Itinerary and Overview
If you want to get off the (current American tourist) beaten path, eat great food, and have guaranteed top notch hospitality, then travel to Turkey! Our two weeks filled us with joy, wonder, and met every need we had. Hungry? There’s food at every turn. Lonely? Not to worry, a cat will come by, or wander into any store and chat up the shopkeeper. Bored? Psh. You won’t be. And if you need anything else, dare to ask a local and they will undoubtedly help you find what you are looking for.
1 night on plane (NYC direct to IST)
4 nights in Istanbul (museums, city life)
2 nights in Cappadocia (hot air balloon ride, adventure)
1 night in Cirali (beach bum + ruins)
2 nights on a Gulet (Mediterranean boat cruise)
2 nights in Fethiye (beach side resort town)
1 night in Selçuk (Ephesus ruins)
1 night Istanbul (hamam)
See how we would have spent extra time at the end of the post!
Before you book your flights
Check for intra-country, non-stop flights if you want to avoid overnight buses. For example, we flew KSY to AYT (Cappadocia to Antalya) to continue on to Cirali. This flight was only available once a week. Otherwise, our options were to add hours onto the trip by stopping over in Istanbul, or taking an overnight bus. Major time-saver to catch this flight!
Check gulet availability – Most gulet companies leave on specific days.
Check for national holidays – Turkey is estimated to be between 96% and 99% Muslim. Some holidays can cause business closures in cities and loads of locals traveling to popular holiday locations.
Track airfare price closely – Airfare fluctuated in a range of $300 during the four months I tracked our nonstop flight from NYC. Track it using an app like Hopper or Google Flight Tracking, and start tracking early to get the best deal.
Read this book about Istanbul and watch this documentary about the cats you will fall in love with. It has been difficult not to write about each and every cat we met, but alas, we’ll leave some surprises for you to discover.
How did we get around?
We took non-stop flights from Istanbul to Cappadocia, from Cappadocia to Antalya (then a cab to Cirali, arranged by Canada Hotels & Bungalows), a cab after the Gulet from Olundeniz to Fethiye, and a private transfer from Fethiye to Selçuk. Our final intra-country travel was a short flight back to Istanbul from Izmir, which we changed last minute to stay longer at Ayasoluk Hotel in Selçuk. We opted to have Ayasoluk Hotel drive us to Izmir airport.
Within Istanbul we relied on Ubers, hailed taxis and used public transit. We never had the “note switch” scam warned about on other blogs. One thing we did experience is Uber drivers requesting payment when we had paid directly through the app. Nat would simply show them the payment confirmation, stay calm, and tell them it was paid. The issue would end there. There are numerous posts about the cabs in Istanbul, so I would still exercise caution and be smart. We always 1. tracked the ride on the GPS on our phone (we do this in every city abroad) 2. had small bills to pay for hailed cabs and 3. had the hotel or restaurant call us cabs when possible. The public transit was easy to navigate – we took the trams and buses. The locals were always willing to help. Once a bus driver even got out of his bus to escort us to the correct one when we were in the bus depot area at Eminonu Pier! The locals were endlessly kind and helpful.
Splurge: The private transfer from Fethiye to Selçuk (Ephesus) done by Fethiye Lovers. This 4 hour ride with a private driver helped us save time with a direct route and avoid a car rental. There were no worries about lugging our bags which were weighed down by souvenirs at this point, and we could stop for snacks or a bathroom break whenever we pleased. We left Fethiye at 8:30am and arrived at our hotel by 12:30pm, allowing us to begin our tour of Ephesus by 2pm with a pool dip in between.
Econ mode: Take the public bus! There are loads of advice on this on TripAdvisor message boards. For airport transfers, Hava is a shared airport shuttle and is a more affordable option for than having your hotel arrange a ride. For short city to city transports, like our Olundeniz to Fethiye trip, there’s also always the dolmuş. They are minibuses that operate along per-determined routes as shared taxis.
If you have LESS TIME
Skip the gulet (boat cruise). It was fabulous and relaxing, but if you are short on time, it can be missed. If you are traveling alone though, the gulet is a great way to meet other people.
Use Istanbul as your launch pad. We met other travelers who did one night in Cappadocia and one night in Selçuk. This allowed them to have a similar experience, while still keeping their trip to a week or less. You can even fly to Selçuk (Izmir airport, 45 mins away) and back in one day to see the Ephesus ruins if you are willing to wake up early. Don’t do this with Cappadocia – you’ll miss the hot air balloons which fly very early in the morning and are one of the main attractions.
Use a group tour company to hit the highlights. For example, you could fly to the Dalaman Airport near Fethiye, spend a night in the seaside town. Then you can arrange a tour company to take you to Pamukkale, Ephesus, and back to Istanbul. These companies will help you maximize your time and streamline your travel if it feels overwhelming. We worked with Alaturka (for our gulet) and Turkey Tours (for Cappadocia) and highly recommend both of them. Don’t be afraid to ask if you don’t see what you want listed!
If you have MORE TIME
Working off our itinerary, we would have opted to see Pamukkale (which is noticeably missing from our itinerary) or add another day in Fethiye. Alternatively, we could give Istanbul the time it deserves and add on a day trip to the Prince Islands. Another option would be to visit another seaside town after Fethiye – Bodrum, Marmaris, or Kas. (Personally we would not have spent our time in one of the other major cities like the capital of Ankara, as we are from a metropolis. If you aren’t, it might be worth a visit.)
Build your own itinerary and go east to Nemrut. We met several travelers who went and assured us it was safe. Their photos were stunning and the ruins there are truly unique.
If you have a lot more time, look into cruising or taking a short flight to one of the close Greek islands. Some companies will even take you for a day cruise.
IST > CAP > CIRALI > GULET > FETHIYE > EPHESUS > IST
We chose to build the trip this way to tackle the more strenuous (city) days up front, leaving the more relaxing days towards the end. Others recommend to leave Istanbul for the end so you are acclimated to the country. If you have traveled before, or have any experience in a city, this is not necessary. Yes it is big (16 million people!), yes it is busy, and yes you can handle it immediately upon arriving. We were really glad to have done Istanbul at the start of our trip and not at the end, as we were tired and happy to relax before heading home.
Did we FEEL SAFE?
Yes, yes, one hundred times yes. Due to the travel advisory issued by the U.S. government, which was “Orange: Reconsider Travel” at the time of our trip, we had a lot of concerns about our safety. It has since been downgraded, which we are glad to see. We had several interesting conversations with the Turkish locals about politics and our leaders, and the reasons for the downward trend of American tourism in recent years. There was never a moment during our trip around the country where we questioned our safety, whether we were in the thick of Istiklal Street in Istanbul or hiking a mountain in the pitch black darkness in Cirali. We did not experience street harassment, although we were rarely solo. It is important to mention that we were extremely discreet about being a gay couple, respected the cultural norms of keeping it cool on the PDA (none at all for us) and mostly passed as friends. More on being a gay couple in Turkey in a later post! Do not let travel advisories and political conflict keep you from this amazing country.
Nat + Riki
Nat + Riki 
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