Need Help Planning My 21 Days Trip to Turkey

Hi guys, My girlfriend and I will be going to Turkey in March next year. I have been doing some research online on traveling in Turkey but there just some many places and with just 3 months left we still haven't really decided on the places to go yet.

I'm kinda fixed on visiting the southeast area of Turkey, Cappadocia ,Ephesus ( Is Selcuk a good town to stay in for this ?) and of course Istanbul.
Was thinking of visiting Sanfranbolu but seems kinda of out of the way.

We love sightseeing, nature, culture, history, food, photography. Not so much of a shopping or beach person.

Are there any other places I should visit, how long should I stay.. Also kind of concern regarding safety in Southeast Turkey. Any area I should avoid for now?

A big thank you for any inputs :)

Welcome to the forum! 3 weeks is a nice length of time for your first trip here to Turkey but yes,every place you look at screams "visit me!visit me!"haa haa.
For a comfortable easily worked route yes,Safranbolu is a bit out of your way but I'll come back to that later.
I see you are listed as Singapore so I guess that is here you'll be flying in from is it?So that means some jetlag on arrival :o/ so...plan for a day or so in Istanbul to recover before moving on to your next destination.
What is your budget like?Can it stretch to some domestic flights for the longer distances?Actually they are surprisingly cheap here and often little more than the bus yet save so much time,so that is something to think about.
So you could either fly or take the overnight bus from Istanbul to Cappadocia for 2-3 days and then the bus from there down to Şanlıurfa in the southeast.

As things are now places like Urfa,Mardin,Hasankeyf are fine to visit,quite safe.We've had several trip reviews from people who've been there in the past month or so with absolutely no problems or fears.Allow yourself 4-5 days here,6 even and use one of them to take a day trip over to Nemrut Mountain.This is well worth the trip.Then take the bus back west a couple of hours to Gaziantep to check out the amazing mosaic museum there.

Now it is really worth taking a flight for the next very long leg....back to the west coast,clean across the country!Both Pegasus and Sunexpress have very cheap direct flights from Gaziantep to Izmir a couple of times a day.This takes less than 2 hours versus c.18 hours on the bus :) a no-brainer!

By now you should be up to about 10 or 11 days right?
Yes,Selçuk is an ideal place to stay to visit Ephesus.It is a lovely unspoilt town,very friendly and the Ephesus Museum has now reopened so you can see that too.
Another place not too far away you may like is Pamukkale where the white calcium travertines and thermal pools are.You can reach here by bus or train in c.3 hours from Selçuk,so maybe allow an overnight here too.

Now then,I said yes,Safranbolu is a bit of a pain for you so here is a beautiful,very similar but much less touristy alternative....Taraklı in Sakarya,not far from Istanbul.You can take the bus from Denizli to Sakarya and then a local bus from the city out to Taraklı village.Allow a couple of days to explore the village and surrounds and take a bus from Sakarya direct back to Istanbul for the final 3-4 days.
http://www.dailysabah.com/features/2014/12/01/discover-taraklis-cozy-streets
https://www.google.com.tr/search?q=Tarakl%C4%B1+pictures&newwindow=1&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=KLyRVOuMLsjaaLSCgLgH&ved=0CBwQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=699

How does that lot sound to you?

Sarikanarya gives excellent advice as usual, but I'd swap it around, if the flights work. Selcuk (for Ephesus) is a really really laid back town and would be ideal to recover from jet lag in.
It's easy to get a train to and from Izmir airport, too. Here's a site with the timetable - http://www.seat61.com/Turkey2.htm#Izmir_Ephesus_Pamukkale
Enjoy your holiday in Turkey - it's a lovely country. Also, do make use of the new high speed trains when you can - by the time you factor in check-in times they're almost as fast as flying,

Thanks so much for all the inputs. That sounds like a very solid plan. Great to know that I wouldn't have to miss out on Southeast Turkey :)
Yup I'm from Singapore. I'm planning to spend 5276.38 Turkish lira for the trip( for everything excluding my flight from SG to Turkey ) will it be enough? By the way for the flights and train how early do I need to book them?

5276.38TL?That final 38 kuruş will make all the difference :)) So that is almost 1900 Euro's for two of you is that correct?Or is this per person?For 2 of you it is enough if you are sensible and don't go blowing it on buying rubbish.

The new seasons flight schedules come out mid February so you can book those as soon as they appear.Anything showing before then is subject to change or cancellation.
Trains and buses you don't 'need'to book,you can just rock up pay and get on.As you arrive in each place go and buy your onward tickets then before you leave the otogar,then it is done and you can forget about them;that is soon enough to be honest.Turkish people seldom book in advance,they just turn up about 10 minutes before a bus is due to leave and buy a ticket!There are so many buses covering each route there is rarely a problem and even more so at this quieter time of year.

Haha I did a direct conversion from 3000SGD. But it was for per person. I was still worried that it might not be enough. But sound like we can do a lot with 1900Euro. I was just a little concern about getting on and off the right buses as we don't really speak Turkish, especially for cities outside of the usual tourist areas. But I guess we just have to figure things out on the way.
I also heard from a friend that a lot of stores in Turkey are closed outside of the peak tourism period. Is that true?

For one person it would have been doable but if this is per person then that is a very decent budget.Buses are soooo cheap here,even for a long haul(10-12 hours) intecity bus it is only c.80TL,that's about 30€.

99.9% of visitors here,even to less touristy area's do not speak a word of Turkish but manage just fine.People working in the tourism sector or connected to transport usually speak a couple of relevant words and others more so even up to really excellent English.Good humour,good will and some miming and you'll get where you need to go.A little notpad may be useful so you can write down the names of places if you aren't sure how to pronounce them but I have also found otogar staff to be great at ensuring foreign visitors get on the right bus and off at the correct stop.
On intercity buses there are attendants,young boys, and most younger people here speak some English so during the journey or at journey,comfort breaks you can also ask them where you are,how much longer etc.They will stow your luggage in the underneath hold,give you a collection tag for it,bring you free drinks and snacks during the journey and generally look after you.Turkish people really are very helpful and welcoming to visitors and do all they can to make sure they are okay.Often if one person doesn't know the right words he/she will enlist others and they'll put together all the words they collectively know to make sure you get the answer you need.This is funny,sweet,helpful and great local interaction.

The only places which close down during winter are the smaller summer coastal resorts but you aren't going to those so this won't affect you.Istanbul,Selçuk Ephesus,Cappadocia,Urfa,Mardin etc.all have year round tourism so everything will be open as per usual.

Hi Sarikanarya, we did some planning for the trip after taking in all your advise. However there are still some things that we are not sure about and hope that you can shed some light on us. Currently the plan goes like this;

-After arriving in Istanbul at around 7am, take a 9:55am flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia then make my way to Goreme.(Are both international flight and inland flight located at the same country? Will this be too rush?)

-Stay in Cappadocia for 3 days then take an over night bus to Urfa and stay in Urfa for 3 days (1 day spent going to Nermut), then go on to Mardin in the late afternoon on the 3rd day.

-Stay in Mardin for 4 days, 1st day most like only can check in and have dinner, 2nd day to Hasankeyf, 3rd to the deyrulzafaran monastery area, then last day just exploring** (We have a choice of 12pm flight on the 3rd day or 4pm flight on the 4th day. It this too much time in Mardin? Because I'm not sure if just 2 days in Mardin/Hasankeyf is enough)
*
-After flight, Izmur to Selcuk by bus then stay over for 2 days and then go on to Pamukkale then take an overnight bus to Tarakli for 2 nights.( Because of the long bus ride from Pamukkale to Tarakli, we thought that it might save more time if we travel overnight. However now I have two issues; 1:are there any overnight bus? 2:what to do with the luggages, should I just place them at a guesthouse in Pamukkale? )*

-At Tarakli, we planning to stay for 2 days. 1 day to explore the village and another to visit the Yedigoller National Park in Bolu before taking a bus back to Istanbul.

-Then I have around 3.5 days left in Istanbul because my flight back to Singapore is in the morning on the last day.

Do you think this plan sounds about right? Like if there's any place we can cut or add more time to? Sorry if it seems like a lot of questions, as it is our first time making such a big trip and just trying to get our head around all these questions before booking the hotels. Thanks a lot for your help so far. Really appreciate it :)

You should be fine for that flight;3 hours connection time is sort of the minimum I recommend as you need to check in by 9.00.The domestic terminal is 10-15 minutes walk from intl.arrivals.Tell the cabin crew you have a connection and could they assist you in getting off quickly please :)At least with Singapore passports you don't have the visa hassle which is good.
Are you flying into Nevşehir or Kayseri?You can book a cheap shared shuttle from either to Göreme.
I'm guessing you'll take the overnight bus from Nevşehir to Urfa will you?It arrives nice and early so you'll have a full day that day to look around.2 days to sight see and 1 day for Nemrut...okay.
Then Mardin your first day doesn't really count as you'll arrive late afternoon/early evening.So first day to look around,2nd day to Hasankeyf and 3rd day for Deyrulzafaran .I'd go for the 16.00 flight so you don't leave yourselves short of time in Mardin.

Pamukkale;if you go and buy your bus tickets up to Taraklı on arrival in Denizli you can leave your luggage there at the otogar whilst you go exploring for the day.
Now then for buses,I think you'll have the best connection if you take a bus from Denizli to Bilecik rather than Sakarya as I suggested originally.Metro Turizm have a bus at 12 midnight arriving Bilecik at 06.30.Then there are regular local bus services from Bilecik to Taraklı.
Yedi Göller...hmmm,that would be....quite a long rushed day for you as there is no direct bus.You would need to use certainly 2 buses and then possibly a taxi for the last bit.Then you'd have the problem of getting the taxi to come back for you again!
You could consider going to Abant Lake instead.Again you would take the bus to Bolu and then from there the minibus up to the lake.This wouldn't be such a long journey for you and would be easier for transport too.Abant is truly glorious in all 4 seasons.
In fact you could even have 1 day in Taraklı and then the other night staying up at Abant.There are buses to Istanbul from Bolu about every 30 minutes with several different bus companies.

It is a big and varied trip and when you don't know where you are going or understand distances etc.yes,it can take some time to get your head around it all.So don't worry about all the questions....I'm sure there will be more come to your mind :))

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