Turkey Travel Guide

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:

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].

Turkey Travel Guide
Information and Advice