Hello there!
I have been MIA for no specific reason! But many things happened. I was super busy and happy celebrating the first annual day of my Dance School, I turned 30 and traveled to Turkey Essentially a good break where I could give time to myself, my passion and my family 🙂 So no complaints!
Now that I am back, I am super excited to share our Turkey Travel Stories. I am writing this travel blog series with Mr. A who is my travelling partner and loves to write too. In this post, we share 12 logistics you need to know to start planning a Turkey trip! #TravelTurkey
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Why Turkey?
Turkey has something to offer to all types of travelers. If you are a history buff, loose yourself in the amazing architectural wonders from the Ottoman, Byzantine, Greek and Roman eras in Istanbul and Ephesus. If you are the lazy beach bug, just relax in the beautiful beaches of Antalya. If you like nature and adventure, the caves of Cappadocia will leave you wanting for more. If you like shopping, the Grand Bazaars and Spice Bazaars can easily help you max your credit cards; and if you are a foodie, you will have a herculean task to loose the extra weight you will gain from all those Baklavas, and the Turkish delights.
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Is it safe to visit?
While I understand that most of this comes from what you read and hear in the media, a lot of it also is paranoia. While we were advised to avoid the south-east part of Turkey which borders Syria (which we did), our journey in general was hassle-free journey and we ended up meeting some amazing people and were busy making memories!
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What is the best time to visit?
April – September is the best time to visit. We went right at the beginning of the tourist season so the places were not very crowded and we could get good prices for the hotels and other attractions.
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How much time do we need to see all the sights?
While you can spend years in a country and still have sights to see, we think we fairly did a decent job of covering the major tourist attractions (barring few) in three cities in a week. We even had about half a day which we used to see some unconventional places like Lego Land in Istanbul as we traveled with our 3-year-old nephew. So we would recommend a week if you are a busy bee and probably a week more if you want to visit more cities and cover all the places.
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What are the places to visit?
It depends on the time you have. Our itinerary allowed us the luxury of visiting three major cities: Istanbul, Antalya and Cappadocia and visited nearby villages/cities. However with a week more, we could have covered another three cities which usually come up on most “lonely planet”esque guides.
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Do people speak English in Turkey?
Hell no! Make sure to open your translator app. (Just kidding) Apart from a few places, where we were dealing with local artisans, we had no difficulty in communication. Turkish people either speak in English with their tourists or make a very genuine effort to understand what you are looking for and help you (Trust me! We could order a vegetarian meal without speaking a word with the lovely lady at a restaurant). However one thing to watch out for is that many websites to book tickets or obtain information could be in Turkish. We used google chrome for these websites and had the content translated to English and it worked fine every time.
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Do you have options for vegetarians?
Absolutely! But we can’t complain about the choices though! The vegetarian options mainly include bread, saute vegetables with cheese (casseroles as they call it), mushroom, vegetarian pide, soup (some places), salad with lovely dressing and fresh fruits. Since we eat egg, our options also included Turkish omelette 🙂
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Where did you stay?
When we visit a country, we try to live in different kinds of places to get the feel of the country and their living. We experimented with the peaceful urban living in an apartment (AirBnB) and the busy city hotel right at Taskim Square in Istanbul, Old Town of Antalya and Cave Hotels of Cappadocia. There are many options of hotels in every city. Our recommendation is to choose an experience (e.g. beach house, cave house or downtown apartment) and you should be able to find each of these under $100 with some basic research.
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What is the best mode of transport?
Istanbul’s local transport is the easiest, fastest and cheapest especially when travelling in the old city (which has the major landmarks and tourist attractions). Uber works great in the city too. For the other cities, we experimented renting a car (left hand drive/ right side of the road), which we used to drive from Antalya to Cappadocia and flew back to Istanbul to save time.
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What currency works?
Turkish Lira is the local currency, and Euro has wide acceptance. But most of your major hotels and shopping also accept US Dollars. If everything fails, you can always use an internationally accepted credit card. Avoid Amex/ Discover as it may not always work, use VISA/ MasterCard instead.
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How is the WiFi connectivity?
Isn’t that the most important thing? Most of the public places have free Wifi. In any case, we purchased for a portable wi-fi device on our first day in Istanbul at the airport, which worked in all the three cities, though not always at LTE speed. But we managed to remain connected at all times.
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How to get a visa?
You just need to apply for a e-visa to get into Turkey. The process is pretty simple and the website is user-friendly too.
I will follow up with a detailed itinerary post soon! Stay Tuned!
-Signing off
“A change in the latitude is sure to help my attitude”
21 Comments
Sruthi Mamaduru
May 11, 2018 at 5:30 pmNice article lakshmi! Looking forward to read about itinerary as well. How about getting visa for turkey?
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:46 pmThanks Shruthi. That’s a good catch. Just updated the blog with the visa link too 🙂 Itinerary coming up soon!
Lakshmi Ratna
May 12, 2018 at 1:14 amVery lucid and well written Lakshmi!
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:48 pmHey thanks Lakshmi! Comments like this motivate me to write more often than I do!
Nellwyn
May 14, 2018 at 12:07 pmThis is a great run-down and answered a lot of questions I had about thinking of travelling to Turkey. Some friends of mine went a few years ago and they have such wonderful things to say about their trip!
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:49 pmthanks Nellwyn for stopping by!
Mary
May 14, 2018 at 12:13 pmI would love to visit Turkey, it is definitely on my bucket list. Your post has made me want to visit sooner than later.
Salma
May 14, 2018 at 1:07 pmI would love to visit Turkey one day, it’s definitely on my bucket list!
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:49 pmIts a beautiful place… perfect blend of Eurasian culture and history!
Vrinda
May 14, 2018 at 3:10 pmThanks for sharing this!! Would love to read more such write ups from you. Very handy Info 👍
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:50 pmThanks Vrinda… 🙂
Kristi McAllister
May 14, 2018 at 4:52 pmI haven’t ever considered traveling to Turkey, but after reading your post, I can totally see why you enjoyed your trip there. And as far as the vegetarian options they offer, I could totally do that with no problem. Great post! Love discovering new places to add to my bucket list!
Aine
May 15, 2018 at 3:04 amWhat a great insight, never been myself but have always wanted to go – this looks fantastic!
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:52 pmThanks Aine!
Dalene Ekirapa
May 15, 2018 at 4:40 amTurkey definitely has too much to offer; I’ve heard of Istanbul a million times and someday, I’ll be glad to visit the place. Anyway, it’s awesome that English is spoken over there so communication wouldn’t be much of a hindrance.
Deimarys Colon
May 15, 2018 at 11:46 amIt sounds like you were really prepared and like you had an amazing time in Turkey! Looking forward to reading about your itinerary!.
chelf
May 15, 2018 at 4:05 pmGood to see you back! I always wanted to visit turkey but never did! It’s such a shame if you think that I grew up in a city right nect to turkey with a large turkish community! Their food is amazing!!
Nadine Richardson
May 15, 2018 at 8:03 pmDefinitely on the list of places to visit. I just know the food is going to be bomb. These were really well researched and insightful tips!
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:51 pmI am glad you found this useful Nadine.
Shreya Chaudhari
May 17, 2018 at 11:00 amso fun. it is so pretty there
Lakshmi
May 31, 2018 at 2:50 pmIt truly was!! thanks for stopping by Shreya!