Turkey 2 -10March 2017 Itinerary

Hi

I'm going to Turkey for 9 days in March and ill be celebrating my birthday 9 March ( hopefully in Cappadocia ), Based on my research I came up with an itinerary as follows
2nd March (Arrives at 6am from Johannesburg )ill have a full day in Istanbul
3rd Istanbul
4th Istanbul
5th Istanbul ( Leave with a night bus to Pamukkale )
6th Pamukkale
7th Pamukkale (leave with a night bus to Cappadocia )
8th Cappadocia
9th Cappadocia (hot air ballon for my birthday :) )
10th Cappadocia (leave with an evening flight to Istanbul , I have a 1am (11th ) flight to Amman

Im using buses just to save time as flying will actually waste my half day unless its a night flight and I don't feel comfortable arriving alone at night most of the time , I would like some advice if this is doable or not , my main plan was Istanbul and Cappadocia but I got sold to doing Pamukkale so I thought I could stop there .

Thank you

Welcome to the Turkey forum Andi! You're the second person I helped in recent days who's going to take
balloon trip as a self birthday present.If you have to celebrate your birthday alone the this is the way to do it :)
Your itinery is actually very good,well planned.Normally I would have aid to save Istanbul to the end but due to your dates and the balloon trip I see that won't be possible,so leave it as it is.
Taking overnight buses save on a hotel fee for those nights so that will help your budget I guess but...the bus journey from Istanbul to Denizli for Pamukkale is a 10 or 11 hour journey ...meh.So you could consider flying on this route instead.Pegasus have a flight(PC286)from SAW airport at 21.50 arriving Denizli airport at 22.55.price 46 T.L :) You can book an airport shuttle transfer for 20 T.L door to door up to Pamukkale village so you don't have to worry about hanging around waiting for buses etc.late at night.
You can get to SAW airport in ıstanbul using Havataş transfer buses for 15 T.L.So the total cost would be 81 T.L and the bus costs 80 T.L.Same cost but would save you that tiring ride.I guess this depends on how tight your budget is and how well you sleep on overnight buses.Just an option for you.
The overnight bus from Denizli to Cappadocia is unavoidable however.

You have good use of your last day too as your outbound flight is so late.Your check in will be 23.00 latest so try to get a flight that arrives back at Istanbul Ataturk by say.21.00 just to be on the safe side time wise.
I am assuming your Amman flight is from Ataturk when I say that;Istanbul has 2 airports(far apart!) so make sure your flight from Cappadocia goes into the correct one :)

Looks good...enjoy!

Hi Sarika

thank you so much for your help , Yes I took note of the 2 airports ...Im flying out from Atuturk to Amman but I was thinking to fly to SAW Istanbul Sabiha from Cappadocia as its cheaper and arrive at 18:35 so im thinking ill have enough time to make it to Atuturk one , the prize different is very huge so ill save a lot of money .

thanks for suggesting flying as well I check the flight and see if I can book the shuttle if im arriving late at night .

I liked the idea of leaving Istanbul last but I think it would be more nice to be there around the weekend so that's why I want to be there first ...I kind of know some people through couchsurfing that I would like to meet so I thought weekends are best for most people :)

Thank you again for you help .

Ill definitely take this flight :) Pegasus have a flight(PC286)from SAW airport at 21.50 arriving Denizli airport at 22.55.price 46 T.L :) Thank you x

...and do the balloon trip actually on your birthday too ;o)

Landing at SAW at 18.35 is...just about as late as you dare be when you have to go clean across the city.You'll be able to get the 19.00 Havataş to Taksim and then change to the one from there to Ataturk.You might just get the 21.00 from Taksim(depends on the traffic) but if not then you should be okay for the 21.30 and be at the airport c.22.30 which is good as you will need that extra time to clear through the beefed up security without panic-king.
http://www.havatas.com/

For the shuttle from Denizli airport to Pamukkale this is the company,Ismail Baytur.Click on contact and send them an e mail to book it nearer the time.Make sure you make it clear you want the Pamukkale shared shuttle and NOT the one just into Denizli though.And this will drop you at your hotel door-
http://ismailbaytur.com/index.php?dil=1

As you'll have 2 full days at Pamukkale you could use one to take a trip out to visit Aphrodisias which is a beautiful site and the on-site museum is one of Turkey's best.Any hotel you book into can arrange to book you onto the tour bus.
Taking the tour works out no more expensive than by public transport as you need to make 4 bus changes...and 4 to come back!So the tour is the same cost but much easier.You get ample time there to look around at leisure and the site is never crowded...you could even have almost to yourself :)
Alternatively you could go down into Denizli and take a local bus out to Laodecia which is now a big site with a lot of very interesting archeological work going on right now.

Ah you're a C.Ser are you?That is now well developed here in Turkey and so you can maybe hook up with some C.Sers in Denizli/Pamukkale or Cappadocia too.

Means my flight cnt be cancelled or delayed then :)

Well flying is really a good option so I will go with it , Thank you for all the suggestion I will read more about the places and see if I can do them , I love walking around with no plan as well so I always reserve a day for that but if its a small town and nothing much to see then going to surrounding places make sense .

Yes Im a C.ser , I host more than I surf though , and meet up people as well ...I always prefer to stay central if I don't have enough time in a place so that ill see much as possible so I just go for hostels most of the time :)
Are you on CS ?

Thank you again , much appreciated .

You're welcome,and if you have further questions in the coming months then just shout up.
No I'm not a C.S er,wish I was but I live in a place that is really a tourist destination,other than maybe a few domestic local visitors.If I was still in Istanbul then I'd defo do it but I didn't know about C.S when I lived there :o/

Hey Sarikanarya

Please help so I thought I had time to book my flight so I missed this deal as I think the flight is full now Nevsehir to SAW Istanbul Sabiha arrives at 18:35 so now im thinking of flying from Kayseri Airport to Sabiha Istanbul arrives at 18:35 as well but just wondering if its a good idea to fly from that airport well I dnt have an option right now :

Andile

Oh no!That is a problem;the closer the date so seats fill up :( But the one from Kayseri lands at the same time so that's okay.It just means you'll need to leave for the airport a bit earlier from Göreme that's all.Maybe an extra 30 minutes earlier-not the end of the world :)

Awww Thank you ...I really thought I had time since im only going in March but I booked the one leaving from Kayseri .

That does seem early you know.Where did you try to book,on the airlines own web site or on a 3rd party web site?If the former then okay must be correct but via a 3rd party that may only mean their ticket allocation is sold out.There again maybe on the airline web site if it shows sold out maybe the flight was actually cancelled altogether.
Anyway whatever,you have a ticket booked now :)

Hi tried both but both sold out , I booked flight on the airline website so to avoid missing out on the one from Kayseri I just booked it today :)Now ill look for a hotel I hope they can arrange a airport pick up for me .

Any hotel you book into can arrange for the cheap shared shuttle to and from either airport.To kayseri airport it is 25 T.L but be sure you make it clear to them you want this and not the private transfer-very nice but mucho money !

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