Istanbul Travel Answers

You can book, but it's very easy to arrange trips to the places you mentioned yourself. They are all well-visited and well connected. For Capadocia, I believe there are direct flights from Istanbul to Gulsehir (I know there are direct flights the other way). Certainly in Goreme, there are day tours of the area offered everywhere, and people I've talked to have been pleased with the ones from the hotel I'm staying at. It's also very easy to rent a car and visit places yourself (I've been doing this). You can also fly from Istanbul to Izmir, which is near Selcuk/Ephesus, and back to Istanbul from Denizli, which is near Pamukkale. (Or the other direction.) The drive between Selcuk/Ephesus and Pamukkale is perhaps 3 hours, and there are a lot of options for getting between them. Again, I had a rental car, but no one I talked to had issues with the buses. Rather, they didn't have problems with the normal buses - the ones associated with tours got grumbles because they stop at carpet and crafts stores as part of the tour. For people not in groups, most sites have either official guides you can hire, or good recorded descriptions. Sorry that doesn't answer your question about pre-arranged tours. If you choose to arrange it yourself, you can email me for recommendations for mid-range hotels in Selcuk, Pamukkale, and Goreme - I had good luck. Nemrut Dagi might be an interesting day/overnight trip (fly into Malatya or Adiyaman, pick up a tour from there). I haven't done this yet, but am looking forward to it!

You might also be interested in going to Edirne, up near the Greek border. Do a google search for further info. It is one place in Turkey to which I would like to return, as we only had a day plus an overnight - not long enough.

Thanks for replies - should have said, though, we don't want to drive :). 'Wrong' side of the road (for us) and too stressful. :)

Understandable :) You can do all those things without driving yourself, too, even without a tour. The bus/shuttle system here is pretty amazing.

If you want a conducted tour contact Insight Travel (google it). They are based in Kas but conduct tours of Istanbul and various regions of Turkey. I went on a two week tour with them last year and was very pleased.

Ephesus, Cappadocia and Pamukkale are most visited locations by tourists. It is quite understandable that you would like to see them too. Most agents prefer arranging overnight buses to these destinations which you stated that you don't want. There are budget flights that may save the day for you and your partner, but you need to get them as early as possible to catch good deals. You can try Pegasus, Anadolu Jet, Onur Air or Atlas Jet. I can add Bursa as another location you may enjoy. The good part is that you can take a fast seabus and a short bus trip to reach this beautiful city. I have visited there just a week ago and enjoyed it so much. As suggested earlier, Edirne is a great city to visit too. You can check my Edirne page for details. I also have Istanbul and Ephesus pages to provide lots of useful info. Enjoy your trip to Istanbul and Turkey :)

Bursa and Edirne look like great options. Thanks. On this score, anywhere that is more 'rural', but also has a point of interest and which is do-able from Istanbul in a day would be fantastic. We are still focussing on tours to the other locations - i.e where all we have to do is choose one and it is all sorted for us. We are not interested in booking travel / getting around by ourselves. We have done this before, but are not interested in doing it this time. Thanks for all suggestions, though, and hopefully someone else will find them useful. Did look up Insight, but most of their tours were too long, sadly. Thanks for all suggestions.

Hi Kathy I'm an Australian living in Istanbul and have travelled a lot through this fantastic country, so happy to provide some advice and assistance. I'm a freelance writer and in my downtown like to provide advice to travellers as I know travelling to new lands can be nerve racking! Mid-year (summer) you can fly between Izmir and Kayseri with some airlines and I think you can also fly between Izmir and Denzili which is normally a 4 -5 hour bus transfer so there maybe no need to fly through Istanbul to have day trips - you can simply have a couple of days in each town. I would recommend 2 - 3 days in Goreme, 2 - 3 days (staying in Selcuk near Ephesus) and maybe 1 night in Pammukale if you like the hot springs and want to stay the night (otherwise a few hours is enough in Pammukale). Selcuk has Mary's House close by, the seven sleep cave and a quaint town called Sirince which is worth a stroll through. In terms of day tours, if its hot you will want to go to the Black Sea or Mediterranean for a splash. They are a few options for this - the Med is a short 1 hour flight from Istanbul, Black Sea is reachable via istanbuls metro and bus services/or taxi. Otherwise Bursa is a top day trip location. If you do not want to book this all yourself I can recommend a few travel company for you to approach to obtain a quote from. They can work up a proposed itinerary and quote for you which would include hotels, airfares and transfers. Please note though if you fly into Denizli Airport(for Pammukale), Izmir (for Ephesus) or Kayseri (for Goreme/Capadoccia) there is a little bit of travelling to do via bus (e.g. approx 1 hour) but its worth it. Also to make the most of the cappadoccia region you should do full day tours to places like Ilhara Valley and underground cities - these are not in walking distance from Goreme (the main tourist/accommodation centre)and you HAVE to do a hot airballoon ride over Goreme which will require an overnight stay. Do you know how long you will be in Turkey for? Do you have dates booked? Let me know if you would like me to recommend some agencies and how to forward this info to you - its important to shop around as to get the best price.