Russia, TransSiberian, Belarus and Ukraine sticky

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New RU Sticky and New RU Train sticky
Belarus FAQs
Ukraine FAQs

This post links to specific informational threads or stickies. Please do not ask your questions on these threads. If you have questions, please find another thread and ask them there or start a new thread. However, please feel free to add information to these threads that you think will be useful to other travelers.

Thanks to Ruth (Everbrite), Gene (TravelsWise) and Louise (lo... more »

TURKEY TRIP REVIEWS

Since joining Thorntree I have been delighted to read so many wonderful trip reviews.These are most often full of the small details so important and useful to independent travellers.How sad then that in time these slip down the forum pages and get lost or forgotten about.All that help…all that typing!So I have trawled through the last 12 months and collated all the trip reviews and,after equal amounts of bullying and flattery,Zabba(mmwwahh!)has agreed to make this a sticky,so it will now be at the top of the Turkey forum page,easily found(even for us computer dimwits!) with no need to trawl around the site.
Please check through and see that I have added yours,if I haven’t then please accept my apologies and add it on.If you notice others that are missing add those too.(I'm only human!)
If you owe us a review to repay the help and advice received from the forum then get typing now!... more »

Where near Dalaman with 2 kids if we loved Cirali?

Back again for you words of wisdom. Planning second visit to Turkey next month (June) and will fly into Dalaman and I am seeking your recommendations of where we should head for. I have 2 children aged 13 and 5. We have 14 days and would prefer to spend it in 2 places.

Last year we spend 2 weeks in Cirali. Yes I know! We loved it and had a day trip to Kumluca and Phaselis and a few local ones. I loved the boat ride too. Other than that we just spend our time relaxing by the beach, the hotel pool and in the village. In the evenings we would sit under the hammocks. We enjoyed lots of good food at our hotel and in the village too.

Considering what we enjoyed which place would you suggest we go to near Dalamani? 2 hour transfer max. I have looked at Olu Deniz which comes highly recommended for families in most places but having looked I can't seem to find hotels that really draw me... more »

Hakkari District

Presuming that the cease-fire with the PKK holds with the chances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time no longer elevated, is there anything of particular note (cultural, scenic, historic) in the extreme southeast (say S of Van and E of Mardin?)

I'm beginning to plan our fall adventure and this is the only area of Turkey we haven't toured. I'm thinking of a two-week or so road trip revisiting the SE (from and to Şanlıurfa). Any good mountain drives in the extreme SE? I don't mind what many would call "tiny, bad, dangerous roads where you're lucky to make it into 3rd gear" but we'll probably be in a passenger car so any gravel sections must be reasonably well graded.

Blatonfured - Help finding particular hotel and restaurant

Hello

I am planning to return to Blatonfured in around a month or so. On my first visit there, I had pleasantly memorable experiences at a particular hotel and restaurant. I have the current version of Lonely Planet's Eastern Europe, but am pretty sure that neither the hotel nor restaurant are any of those listed for Blatonfured in this edition.

I think that both the hotel and restaurant were listed in the 8th edition of Lonely Planet's Central Europe (the one with the horse statue on the cover) and the Eastern Europe guide of roughly the same period (as Hungary is one of the countries placed in both regional guides.)

The hotel was a couple of streets back from the lake and to the east of the ferry pier, probably just outside the boundaries of the map of Blatonfured in the current Eastern Europe guide (page 421). In the earlier regional guides, I seem to remember it stati... more »

from izmir to istanbul

hi guys
i m planning to go from kusadasi to istanbul
according to my info we might find either a bus than a train in the night from izmir to istanbul
do u have an idea about the timetables and where can we buy the tickets if we wanna go by bus?
thanks in advance

flights Tblisi Mestia still exist?

hi there!

received an e-mail from kenn borek air stating they don't have an aircraft in the area anymore;
pegasus airline doesn't answer to my mail;
& vanilla sky requires a passwordd (!) to enter their webpage...

HAS ANYONE FLOWN THIS AIRWAY ROUTE RECENTLY?

thank you very much!

Different questions

Going to Bulgaria with kids (5 and 8)

Arriving in Sofia, do you recommend changing money at the Airport or in town, bank or change office?
Travelling by train in July (within Bulgaria); can I buy the tickets the same day at the train station or do you recommend doing it a day or two before?
Easiest Way to get to Rila Monastery?
What about Taxis in Sofia? Taxis in Bulgaria generally? I've heard to use the OK Taxis?

Thank you!

Kamchatka - August 2013

Hi,

My boyfriend and I will be in Kamchatka from the 8th August 2013. At the moment we don't know how long we'll stay but it will likely be for approx. 2 weeks. I could really do with a helping hand with the following questions:

• Can you recommend a local guide that I can contact in advance of our arrival to discuss itineraries/cost? If not, what's the best way to find a trusted before getting to Kamchatka? (We want to hike to volcanoes predominately such as Tolbachik and Shiveluch volcanoes and avoid helicopter tours as we can't really afford that)

• Do certain tour agencies pool together tourists to make a trip more affordable for all? Do you know of any tour agency that does this?

• I'm concerned that as August is peak season we'll struggle without advance arrangements for guides/hotels etc - should I be or is this rarely a problem?

• Finally, If there's anyone ...