Sacrifice Feast Public holidays

24th is the first day of Bayram and you should be able to find intercity buses quite eaily that day from Göreme to Konya.Süha Turizm and Metro Turism have between them buses almost hourly throughtout the day.Just looked at both now and both show plenty of availability.When you arrive in Göreme just go and buy your ticket then,that's soon enough.
On that day all museums and attractions are closed until 13.00 and then open to normal hours and days after that.Mosques are of course open as usual but will be extra busy that day.

Well that certainly sounds much more hopeful than I tried the 3 bus ticket offices (Bestvan, Metro etc) in Van, back in July - nothing moved during the first day of Bayram there.
I will carry on planning around my original dates
Thanks again for your help
Cheers

By the schedule you mention it looks like you'll be traveling again on Monday the 28th. Correct? If so, you might have some problems getting a bus ticket. While I only checked one route (Konya - Denizli) nearly half are already full. The 27th is worse. I'd suggest making your reservation soon!

I've been in Turkey for the Sacrifice Holidays three or four times. It's a very happy time and very much a family holiday. In general far more leave the larger cities than enter, but Konya may be an exception. Lots of small businesses close for the holiday unless they're significantly involved with tourism. Since Konya doesn't have much to attract tourists (save Sufi pilgrims) the first three days of the holiday may find most businesses closed and the streets nearly deserted. Don't forget that Konya is arguably the most religious city in Turkey with Kurban Bayramı often considered the most important holiday in the Islamic calendar.

During the holiday it is considered rude NOT to greet anyone with whom you interact with, "İyi bayramlar" (happy holidays,.).

Thanks for the heads up - yes wanted to get the YHT fast train back to istanbul via Ankara - so will check when I get to Ankara about getting tickets
Or rejig my travel so I can hike around Cappadocia for the days of the Sacrifice
Or cross my fingers a family adopts me? ;-)

"Since Konya doesn't have much to attract tourists (save Sufi pilgrims) the first three days of the holiday may find most businesses closed and the streets nearly deserted. "
I don't think so :) It may be a religious city but folks there are also very pragmatic and this is a good time to earn money.It also coincides this year with the last weekend of school summer holidays so that too will bring folks outboth for shopping and for entertainment.

You can take the YHT from Konya to Ankara and pick up the YHT from there back to Istanbul.TCDD has now updated it's website to make it more user friendly(relatively speaking!)so you can book these online now.
https://yolcu.tcdd.gov.tr/view/eybis/tnmGenel/tcddWebContent.jsf

Getting into Istanbul or Ankara is the WORST thing you want to do on the final and following day of Kurban Bayramı! You're wanting to do both! POTENTIAL TRANSPORTATION DISASTER!!!

I once had no choice but to drive (private car) from the Cappadocia area to Ankara at that time. The final 100 km took nearly six hours in the most exasperating traffic jam I've ever experienced in my life. It was made even worse by the fact that I needed to pee for the last four hours of it yet refused to attempt to get over to the right and both into and out of unbelievably crowded fuel stations, restaurants, etc.

I've spent two of those holidays staying with Turkish friends in Ürgüp (Cappadocia area). They're both tour guides so they weren't able to visit with their families and it was essentially business as usual for them (even on the first day). "Business as usual" for a tour guide in Turkey means working from near sunrise to at least sunset if not longer... Cappadocia did though seem a nice place to spend that holiday. I definitely preferred it to the one I spent in Istanbul (staying with a different Turkish friend) when the huge, crowded ever-hectic city slowed down to the point that it seemed rather eerie.

I don't think so :) It may be a religious city but folks there are also very pragmatic and this is a good time to earn money.It also coincides this year with the last weekend of school summer holidays so that too will bring folks outboth for shopping and for entertainment.

You can take the YHT from Konya to Ankara and pick up the YHT from there back to Istanbul.TCDD has now updated it's website to make it more user friendly(relatively speaking!)so you can book these online now.
https://yolcu.tcdd.gov.tr/view/eybis/tnmGenel/tcddWebContent.jsf

Thanks for that Sarikinarya. I was going by my experiences in Cappadocia during that holiday when it occurred later in the year. The days before were insanely busy (particularly shopping in Kayseri) but during the holiday a great many of the businesses not involved with tourism (including Kayseri and Nevşehir) were closed. I was doing some repair and assembly work for my friends and found it nearly impossible to get materials and tools except at Koçtaş
in Kayseri. I also had to do much of my marketing at Migros which is usually my store of last resort. There was also that awful, awful traffic jam on the way into Ankara that found me vowing to NEVER again attempt land travel into either Ankara or Istanbul at the end of the holiday!

Hence the OP has the right idea...let the train take the strain :)

So the busy days are the last day and the day after the Bayram. Probably the first day and the day before Bayram would be also busy.

I might be traveling in the east during that period so I guess things shouldn't be as bad as Istanbul & Ankara.