Travelling to Turkey was a magical experience! But finding the best places to visit in Turkey and how to plan our trip was HARD! Here’s a guide to make planning your trip a lot easier!
Visiting Turkey over the summer and spending 2 weeks travelling through beautiful cities and landscapes was one of the most incredible experiences I have had. We discovered some of the most beautiful places to visit in Turkey – spending days at the beach, exploring lots city ruins and hiking through rocky landscapes. The only trouble we had was actually before leaving for our trip. Yes, I mean in the planning! It was so hard to find any information about places to visit and how to even visit them other than seeing photos on instagram. Travel to Turkey seemed almost impossible to plan!
We found it really difficult to find information about transportation, whether things needed to be booked in advance, and even if getting from place to place was possible! Looking back at how things work in Turkey, this all makes sense, but prior to visiting it was utter confusion!
That’s why I have decided to write this complete guide for travel to Turkey, including the best places to visit in Turkey and how to visit them! I hope this post makes everything easier to understand when you are planning and booking your own trip to Turkey! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to drop them below in the comments or send me an email!
This travel to Turkey guide includes:
- 8 things to know before planning your trip to Turkey
- Travelling around Turkey
- Our 2 week Turkey itinerary
- Places to visit
- Where to stay
- Our favourite things to do
8 Things to Know Before Planning Your Travel to Turkey
Always carry cash
Not many places take card payments, especially street vendors, so you need to have cash on you at all times. It is possible to barter in a lot of market stalls and smaller shops so its good to have cash for this too!
You must have a visa to travel here from most countries.
They are easy to get, and depending where you are coming from they cost a little bit of money! This is the official website you can get your visa from – www.evisa.gov.tr/en – Make sure you have a copy of it on your phone or printed out when you arrive in Turkey as they often ask for it at immigration! An e-visa on an Australian passport costs $97. I did mine on my UK passport and it was around $50, but they not offer free travel to Turkey for UK citizens so there is no need for a visa any more!
Don’t drink the tap water
You can still use it for cooking and boiling but its recommended you buy bottled water for drinking wherever you are in the country!
Turkish Tea is a sign of hospitality and should not be refused!
You might find that if you are making friends with the locals along your travels they will offer you a Turkish Tea! This is a sign of friendship and people could get offended if you don’t take it! Be prepared to drink a few of these every day!
Travelling around and booking things in advance can be complicated!
The Turkish tourism sector is built up of many small companies that run different buses around the country. They can be difficult to book online, and it’s often best to go into a travel agents and ask if they have any spare tickets for your date of travel! If you have no success, you are still likely to find a ticket sold by one of the other MANY companies around! When you travel to turkey it can be complicated working out how to visit the places you want in Turkey, but once you get the hang of this it is a lot easier.
Travel to Turkey can easily be done on a budget!
Most hotels, even really nice ones, are quite cheap. If you are sharing a double room you could easily find something really nice for anywhere from $30 – $70 per person! Food costs differ depending on what you are buying but eating out can cost around $10 – $20 for a nice meal, where as street food is often much lower on the scale!
Is is safe to travel to Turkey?
I had a few friends warn me before we travelled to Turkey about the danger we would be in which put me off a little. After the trip I can say that yes, it’s definitely a safe place to travel! Like everywhere, you have to be careful where you go and who you talk to. Otherwise it is no different to travelling in any other popular tourism destination! The people are all so lovely and helpful, it makes you feel so welcome to the country.
Turkey is a place that can be enjoyed in all seasons
It’s not just beautiful beaches and the coastline. There are so many hikes, cultural sights and big cities to explore that it can be a trip best done at any time! If you are flying in a hot air balloon you should bare in mind that these trips are cancelled if there is rain or strong winds. Therefore, April – October are probably the best times to visit.
Travelling around Turkey
All transportation between Turkish cities is done through private companies – either buses, trains, taxis or aeroplanes). Obviously it is possible to book air tickets in advance, but we had a bit of trouble with the bus and train options. There are websites online that show you bus times but they are all quite out-dated and hard to understand, making it hard to book before you go. We ended up booking nothing and just praying there was still space available when we got there!
Travel to Turkey by bus
We ended up just travelling around by bus as it was always super easy and there are loads of daily connections between cities! If you know what places you want to visit in Turkey it can be easier to work out the bus routes and go from there! In each city you will find travel agent offices where they organise bus transfers with a variety of different companies. If they say there are no available tickets you are likely to find that if you go into a different agency they will have spots available with a different company! In some cities or towns there is a bus station with different offices lined up in a row where you can go into each one and ask about a spot on the route!
When you have the ticket you just have to go back to where you bought it and either the bus will arrive there to pick you up or they will organise a transfer to take you to the bus station! They are super relaxed about times in Turkey. It is often hard to know the actual time you will be leaving or when the bus will be arriving so just remember not to stress about any of this and go with the flow!
The bus routes pretty much go to and from every city so it is quite easy to reach the places you want to visit in Turkey! There’s alot of overnight buses for the longer journeys which can be good to save on accomodation costs and time. The quality of the buses can differ depending on the company! They were all okay and it’s not really a big deal, just be prepared to not necessarily be on the nicest bus every time when you travel to Turkey.
Our 2 Week Turkey Itinerary
We spend two and a half weeks travelling around Turkey in August 2019. Most of our accomodation was booked in advance and we sort of had a plan of how we would get around. This included the possible travel options, but we didn’t actually have any transportation booked. We were kind of taking the risk that we would not be able to make it to our next location! It was quite a cheap trip for us. We were living on a budget and spent around $30 AUD on food and activities a day (excluding some of the more expensive excursions like the hot air balloon). Accomodation ranged from $30 – $60 AUD a night. We found most of the cheaper places were actually some of our favourites, especially in Cappadocia!
15 Day Turkey Itinerary including which places to visit
- 1 – 2: Istanbul
- 3 – 7: Cappadocia
- 8: Pamukkale
- 9 – 11: Öludeniz
- 12 – 14: Butterfly Valley
- 15 – 17: Kas
There are some places to visit in Turkey that I really really loved and would totally recommend to anyone (namely Istanbul, Cappadocia and Kas). As well as some places that I did not like so much (like Öludeniz and Butterfly Valley). These places were okay and probably would be amazing if you were looking for a different sort of holiday. Personally I didn’t like them so much!
The Best Places To Visit in Turkey
I have included more information on all of these places below too!
Istanbul
I’d recommend staying at least 2 – 3 days in Istanbul! It is a really incredible city for exploring culture, with their many spice markets, mosques and cosy cafes. We only spend 1 day here and it definitely was not enough! That meant that we didn’t actually get to see as many places as we wished! I will definitely be returning soon though!
Things to do in Istanbul:
- Aya Sofya
- Blue Mosque
- Basilica Cistern
Cappadocia
Cappadocia was a fairytale village situated in an area surrounded by cave houses. You have probably seen pictures of all of the hot air balloons rising here in the mornings, but there is so much more to Cappadocia than this! We spend 4 whole days there. We caught an over night bus in and out, and that seemed like the perfect amount of time!
Things to do in Cappadocia:
- Uchisar Castle
- Pigeon Valley
- Göreme Open Air Museum
- Hot Air Balloon over Cappadocia
- Sunset Point
- Fairy Chimneys
For a list of the best photo locations in Cappadocia see this post!
Pamukkale
We only came to Pamukkale for the day – taking an overnight bus in an out so we could spend the day at the salt flats! I would get here early in the morning as it was so busy as we were leaving around 10am!
Things to do in Pamukkale:
- Pamukkale thermal pools
Öludeniz
I did not like Öludeniz so much which is a shame because it was recommended to us by my parents who visited around 20 years ago and absolutely loved it! Now it is completely filled with holiday makers, everything is sold in GBP and there is no culture at all! It would have been fun if that is the sort of trip we were going for. However, it definitely was not! We managed to take a few day trips to places in the area that made it a lot better for us!
Things to do in Öludeniz
- Gemiler Beach
- Kayaköy Forgotten City
Butterfly Valley
We stayed in an airbnb just above butterfly valley which gave us great views! But I would say this is more of a day trip from a bigger city than a place to stay – unless you stay at one of the camp grounds further on by Kabak beach which looked AMAZING!
Things to do in the Butterfly Valley
- Kabak Beach
Kas
Kas felt like it was a place out of Mamma Mia! It had such a fun vibe in the city, with a really magical night life! There are so many beaches around and fun boat trips to go on! This was my favourite place in Turkey and probably the only one that I will be returning to soon. The feeling here was so much more than just a beach town.
Things to do in Kas
- Kaputas Beach
- Kekova Lost City
Where to Stay in Turkey
We booked all of our accomodation through booking.com or airbnb and it was all super easy to organise! I’ve provided links here so you can see where we stayed and book your trip through the links too! The best thing about most of these places is we could book in advance with free cancellation so we were able to book it super far in advance and not have to worry if we needed to make any date changes or anything!
Sultan Cave Suites
Sultan Cave Suites was probably one of the most incredible hotels I have ever stayed in! Each room is carved into a cave and they are all unique. The hotel is on the top of the hill in Göreme so you get a view over the whole town from the restaurant and bar (and an AMAZING VIEW for the balloons in the morning)! It has a pool, so many places to sit and relax, and they can organise a lot of trips for you too which makes everything super easy with transfers etc! The breakfast here was so good! There were so many delicious Turkish delicacies and it lasted us all day!
Local Cave House
Local Cave House is on the other side of Göreme and is a super instagrammed place because of how beautiful the exterior is, carved into the side of a cliff it looks like a Disney castle! The room here was nice and quite low budget too so its a good option for a cheaper place to stay! You can still see the balloons here but it is not so good of a view as the other hotels in the area!
Kekova Hotel
We stayed here in Kas and it was perfect for us! It is right opposite the bus station so really easy to get our luggage to, and only a 5 minute walk from the town centre! They had a really good breakfast on the roof too!
Our Favourite Places to Visit
Uchisar Castle
This was a short bus ride from Göreme but it was so worth it! It is an old castle that is carved into a giant rock, right next to Pigeon Valley! It’s quite cheap to enter, and there is a big market next to it that is really good for buying souvenirs!
Goreme Open Air Museum
The open air museum was quite expensive but it was such an interesting place! It is an area home to many old religious centres carved into rocks. If you are interested in culture then this is the place for you!
Hot Air Balloon
We did our hot air balloon trip in Cappadocia through Butterfly Balloons! It was 180 euros per person and was such a good experience! The trip started at 6am in the morning and lasted about 3 hours. They provide breakfast before and champagne after the trip as well as transfer to and from your hotel! It is expensive but SO WORTH IT!
Pamukkale Thermal Pools
A super cool place but can get super busy if you’re there after around 10am! We went when they opened at 8am and were able to sit in some of the pools by ourselves, but i wouldn’t want to go any later! In the park here though there’s also some ancient ruins to walk around so you can spend a whole morning or afternoon here!
Kayaköy Forgotten City
SUCH A COOL PLACE! I think it was in the 1900s but this was once a Greek Colony that moved back to Greece, leaving all of their houses as they were. It is an amazing, slightly spooky, place to walk around.
Kaputas Beach
Probably one of the most instagrammed beaches in Turkey! It has a beautiful view from above, with all of the beach umbrellas in lines behind the bleachers ocean! It has a cafe here and its a super nice place to sit and relax (especially as the beach chairs were sooo cheap!)
Kekova Lost City
We took a boat trip here from Kas which was incredible! It stopped at a few swimming places along the way there, and then at an island on the way back so we could go to the beach from a swim, have lunch or an ice cream! It was such a good day out.
