What are the best places to visit in Turkey?

I am planning to go to Turkey within the year for about 4-5 weeks. What are some of the must see's? i am interested in the history side of the country, less visited places, as well as some of the popular areas. Also, what time of the year is best to go? I obviously want to avoid the monsoon season and when it is extremely hot.

Go to www.turkeytravelplanner.com for itineraries.

Must sees are whatever you must see.

Best times IMHO are April-June, and Sept-Oct.

Monsoon Season ?

Are you sure you know where Turkey is ?

if you like history here are my recommendations:

-istanbul is incredible, it's like a living museum
-ephesus (efes) is touristy, but the ruins are very impressive
-goreme and cavusin in central turkey are incredible, other worldly and a must-see in my opinion (goreme is a bit touristy, but nothing compared to ephesus)
-urfa in the southeast is well off the beaten track (didn't see another traveller while i was there) and really gives you a glimpse of kurdish life and islamic history
-another jewel in eastern turkey was the small town of hasankeyif on the tigris river - incredible. i believe it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the world (around 11,000 years according to one of the local teachers). accomodations are scarce, but i was able to rent a room at the teachers' quarters for a few nights and everyone was very friendly.

I agree with the suggestions of odd377 but I would add the North-eastern part of Turkey: Trabzon, Kars, Dogubayazit. I went two years ago and loved this part. No tourist there, wonderful places to see (for exemple: Sumela monastery, Ani, Isak Pasa palace) and beautiful landscape. You can go there during summer time; it's high altitude, so always remain a bit cold.

Nemrut Dagi, near Malatya, is another must-see; you can go there after your journey in Cappadocia.

Tom's site (www.turkeytravelplanner.com) is wonderful to help you to organise your trip.

thanks for the advice everyone! I definitely will look at that website. And (2), i suppose I meant which areas of Turkey are 'wet/rainy' and when to avoid this ... with some areas, I realise, getting negligible rainfall.

here are my votes if you are looking for some beach or chill time;

The entire coastline of Antalya ranging from the city of Antalya to Fethiye is a wonderful way to spend a vacation along the Lycian Way. All with spendid beaches. Here are some great places to visit south west from Antalya - Phaselis, Olympos, or better yet Cirali, Myra, Kekova, Kas, Kalkan, Xanthos, Telmessos, Fethiye, Oludeniz, and Kayakoy.

Cirali is a very small rural village located about 1 hours drive from Antalya and boasts a beautiful secluded 4 km beach, the ruins of Olympos, the flames of the Chimeara, as well as a protected area by the WWF for the nesting of the Caretta sea turtles. It is one of the last remaining villages on the med. coast that has not been taken over by mass tourism. Unfortunately mass tourism has changed the faces of so many of these beautiful areas along the coast with the build up of too many resorts.

But other places in Turkey to also consider;

1. Istanbul
2. Cappadocia
3. Ephesus and the Selcuk area
4. Assos
5. Canakkale and Gallipoli - but only if you are into WW1 history ( do some research about this area )

If you have 4-5 weeks you can plan a great trip visiting most the the major places along with other non-touristic areas. Yes I also agree check out Tom's site of the Turkey Travel Planner www.turkeytravelplanner.com .......lots of great info.

Last fall on the coastal areas we recieved the most rain in a couple of week in October....but after that people were still swimming in to sea until New Years...so go figure with weather patterns...

My Turkey Travel Photos

i highly recommend you to visit 1- OLYMPOS 2- EPHESUS 3-CAPPADOCIA 4-AMASYA 5-SAFRANBOLU 6-MARDIN 7-MT.NEMRUD 8-LAKE VAN 9-TURQUOISE COAST(BLUE CRUISE) 10- PERGAMUM

enjoy Turkey

egemen

Blatant advertising is proscribed by L&Ps terms and conditions. The fact that you've ignored that suggests that your company is probably quite crappy and people should avoid it.