We only had 14 days to visit this HUGE country which is both European and Asian (other fun fact: it recently changed his name from “Turkey” to “Türkiye”). I regret we didn’t have more time for our road trip in the South, but the rest of our rhythm was ok!
We landed in Istanbul where we passed 3 days, took a flight to Nevşehir to discover Cappadocia by car for 3 days, and a night bus to Antalya where we rented an other car and drove to Izmir, following the Mediterranean, and the Egean coasts!
Istanbul
Istanbul is a wide city where you can easily spend a week! Traffic is also a big issue (it took us 2h from IST airport to the city center) so first tip is to use the public transportation, second is to choose what you want to visit depending on the time you have. Here is an idea of what you can visit in 3 days:
Day 1:
Flight to Istanbul, visit of the Blue Mosque and Cisterna Basilica.
Day 2:
Topkapi palace visit and its harem (2h), Grand bazar, Egyptian (spices) bazar, boat to Kadikoy where we had lunch, end of day in Galata!
Day 3:
Visit of the archeologic museum (around 1h30), Balat area and dervish show (Hodjapasha, 1400TL).
Sultanahmet:
Blue Mosque
Saint Sophie
Cisterna
Topkapi palace
Archeologic museum
Balat
Probably our favorite place, more quiet than the center, cute coloured streets, nice terrasses… You can reach it by tram easily.
Galata
From Taksim you can enjoy the main walking avenue crossed by a cute tram. Best view from the Galata tower, perfect for sunset!
Kadikoy
The asian side of the city, full of restaurants and bars, not so asian but nice to see if you have time and wish to enjoy a boat trip.
Transportation:
– From the airport the cheaper way is to take the bus to Aksaray where you have a direct Tram to Sultanahmet (only 204TL).
– Mega Pass Istanbul: Card you need to buy 5€ and then recharge, it works with all the transports, including the boat (28TL Aminonu-Karakoy / 38TL Karakoy to Kabatas).
– Taxi: We paid 1500TL to go to the airport (6am on Sunday, no trafic). Use Taksi app to order and get an estimation of the price.
Museum cards:
– Istanbul card: 105€, valuable with all the sites except Cisterna basilic (900Tl until 6.30pm and 1400TL until 11.30pm) and Saint Sophie (25€).
– Turkye museum card: 165€ with all the main site of the country included, for 15 days.
– Cappadocia museum pass: 65€ for 3 days.
– You also have the Mediterranean Pass (90€) and Egean one (95€) both 7 days.
Cappadocia
You can pay for the Museum pass, but if you travel on a budget, you also have a lot of free sites where you will see quite the same stuff. I totally advise you to rent a car to avoid the mass of tourists (even in low season it was crazy in the main places!). Every day we decided what to do, and there is no “must do” as everything is beautiful, but here is what we did:
Day 4:
From Nevşehir airport we rented a car (AddCar – 37€/day) and started our discovery with the visit of Gülsehir (only 20TL for the car). We stoped by Avanos, a cute city with nice restaurants nearby the longest river, and visited for more than 1h Zelve. We ended this first day with a wonderful sunset at the Red Valley (60TL access) with a quick stop at the 3 beauties (50TL).
Day 5:
We woke up at 5.30am to start a 10km trek crossing the White valley to reach Love valley where the balloons start their journey. Lot of companies will sell you this trip (around 250€/pers) but the view from the valley is just fantastic!
As the rest of the day was pretty cloudy we decided to visit the underground cities of Derinkuyu (the most famous) and Kaymaklı (our favorite).
Day 6:
We finally visited the most touristic sites: Göreme, famous for the paintings in the churches, Paşabağları and its beautiful “towers”, and we had lunch in front of the old city of Çavuşin.
Zelve
Göreme
Paşabağları (Devrent)
Underground cities
Sunset at red valley
FREE PLACES:
– Architecture: Gülsehir, Orthisar or Çavuşin
– Natural places: Pigeon, pink and sword valleys
Sunrise at white valley
Mediterranean sea
Day 7-8: Antalya and around
We took a night bus (with FlixBus company) to arrive directly to Antalya where we rent an other car to visit the archeological sites around and drive until Izmir. We didn’t sleep well but at least we arrived first in Aspendos (15€) to enjoy the most conserved theater of the country (where you can still enjoy shows)! The same day we also visited Perge (11€) and the beautiful old center of Antalya (recommended restaurant: Route Burger).
Second day we drove to Termessos (only 3€), probably the most amazing archeological site of our trip (1h to get there but totally worth it – only by car)! Back to the city, we visited Antalya museum (not really worth it but you can stop for a drink crossing the road with beautiful view from the cliff. We skipped Duden Waterfalls but you should probably take a look at it…
Aspendos
Perge
Termessos
Antalya museum
Day 9: Çirali and Yanartas Milli Park
Real cute village on the sea, far from the resorts in the East of Antalya, you’ll find here a nice trek to see stones on fire: Yanartas. We wish we had more time to chill there… Also we didn’t visited Phaselis and Olympos, Patara beach: instead we directly went to Kalkan where we stood in probably the most beautiful hotel and room: Fidanka!
Egean coast
Day 10: From Kalkan to Marmaris
On our way to Marmaris, we stopped at Butterfly valley, had lunch in Ölüdeniz (Paradise beach restaurant) and finished our day enjoying the ambiance of the port.
Day 11: Marmaris to Milas
The day after we headed to Bodrum, with lunch break at Silent beach and a great evening in Milas, a quiet bird reserve where we saw Flamingos!
Road trip conclusion: We spent a lot of time on the road, 4h/day average, and even if some parts were cute along the coast, it was mainly on a national road limited to 90km/h. Try to have more time than us!
Day 12:
We dedicated this day to archeology with Didymes ruins (6€), a nice lunch by the beach (Kumsal Restaurant) and visit of Ephesus, the most famous (and crowdy) one. Sadly the main places were in restoration, and paying 40€ seems a bit expensive in my point of view… We arrived in Izmir in the evening, directly in the Old Bazar town hotel.
Didymes
Ephesus
Day 13:
For our last day we went to visit Sığacık: a cute city with small mediterranean streets. Izmir is the 3rd biggest city of the country, but the center kept a traditional vibe we really enjoyed! Full of old caravanserails, the bazar is a must do, so is the peer where you have nice restaurants perfect for the sunset!
Sığacık
Izmir
WHERE WE SLEPT:
– Istanbul: Villa Sofia
Capaddoccia: Fairz Chimney Selfie hotel
– Antalya: La Paloma
– Kalkan: Fidanka
– Marmaris: Sunway hotel
– Milas: Yali Capkini Akyaka Boutique
– Izmir: L’Agora old town bazar
PRICES WE PAID:
– Turkish Tea: between 25TL and 150TL
Hooka: between 250TL and 750TL
– Natural juice: between 20TL and 150TL
– Gas: Around 40€ a full
– Kebap: around 150TL
– Glass of wine: between 250TL and 400TL for 20cl
– Beer: around 150TL a pint
Our best of
