Turkey
Travel Guide, climate:
Best:
April- June, Sept- Nov. For water sports June - Sept. For
the eastern part June - Sept.
Worst: Dec-March [cool and damp], Ramadan [Muslim fasting month,
Sept 13 - Oct 11 '07; Sept 1 - Sept 29 '08].
Length
of stay:
Minimum worthwhile stay, not incl. flights: 3 days for Istanbul.
Recommended: 2 weeks
More
tour operators offering travel and advice in Turkey can be found
in our listings here: Turkey
Tours
Turkey
Festivals Guide:
Ramadan: a religious month of daytime fasting when people and services
can be erratic. [see dates above].
Kurban Bayrami: a four day religious festival during which many
facilities will be closed and resorts crowded. Sometime between
February and April.
Kirkpinar Oiled Wrestling, mid-June, Edirne.
Istanbul International Festival of Arts, late June - mid July, world
class music, dance++
Republic Day, Oct, speeches and parades
For
some precise dates, more suggestions and information see:
Exotic Festivals
Turkey
Activities Guide:
Walking/hiking: particularly good in Cappadocia and the Kackar
Mountains near the Black Sea. A long distance walk, The Lycian Way,
is signposted from Olu Deniz to near Antalya, takes up to a month.
Mountain biking: bikes are widely for
rent, and are especially sensational in Cappadocia.
Motorcycling: scooters often for rent,
but don't hesitate to bring your own bike. There are lovely coast
and Cappadocia roads in reasonable condition, with acceptably safe
drivers - though not at night. Petrol is expensive.
Boat trips: long and short trips with
varying qualities of guide. particularly famous are the 'Blue Voyages'
travelling from ports like Bodrum, Marmaris, Alanya ++.
Watersports: skiing, scuba diving from
Marmaris, Bodrum ++.
Hangliding/Paragliding especially at Olu Deniz [Picture
and more information].
Turkey Travel Star Guide:
| Monuments |
**** |
| Shopping
and souvenirs |
***** |
| Walkability |
***** |
| Food
Quality and Variety |
*** |
| Value
for Money |
***** |
| Hotel
Prices and Value |
**** |
| Beaches |
**** |
| Wildlife |
*** |
| Landscape |
**** |
| Local
People |
***** |
| Architecture |
**** |
| Safety |
**** |
| Nightlife
and Clubbing |
*** |
| Health
Problems |
**** |
| Museums |
**** |
Troy:
Seen the film? Well don't make a special effort to see the site
unless you are a very keen archeologist. There's little visible
save for a pathetic replica of a wooden horse.
If
you plan to travel in Turkey you may also want to see guides to
other nearby places:
Greece
Travel Guide | Syria
Travel Guide
Egypt
Travel Guide | Jordan
Travel Guide
Oman
Travel Guide |
|
Why
Travel to Turkey?
This
is a huge country scattered with stunning ancient artefacts and
populated by some of the friendliest people on earth. Flowers seem
to burst from every crevice, the sun shines endlessly [other than
in winter!], transport systems are efficient and the beer's good
and readily available.
Scenery ranges from dull to mind-boggling, beaches are fair, prices
are low and shopping is excellent, especially leatherware in Istanbul.
Driving is suprisingly safe, apart from mad Istanbul taxi drivers
and night driving.
Downside:
- There have been a few Islamic fundamentalist incidents though
they are rare and not [yet] targetting tourists.
- The language is a difficult Asiatic tongue and many Turks don't
speak a lingua franca like English so communication is not
easy outside resort areas.
- The ubiquitous pine trees and profuse flowers are not going to
be enjoyed by hay fever sufferers.
- The lovely local people can be 'economical' with the truth.
- Small sites of big interest, i.e. most of them, cannot contain
the seething herds of package tourists. And it's not going to get
any better...
- Distances between major sights are considerable.
- Turkish wine is a disaster.
Turkey
attractions:
***Istanbul. A lovely, relaxed, interesting, comfortable city
encircled by water. See Istanbul
Travel Guide.
***Cappadocia. A seriously weird and
wonderful area of fairy chimneys. Calm, pastoral, inexpensive and
spectacular, but a distance from anywhere [Photo
and more information].
**Nemrut Dagi. A superb mountain top
scatterd with huge decapitated heads [in stone, need I say?], but
a long way to travel. Cold, so best July/Aug and self drive?
*Bursa. A 2,000 year old city - still
in use, housing many fine buildings and a famous natural mineral bath.
Pergamum. Also over 2,000 years old,
but only ruins now, in the usual Greco-Roman style. Nice and less
crowded than Ephesus, but missable unless you're that way inclined.
The same goes for Aphrodisias, Didyma and Priene.
*Pamukkale is a bit of a hike from anywhere,
and is a dried-up husk of its former self. Don't believe the fantastic
travel agent pictures or postcards in Istanbul [Photo
and more information].
**Ephesus is an extensive, very well-preserved
typically Roman ruin complex about 3km from the agreeable little town
of Selçuk, but small and overcrowded [Photo
and more information].
**The Aegean/Mediterranean coast. Lots
of beaches and ruins between Izmir and Alanya, tho' package tours
are spreading like the plague. See Turkey
Beaches and Turkey
Beach Pictures.
*Bodrum is crowded but still attractive,
especially the Kumbahce Bay side. Lots of pedestrian streets and good
restaurants. Good base for boat trips. Small beach, big discos.
*Dalyan, by the river, is small, relaxed
and quiet, with great views over the water to some Lycian tombs and
pleasant boat trips to Turtle beach [Pics
and more info] or the nearby mud baths [Pic
and more info]. Too many bugs but the birdlife is terrific.
**Olu Deniz. Great [shingle] beach, lively
town, beautiful setting [Pics
and more info].
**Patara. Small town, superb sandy beach,
dunes, some old ruins [Pics
and more info].
Kalkan. Hill/harbour town, quaint but unfocussed, unlike Kas, further
down the road. Small beach and marina [Pics
and more info].
**Kas. Uncrowded, pretty and tranquil,
with nice little beaches nearby. The coastal road there is gorgeous
and it's also a good base for boat trips. Something of a traveller
hangout.
*Antalya. On the central Mediterranean
coast with pebble beaches, Antalya is large and historic and not far
from the dedicated beach towns of Side and Alanya.
Thanks, but no thanks:
Ankara. Turkey's capital has nothing
much to recommend it, except perhaps the Museum of Anatolian Civilization.
*Fethiye. Good access to surrounding
beaches and ancient sites but the town is very short of character
[Pic and more
info].
*Marmaris, Kusadasi and Alanya. Beach
resorts of the package kind that are mainly good for bad tatoos, good
chip butties and cafés showing soccer replays, but if that's
your travel scene then this will do you fine. [Pics
and more info]. |