It is a bit odd this year to be honest.23rd is Arife Day on which a lot of people will travel but,because this falls on a Wednesday some will extend the week and travel the previous weekend too.
24th is the first day and this shouldn't be too bad as those who are travelling will have reached their destinations.25th & 26th should also be fairly quiet too.
27th will be utter chaos for anyone returning to Istanbul and Ankara by road.Airports will be busy but if you have a plane ticket then bear with the crowds.
The eastern area's for intercity buses will not be as bad as the western regions other than major cities like Diyarbakır,Urfa and Van.Do note the valid point made by the OP about buses on 24th however.Local buses in particular can be erratic or non existent on the first day of bayram out east.
"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. "
Thanks for the responses Sarikanarya & Swampeastmike
WOW, TCDD has upgraded their site - I tried a while ago when I got the 'good idea' about sitting on the train for a few hour to get to Istanbul, but the timetable was very limited and I knew there were more schedule trips so was going to try when I got to Ankara.
BUT that website llink works a treat, so with the encouraging opinion about Konya's general retail scene over the holidays I am back to Plan A. With fingers crossed the Public Transport from the outskirts won't be too strenuous by Monday arvo.
But Plan B was looking good too, spending 24/25 September in Eskisehir (picking a not so religious place) then heading over to Izmir then Yalova for a ferry back to Istanbul.
Spoilt for choices really, the joys of travelling a fab country like Turkey.
Cheers again
& Happy Holidays
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
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