Turkey has always been a source of fascination since childhood due to its geographical importance, immensely rich history, stories of Ottoman Caliphate that have been passing on from elders, and the news about the latest time where Turkey has proved itself as a vibrant and rapidly developing nation.
We have discussed about visiting Turkey many times but felt it was a bit challenging with younger kids. Now my Daughter (12) was the one who showed interest in Ancient Roman Architecture after my Jordan Tour, so it became easy to achieve the consensus about our next destination and planning phase begun.
Planning:
If you are visiting Turkey very first time you should know that it is a very big country (815K SQKM – 37th in the world) sharing borders with Greece and Bulgaria in the west, Georgia and Armenia in North East, Iran in East, Iraq and Syria in South East. It also touched the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Aegean Sea, and Mediterranean Sea. So it would not be easy to cover each and every attraction and travel itinerary shall be based on the areas of interest, time, local situation (considering the current crisis at south eastern border), and weather. Tourism is very well developed so hotels and tourist attraction booking is not an issue as we experienced. You can book a guided tour or can plan your own itinerary based on your priorities.
We had maximum of 11 days that made it possible to take highlights of most of the places. Below was our travel itinerary:
Fly to Istanbul – 3 Nights – Levni Hotel & Spa
Fly to Izmir and drive to Selcuk – 2 Nights – Bella Hotel
Drive to Oludeniz – 2 Nights – Lykia Liberty Resort
Drive to Konya – 1 Night – Selcuk Hotel Sems-i Tebrizi
Drive to Cappadocia – 2 Nights – Uchisar Kaya Otel
Drive to Kayseri
Fly from Kayseri to Istanbul to Abu Dhabi
Below is the graphical route map for the ease:
Preparation:
Visa: For visa you can check the latest at Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs web site and check the visa requirement for your country at your nearest consulate. From Abu Dhabi you can get the e-visa if you are eligible else you will have to get the visa stamped on your passport. Once you submit all the required documents it will take 2 days to collect the passport back with stamped visa. The fee is AED 225 for one passport. Those who are eligible for e-Visa (means you have valid visa OR valid residence permit from one of the Schengen Countries, USA, UK or Ireland), you can directly apply through this link. Else please apply for sticker visa on this link.
Ticket: The cost for ticket vary based on your prefer Airline, Timings, and Connections. You can try Sky Scanner, momondo or any other site for that. The important factor to consider is your check in time at the hotel; else you will have to wait as most of the hotels do not allow checking in before the standard time (1200-1400 Hrs.).
Hotel: If you take package tour then hotels are normally included. In fact some operators give you choice to select from multiple hotels based on your budget and priority. You can use booking.com or similar web site to get a look of the hotels offered. The factors to be considered are Location, Facilities (Breakfast, WIFI, Gym/Pool, etc.). If you booking at your own it would be good to book those hotels that offer free cancellation as it will save money if plans are changed.
Transportation: If your itinerary involves multiple destinations then please calculate the travel time as you may get tired by long road travel or many domestic flights. We initially planned to travel by Public Buses between Selcuk, Oludeniz, Konya, and Cappadocia (Uchisar) as it was mentioned that Turkey has a well-developed transportation system and cars was expensive to hire for 7 days. However when we calculated the travel time by road it was quite extensive and going to bus stands from hotel was another issue with 3 standard size luggage and few small bags. It was fortunate indeed that I came across Cizgi Rent A Car that is a local company with an extremely good customer service and strong network across Turkey. They charged me approx. 325 USD for 7 days that include Dacia (Renault’s local name) Duster mid-size SUV (Manual Gear & Diesel Engine), empty fuel tank, full insurance, delivery at Izmir Airport, and receipt at Kayseri Airport. I found this deal very competitive and it was confirmed by our guide at Cappadocia. As I have mentioned they were very responsive and vehicle condition was very good as I drove more than 1000 KM and never had any trouble.
Despite that my road travel experience went well, I realized that awareness of all Turkey’s Airports and Domestic Airlines could give me more choices to save time. But I have no regret as travelling by road is all-together a different experience where you get to know a place at its best.
So, the cost of the trip varies based on the Airline you select, Hotels you choose, No. of days you stay, and places/attractions you cover, and shopping. It could be 2,000 AED to 7,000 AED per person.
Places:
Istanbul
Istanbul by any means one of the most visited cities in the world and one visit may not be sufficient once you get to know the city. We had a wonderful stay at Levni Hotel & Spa, pampered by true hospitality of Mr. Nural Incler of guest relations. He is a real gem who provided his hand drawn maps to us to guide how to travel on Ferries and Metro to find his suggested restaurants. He also arranged a very professional guide (Mr. Selcuk) on our request @ a reasonable cost of 100 EUR for full day to accompany us during our visit to Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Basilica Cistern, and Bosporus cruise. It is recommended to have a local guide with you when visiting these historical attractions and other local places like Spice Market and Grand Bazar as it gives you important tips and information.
We also visited Princess Islands. It takes almost 8 Hours to complete the standard package of 3 Islands on private ferries booked by tour operators. We found one tour operator at Sultanahmet Square who offered a good price for 4 of us (180 EUR). They take you to three of those Islands and lunch and short ride on horse cart is included. They give 45 minutes on one island, 30 minutes of horse cart ride on second, and almost 2 hours on the last island where you can hire bicycles or additional horse cart t ride around that island for an hour in 75 TL.
The restaurants we tried are Ciya Sofrasi in Kadikoi and Pudding Shop near Basilica Cistern.
There are many more places to visit in Istanbul that can be checked on Trip Advisor.
Selcuk (Izmir)
Selcuk is a small but beautiful and peaceful town in Izmir province. I selected Hotel Bella due to its location to watch White Storks who migrate from Africa to Europe for their breeding season. We came across a huge lot of them as well, over our ferry while coming back to Istanbul from Princess Island. I got this information from trip advisor and decided to stay there to cover the ancient cities of Ephesus, Aphrodisias, and Hot Springs of Pamukkale.
You can either get included these destinations in your tour package or get a good package from Hotel as well.
We tried Kebap House near Hotel Bella and the taste was good.
Oludeniz
It will be an incomplete journey if at least one location of Mediterranean Sea is not included in your itinerary. It could either be Antalya, Oludeniz, Bodrum, or other. We heard from our guide that Bodrum is the most expensive south destination in Turkey as most of their celebrities go there. Oludeniz was recommended by someone as the top most places you should visit in Turkey and it really offers all sort of activities you find at other similar places. Lykia Liberty Resort has stunning views and range of activities through Escape Adventures. All the meals and snacks are included when you pay for the room and it is not too expensive.
Paragliding from Babadag Mountain was an awesome experience and very much recommended.
Konya
The only one thing that glorifies Konya is Mevlana. We decided to spend at least one night in Konya and since the travel from Oludeniz to Cappadocia was too long (9-10 Hours), what else could be the best place to break the journey. One thing that we missed was the Whirling Dervishes that can be found in Istanbul, Konya, Cappadocia, or may be other places as well. The show frequency and duration depends on the season so check with your hotel where you can find it. Our stay at Selcuk Hotel was good as it was just 10 minutes’ walk to Mevlana tomb.
Cappadocia
The historical region of Cappadocia is another must see in Turkey. Cappadocia is spread within the triangular border of the cities of Uchisar, Avanos, and Urgup. The Goreme can be considered the downtown of the region. We have selected Uchisar Kaya Hotel just 5 KM from Goreme downtown. The hotel offers beautiful view of Pigeon Valley. The overall region is so calm and attractive that you can spend a whole week. You can try Pottery Kebab from Sedef Restaurant and some Chinese cuisines from Peking Restaurant.
Our tour of Cappadocia was arranged by Euphrates Tours in a very professional manner. You may contact Ms. Filiz Ozkan (+90 507 0101338 Whatsapp) @ operations1@euphratestours.com. They arranged Mr. Ramadan a qualified and well experienced guide who gave us an overview of key places of the region within the time available. Our balloon flight was unfortunately cancelled by civil aviation due to bad weather, that’s is why it is good to have at least one more day in spear though it is not guaranteed as the weather in Cappadocia is quite unpredictable.
When we got enough of caves experience in Cappadocia, our guide Mr. Ramadan took us to the Venessa Ceramic factory. It was an awesome experience, especially when kids got chance to try it by them. The whole process was impressive and the finished products were incredible. The prices for the best products are high but we could not resist to buy few.
Our return flight was scheduled from Kayseri where we had a nice view of Mount Erciyes. However Nevsehir also has an International Airport and is very near to Goreme.
People:
People of Turkey are very beautiful, loving and caring. We experienced a trip to Nevsehir State Hospital when my Son got sick. They treated us very well and their hospitality was outstanding when they came to know that we are from Pakistan.
The shop owners at almost all the places were very cheerful, receptive and friendly. Our guides Mr. Selcuk (Istanbul), Mr. Mehmet (Selcuk), and Mr. Ramadan (Cappadocia) were very professional and cooperative. Many times there were little difficulty in communicating to people but it didn’t really bother us even when we were at our own.
Please do not get confused with the word “Selcuk – سلجوق”. We have actually came across three Selcuks during our journey:
- Mr. Selcuk (Our guide in Istanbul)
- Selcuk (Where we stayed near Izmir & Kusadasi)
- Hotel Selcuk (Our hotel in Konya)