Eastern Turkey Tour in 12 days?
Replies: 8 - Last Post: Jul 27, 2012 12:49 AM Last Post By: hobbittr
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Eastern Turkey Tour in 12 days?
Hello,My husband and I are planning a tour of eastern Turkey this fall. We would like to go to the following places but have about 12 days... we could possibly stretch it out to 2 weeks tops.
Trabzon --> Niksar --> Gurun --> Kayseri --> Adana --> Urfa --> Van --> Dogubeyazit --> Ani --> Kars
We are then planning on crossing the border into Georgia and Armenia.
We have picked these places because of their significance to our family history as well as general interest. We understand our time in each place would be short, and are flexible in cutting out a few places if need be.
Would it be possible to see all of these places in 12 days via bus? How reliable are the buses in Turkey, and is there even any bus service to smaller towns like Niksar and Gurun?
Thank you for any advice you might have!
1
for the Urfa area contact Alison Tanik at Nomad Tours, a local group in Şanliurfa. You can also inquire about their homestay in the Village of Yuvacali (Google Maps Link).They do a lot more than home stay visits, they can arrange guided tours to different places in the region as well as give regional advice to travellers. "Yuvacali makes the perfect base from which to visit Sanliurfa, Harran, Gobekli Tepe, Diyarbakir, Nemrut, and even Mardin and beyond." Their four day tour includes Şanliurfa, Viransehir, Mardin, Midyat, Hasankeyf and Diyarbakir, not to mention the ancient sites and shrines in between.
Here is a fascinating travel article by Terry Richardson: A village beyond the Euphrates: Yuvacalı
"what a visit to Yuvacalı, an ethnically-Kurdish village just across the Euphrates in southeast Turkey, is all about. Experiences. Of the kind you just don’t get on the average trip."
I think you will find this interview with Alison enlightening.
2
Before I can offer any reply I need to ask the following;where will your tour start?i.e .where will you enter the country?Which are the places connected to your family history?If some need to be dropped I wouldn't want to drop one important to you.
This info will make answering easier.
Buses in Turkey are a wonderful thing with a bus of some sort going to anywhere from anywhere,whether big intercity buses or local municipal buses or the little dolmuş(mini buses)serving villages etc.so this will not be a problem for you either long distance or locally.
3
We will be flying into Turkey from Vienna- looks like there are flights to most of the cities in Turkey with a short layover in Istanbul or Ankara. We are thinking of flying into Trabzon, or if it is easier to forgo Trabzon, we may fly into Samsun and start our trip from there.The cities connected to our family history are Niksar, Gurun, Kayseri, Adana, and Urfa.
Thank you so much for your comments!
4
Haa haa,when I read your post I thought Niksar,Gurun and Adana at least had to be the family spots as they aren't 'normal'tourism area's.I would concur flying into Samsum if possible will be the best point to start in this case rather than Trabzon.From Samsun you can take an intercity bus to Tokat and then a local bus out to Niksar.You would then need to return to Tokat to take a bus to Sivas and then another to Gurun.Some buses to Malatya from Tokat may pass that route but I'm not certain,the otogar staff would help you on this.
Plenty of direct buses from Sivas to Kayseri and from there down to Adana and again from Adana to Şanlıurfa too.Up to this point will take up around 6 or 7 days,the distances you will cover are long and you need to allow for bus connection time too.
Go from Urfa to Van by o/n bus for a quick look then up to Ani by bus(sorry D.beyazit!)and then go from there into Armenia,then up to Georgia.Again sorry to Trabzon!
Even though you realise you won't have a lot of time at each spot you do need to drop a couple of places other wise that short time will be so short it will be get off the bus say "oh this is XXX" and get back on the next bus.Hardly worth the effort of going.
Urfa deserves at least a long o/n stay as does Van and each ideally a day more but....
So yes,Samsum>>Niksar>>Gurun>>Kayseri>>Adana>>Urfa>>Van>>Ani>>cross the border is workable if a bit rushed.Using overnight buses where possible will also help by making use of otherwise 'dead time'.
7
In the touristic area's not too bad as there will be tourism facilities,guides etc.but in the lesser or non tourism area's it could be a problem.Sure you can do a deal with a taxi driver to take you where ever but it is highly unlikely you'd find one who speaks English or to find tour guides working in non tourism places.
