Suggestions for Turkey tour

Thinking of visiting Turkey next month. Hotels and tours have cut their rates. Apparently the attempted coup and various terror incidents have scared people off but I think the fears are exaggerated.

I figure I need three days for Istanbul, a day in Ephesus, Antalya, or Bodrum, and a tour of the battlefields of Gallipoli. I want some place to listen to live Turkish music. Should I bother visiting Ankara or just skip and save for next time? Suggestions?

Except Ankara others seem nice places to visit.

Solomon2 said:

Thinking of visiting Turkey next month. Hotels and tours have cut their rates. Apparently the attempted coup and various terror incidents have scared people off but I think the fears are exaggerated.

I figure I need three days for Istanbul, a day in Ephesus, Antalya, or Bodrum, and a tour of the battlefields of Gallipoli. I want some place to listen to live Turkish music. Should I bother visiting Ankara or just skip and save for next time? Suggestions?

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I live in Ankara....just skip here....nothing to see here.

Also, i would recommend Bodrum instead of Antalya.

the safest region is black sea region.. if you want to see something different but its not much a tourist region..

but istanbul is in my opinion a must go

3 days for Istanbul isn't enough, but if you decide to stay only 3 days book somewhere central. For seaside it depends on your taste: go to Bodrum/Alacati if you want to go nuts or go to Kas if you want to relax. Don't bother with Ankara, I still can't forgive myself for having wasted 4 years as a highschool student there. As for live music...there are plenty of clubs/bars in Istanbul you can hit up. Good luck

Don't come to Turkey...

Solomon2 said:

Thinking of visiting Turkey next month. Hotels and tours have cut their rates. Apparently the attempted coup and various terror incidents have scared people off but I think the fears are exaggerated.

I figure I need three days for Istanbul, a day in Ephesus, Antalya, or Bodrum, and a tour of the battlefields of Gallipoli. I want some place to listen to live Turkish music. Should I bother visiting Ankara or just skip and save for next time? Suggestions?

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you can come gaziantep to see refugees camps.

Winter is fast approaching in Netherlands, you can tell because @Oublious put his Grumpy hat on.

You can check this thread to see some nice places you can visit. You will like it up there be sure about it. Someone suggested you to see the Black sea region- Trabzon, Rize, Artvin are places with really beautiful landscapes, big mountains, really green places and also some ancient stuff to see. Overall Turkey is really diverse and you can see so many stuff in here that it is even hard to suggest you things to see. Of course Istanbul is a must see but so are so many other stuff...

https://defence.pk/threads/pictures-of-turkey.192168/page-29

CrimsonFury said:

3 days for Istanbul isn't enough, but if you decide to stay only 3 days book somewhere central

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I was wondering about that. Most tours seem to try to put me in a hotel on the Golden Horn. I'm sure it's beautiful, but then I'll miss seeing most of the city, right?

For seaside it depends on your taste: go to Bodrum/Alacati if you want to go nuts or go to Kas if you want to relax.

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Kas? Interesting. No one suggested Kas before.

As for live music...there are plenty of clubs/bars in Istanbul you can hit up. Good luck

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What about music venues outside Istanbul?

anatolia said:

you can come gaziantep to see refugees camps.

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I've thought of going to Gaziantep for its pistachio harvest - it's September, right? Also to see the restored synagogue there, but apparently the military have taken it over as a command base.

Solomon2 said:

I was wondering about that. Most tours seem to try to put me in a hotel on the Golden Horn. I'm sure it's beautiful, but then I'll miss seeing most of the city, right?

Kas? Interesting. No one suggested Kas before.

What about music venues outside Istanbul?


I've thought of going to Gaziantep for its pistachio harvest - it's September, right? Also to see the restored synagogue there, but apparently the military have taken it over as a command base.

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Yeah it doesn't matter where you stay but 3 days wont cut it, but still the Golden Horn is sweet, hope you enjoy your stay. Kas is an idyllic place you go to in order to relax, it's still summer and the dollar is strong so I'd say go for it if you want to de charge. I don't know much about music venues outside İstanbul

XenoEnsi-14 said:

Winter is fast approaching in Netherlands, you can tell because @Oublious put his Grumpy hat on.

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I love the Netherlands...because of ...reasons

Solomon2 said:

I was wondering about that. Most tours seem to try to put me in a hotel on the Golden Horn. I'm sure it's beautiful, but then I'll miss seeing most of the city, right?

Kas? Interesting. No one suggested Kas before.

What about music venues outside Istanbul?


I've thought of going to Gaziantep for its pistachio harvest - it's September, right? Also to see the restored synagogue there, but apparently the military have taken it over as a command base.

Click to expand...

pistachio harvest started already.my dad did last weekyou can come another timegood luck

I would recommend Akyaka instead of Bodrum. If you want a quite relativly undiscovered beautifull place then you cant go wrong there. Be sure to check out the river aquarium and the 10 hour ferry ride(costs only 35tl and it comes with free dinner. Plus you get to visit 6 different swim locations along with 1 ancient historic site).

Solomon2 said:

Kas? Interesting. No one suggested Kas before.

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Especially Kaş/Kalkan.

I don't think anyone bothered to ask how long your trip is going to last.

I would say with 3 days in istanbul, you won't have much time to sit down and rest (narrow down places you must see, hagia sofia, Sultan Ahmet, Grand Bazar, New bridge, Üsküdar (Kiz kulesi)). if you pick a hotel look for one that is close to metro system or central, so you don't have to ride on dolmus, taxi or anything. the new metro system is so good that it's just a question wether you dislike wasting time travelling underground, but it's fast.

But then again bodrum from istanbul is going to take time even if you choose to fly. If you rent a car you can drive by yourself, but you need somekind of a map/gps to get around.

Black sea region is said to be beautiful, and I'm amazed that some of the turkish members didn't mention places like Kastamonu and Ordu which are very beautiful, but so are the other places.

Kars is somewhere I want to go during winther for snowboarding. but they should have a lot of beautiful things to see.

Antalya... You can go there and see how russian tourists behave, would be a good experience.