival at the train station to the bus ticket to Konya was $1600 for two people with hotel. I recommend using a tour company. We used New Deal Travel Agency, Tel: +90 212 638 8622, +90 212 638 8623, Fax:+90 212 638 8624, Istanbul, www.newdealtravel.net, info@newdealtravel.com that we found on the internet. We are not tour fans, but the tour company makes it very simple and is worth the money. Some time we were rushed, but we did get to see a lot without stressing over how to do it. Email me if you want more info or advice.
Frances <email>
Cleveland, Ohio USA Fri 09/28/2007
How I planned my Turkey Trip
I knew nothing about Turkey before I left so here are a few tips: Borrow travel videos and books from the library. Read Richard Stoneman's Travelers History of Turkey. Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC before you go to places with rich art and architectural history. Their timeline is fantastic, you can search by time , subject or location. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm. Download scripts from this website. I got the travel itinerary from the Cleveland Museum of Art's trip planner (through a friend). I even dusted off my college architectrual history books for a brief reivew. I was very glad I prepared and felt like I could appreciate the country more. It is very rich in history. Make sure you visit Cappadocia!
Frances
Cleveland, OH USA Fri 09/28/2007
Istanbul Hotel
I found this suggestion on this website and it is worth repeating: Sebnem Hotel, www.sebnemhotel.net (Near Hagia Sophia and the Four Seasons Hotel) They have a car pick up service from airport, highly recommended for first time visitors. They are the greatest group of people. Nice rooms, roof terrace and breakfast. Moderate price range and 5%discount for cash (you can use Euros and USD also). If you need a tour agency or want to go carpet shopping, let them help you. There is a small laundry down the hill from them (follow the signs outside the door). We left some of our luggage there when we traveled to central Turkey with no problems.
Frances
Cleveland, OH USA Fri 09/28/2007
Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul
I just went to Istanbul on a holiday and everyone recommended visiting the Dolmabahce Palace. The Palace itself is beautiful, but the whole experience is a rip off. Entry to the palace is only possible through 'guided tours' organised by the palace administration. We paid 20 euros each for a ticket and a further 6 euros for a camera. After waiting for 45 minutes in a queue until they were happy that the group was big enough, we started the 'tour'. They really rushed us, and we were forced to see 60 rooms in about 60 minutes. We were really scrambling from room to room and had no time to appreciate the furniture, or crystals or the paintings or even to take photographs.
Definitely avoidable until they revise the system.
Anthony
London, UK Sun 08/26/2007
In Patara, stay at the Eucalyptus Pension
I just returned from a memorable week in Patara, Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast. The beach and ruins are amazing. I stayed at a small family owned pension, Eucalyptus Pension. It was comfortable and they served good food. I can recommend it highly. You can email the owner, Ahmet at eucalyptus07@hotmail.com
Rick Fahrenbruch <email>
Lincoln, NE USA Sun 08/19/2007
Pacha Tours
Just returned from 12 days with Pacha Tours' Turkish Delight tour. I am not a fan of bus tours as a general rule. However, the logistical problems with getting around in Turkey once we left Istanbul were going to be huge so we opted for the tour.
I won't go into what the tour covers as you can look at their web site. But I can give you the opinion of those of us on the trip.
The tours run 6 days a week and they run them no matter how many people there are. Your itinerary might start with 2 days in Istanbul and then you start traveling, 1 day in Istanbul, or you might do Istanbul at the end. This allows them to hit the road with a group about twice a week. The group ahead of us had 4 people. Our group had 12 and we were 5 of them.
They used a regular sized tour bus even though there were only 12 of us plus the guide. This was great. The last day another group's bus broke down and they took ours and gave us a mini coach to drive back from Gallipoli to Istanbul and that was torture. Turkish roads in general have not been repaired. Ever. Only patched.
The distances between stops was much greater than I had imagined. 5-6 hours with the bus going speed limit was average. I felt that the stop in Antalya was a waste of time and added 2 long days on the road. There is a great museum in Antalya that is not on the tour and you can see it with your afternoon off, but that is all.
The hotels that you stay at are all ok, except the one in Istanbul which no one liked.
The food at the Grand Royal in Istanbul was miserable in the morning and ok at night and the rooms were not great. But it was within a long walking distance of the old town and a short walk of the Bazaar.
You keep the same guide for the entire tour, except maybe for Istanbul. So you get to know your guide and can ask questions as you go. They have good systems worked out with the hotels for room assignments and luggage and that was nice and usually went very fast. They try to work it out so you stay in the same hotels as much as possible. Two nights here, two nights there. You don't do many one night stands until the end of the tour.
Every hotel advises you not to even brush your teeth with the tap water. The hotels sell bottled water for $2-$3 a bottle but often you can buy some at a store right next to the hotel for $.50 a bottle. Not everywhere, but many places. If possible before leaving Istanbul buy a 6 pack and bring it with you. You can leave items on the bus for the entire trip and that was nice.
We found that the people selling water on the streets had fair prices.
They take you to the carpet dealers, which was kind of cool, a leather dealer, and a pottery place. All high end stuff with high end prices. If you are looking to buy a leather jacket that feels as soft as cotton for $600 or so, this is the place. But that is the low end of the prices.
The hotel food, outside of Istanbul, was pretty good. Sometimes it could have been better, But it was never as bad as Istanbul. The food is included with the tour prices so that was also nice.
Our prices ran around $1000 per person plus airfare. This included everything except drinks. Pacha Tours is a budget company. You stay at what would be 3 star hotels in the US. I checked with some better tour companies that offer better hotels, private guides and you can decide what you want to see within a general framework. But their prices were double what Pacha Tours were.
So, while I was not totally happy with the Turkish Delight tour, when comparing the costs vs what you see, it was a good value.
Anyone trying to cover the same ground on their own is going to spend a fortune on fuel at $6 a gallon, and parking at many sites is either super expensive or can not be found. Some sites like Ephesus are designed for you to enter at the top and tour to the bottom where your bus picks you up. Also, because of the road conditions speed limits are slower than what you would expect so you need to plan for a long time between major sites. And if the road conditions do not slow you down, there were tons and tons of traffic police pulling people over every single day.
Overall I enjoyed Turkey but if you want to see ruins I would go to Italy or Israel first. Theirs are better. The best Turkish ruins are all in museums in Europe.
Best of luck!
Chris
Chris <email>
billings, MT USA Wed 08/08/2007
Kusadasi, Turkey
We had a wonderful tour in Kusadasi. I booked it on the internet at ephesustours.com. Sezgin met us at the cruise ship with a driver and spent the day with us. It was wonderful. We saw things we never would have seen on a cruise ship tour and it was less expensive. We highly recommend Sardunya Travel and Sezgin Demirci the owner. He also has a beautiful boutique hotel for those of you who are staying in Kusadasi.
Penne Cosgove
Lincoln, ca USA Fri 07/27/2007
Istnbul warnings/ Akrotiri site
My husband and I just returned from a month -long european trip that included Istanbul.
We had been there on a cruise ship in 1993 and always wanted to return. We loved Istanbul, but a warning to fellow travelers
about taxi-drivers scams: When hailing a taxi on the streets(as opposed to getting one from your Hotel)beware of the oldest trick in the book:When paying our driver the 26TL he charged, my husband handed him one 20, 0ne 5, and one 1 bill, and the driver returns the 5 and the 1 and says" not enough", after repeatedly arguing with him that he had been also given a 20, we realized the scam and walked out of the taxi! next day we were careful to count the fare when handling it to the driver, but he still tried the samething. Another driver faked "petrol problem" and turned off his car shortly before pulling into our hotel, we figured he had gotten in trouble with this hotel before.
And I was dissapointed in Santorini when trying to book a tour to the Akrotiri archeological site and was told it is closed indefinetely due to the caving in of the roof and 2 persons killed in this accident a couple of years ago. I did not see this in any guide book or travel websites. So if anyone is going to Santorini make sure you're aware of this. However there is the Museum of Ancient Thira in Fira which has a lot of the treasures from Akrotiri.
Nina Murphy <email>
Houston, TX USA Sat 07/07/2007
had a wonderful vacation in Istanbul
My girlfriend and I had a wonderful time over in Istanbul. We stayed in a family owned and operated little motel that has an awesome view. The service was absolutely great, it is almost guaranteed. So,check out their website at; www.bosphorusapart.com
Richard <email>
Houston, TX USA Thu 06/28/2007
Sothern Turkey Beaches
I just returned from the best family trip ever in Europe! We love the beach, hot weather and fun in th esun and we went to an all inclusive resort called "Lykia World" in Olundeniz, Turkey (west of Antalya). It had 19 pools, terrific food (with a wide diversity), and very interesting evening entertainment shows for the kids and family. It has a "Kids Paradise" water park with 5 long water slides and one raft slide which my 10-year old loved. Beaches were great. Most people there were from Germany, GBR, and Russia (capitalism and the oil market has created a large Russian tourist population). I saw this resort in a tour guide at my place of work (NATO) and then checked it on-line. Trip Advisor comments were very good, and we took a chance..it was a great 7 day vacation in early June. Weather was about 90 degrees each day, and nothing but clear blue sky (I returned to Brussels today and it was raining:(
http://www.lykiaworld.com/Index.aspx?txtLanguage=en
JK
Alexandria, VA USA Wed 06/27/2007
Turkish trip planning website
Even if you don't use their travel agency services, the user-friendly website of Asia Minor Tours is filled with solid, succinct info on individual archeological sites, cities and geographic regions of Turkey. suggested itineraries, reading lists and essays on culture, mythology, and cuisine make this an especially useful travel-planning site.
Mrs. George Rumney
Groton, CT USA Wed 06/20/2007
Capadoccia, Turkey
On a recent trip to Capadoccia we stayed at the Old Greek House in the small village of Mustaphasa, just south of Urgup. Very comfortable and wonderful authentic Turkish food. We stayed for a week and made a point of eating every meal at the hotel. We can't recommend it too highly.
Veronica
Navarro, CA USA Sun 06/17/2007
Selcuk
On our recent trip to Turkey (May), we stayed at a very nice hotel. Hotel Bella in Selcuk had great views of nesting storks, is across from St. John's Basilica and included a good breakfast. The short drive to/from Ephesus was provided by pleasant owner Erdal Kahya. Follow his suggestions for lunch the gozleme by the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers and the mezze at restaurant Ege'nin Sofrasi in Sirince were among the best meals we had in Turkey. Another nice amenity: Hotel Bella has an extensive library of local guidebooks to lend to its guests.
Larry Simmons
San Jose, CA USA Mon 05/28/2007
Sebnem Hotel - Istanbul
I recently stayed at the Sebnem Hotel in Istanbul. It was GREAT! It is located in the Sultanahmet area, near Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. It was about 55 euro per night for 2 people. En-suite bathroom, breakfast. Very nice roof deck / terrace with a sea view. The guys who work there are super friendly and there was always a small gathering of fellow travelers in the lobby. They have a great selection of books on Turkey and Istanbul that you can borrow.
Margaret <email>
Charlotte, NC USA Fri 05/25/2007
On carpet sellers
I think the carpet touts are part of the local color of Istanbul, though they can get annoying if you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry. We found that looking rueful and telling them "Oh we just bought our carpet," tending to cool them off. My favorite was the guy who stopped us offering to show us "places the tourists don't see." When we demurred politely, he assured us that he wasn't selling carpets. Turned out that his "shortcut" led right through his cousin's carpet place. So, technically he was telling us the truth--he wasn't a carpet seller, though his cousin is!
JER
USA Thu 05/10/2007
Istanbul
Went to Istanbul first week in April. What a great place to visit. Major solicitation by every carpet dealer, but it was part of the trip. Don't take them personally. Remember to ALWAYS ask "how much" before you order and watch those cabbies. Take the municiple ferry from the Europe side to the Marmara Sea. Excellent ride for $1.60 . I hope they stay secular.
Sal <email>
Olympia, Wa USA Sun 04/29/2007
Dersaadet Hotel - Istanbul
My wife and I stayed at the Dersaadet Hotel in March, and we could not recommend it more highly. It does not have Four Seasons comforts, but the staff is the friendliest (and hardest working) we've ever encountered on any trip. The location is great and the terrace cafe is wonderful. All at a very reasonable price.
Jim Frasher
Milwaukee, WI USA Mon 04/16/2007
Türkiye
Hi everybody! I am planning a trip to turkey in december! i am interested in meeting people who are turkish (because i want to learn turkish and more about the turkish culture) and also people who are interested in turkish! Any tips for me?
Evan <email>
Portland, OR USA Tue 04/03/2007
Special Places in Turkey
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to let everyone know about a new website to find really special places to stay in Turkey..
It is www.specialplacesinturkey.com Check it out..It is really good and the places are unique..It is for people who are looking for a personalized service and who are looking to live the culture and be with local people..Really cool!!!
www.specialplacesinturkey.com
Evrim Erdem <email>
Brussels, Belgium Tue 03/06/2007
Travel tips for Turkey
Hi,
I'm an Aussie in Turkey and have experienced what it's like to travel here (sometimes alone, which as a female, can be ... interesting!) and now what it's like to live here. If anyone has any questions about travelling through Turkey, or about the country in general, I can try to help you - or find someone around here who can!
Karyn <email>
Pamukkale, Turkey Tue 02/20/2007
Turkey and Greece
Hope to travel to Turkey and Greece this fall, so just in the beginning stages of planning. Is it easy to travel there or should take a tour? We love to be on our own. any suggestions on places to go? We have 3 weeks.
Thanks,
Helene <email>
brentwood , ca USA Mon 02/05/2007
B&B in Turkey
Does anybody know of a good B&B/Pension in Istanbul.
Robert <email>
N.Van, B.C. Canada Sun 02/04/2007
Want to email with tourist Turkey
We are planning a trip to Turkey in March. We would like to visit with someone who has been there recently as we have questions best answered by someone with travel experience in this county. If you have visited Turkey and do not mind answering a few questions, please email me.
Peggy Oliver <email>
Orange Park, FL USA Sat 02/03/2007
For single women who want to avoid harrassment
During a recent visit to Turkey I had a few days on my own before my conference started and my in-laws joined me. A woman alone staying in the Sutanhamet area, I was constantly harrassed by carpet salesmen and tour guides. I found that wearing a headscarf when I went out alone made me invisible.
Claire Garcia <email>
Colorado Springs, CO USA Tue 01/30/2007
Istanbul Tips
You should visit the Istanbul section of the trip advisor website. They have lots of great information. www.tripadvisor.com.
Kellie
Wichita, USA Sun 01/14/2007
any tips on visiting turkey from athens?
i am going to be in athens at the end of this month and am interested to visit turkey for a few days while i am there.
any tips on where the best places to go might be? istanbul? are the train tickets expensive? are the hostels friendly to americans? what is the best hostel to go to?
torrey <email>
boston, ma USA Sat 01/13/2007
Weather
June is toasty in Turkey! Bring summer clothes!
B.D.
Santa Fe, NM USA Wed 01/10/2007
Weather
What is the weather like in June in Turkey?
KK
WA USA Wed 01/10/2007