We were a group of 6 friends who visited Turkey from the 13th to the 20th of August 2022. It was a remarkable 8 days and 7 nights trip across three very different landscapes within the country.
| Date & Day | When awoke | Spent Night at |
| 13th Aug, Sat | Istiklal Street | Istanbul |
| 14th Aug, Sun | Galata Tower, Balat, Asian Side | Istanbul |
| 15th Aug, Mon | Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar | Istanbul |
| 16th Aug, Tue | Ephesus, Pamukkale | Antalya |
| 17th Aug, Wed | Antalya City, Olympos | Antalya |
| 18th Aug, Thu | Saklikent Gorge & Fethiye | Antalya |
| 19th Aug, Fri | Highlights Tour & Turkish Dinner | Cappadocia |
| 20th Aug, Sat | Hot Air Balloon |
Little About Turkey-
Turkey is an elliptic country lying mostly in Asia.
- The Bosporus Strait splits the city of Istanbul. Everything east of the Strait lies in Asia, which is most of the country’s landmass while a small portion, west of the Bosporus lies in Europe. Though small, the European side has most of the major landmarks of Istanbul like Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Istiklal Street etc.
- The Western side also has the country’s largest & one of the world’s busiest airports- The Istanbul Airport (IST). You are most likely to enter and the exit the country through this airport.
- Though Istanbul is the most popular and the biggest city of Turkey; its official capital is 100s of kms east in Ankara (not a tourist spot).
- Despite being a largely Muslim country; most people use Turkish as their primary language and not Arabic. Unlike Arabic, Turkish uses English-like alphabets, so reading boards and names of places becomes easier. Proficiency in English is moderate, much better than South-east Asia but much lower than Dubai or India.
- The currency is Lira and is used everywhere, however tourist operators usually quote the prices in Euros but one can pay them in liras too. The INR (Indian Rupee) to TRY (Turkish Lira) conversion used to 12:1 in 2019-2020. Even in Aug 2021, it was 8:1. In just 1 year, the value of their currency halved to INR:TRY :: 4:1. The local prices couldn’t have adjusted to this devaluation at the same pace, we found local prices to be much affordable than expected. As of July 2024, the TRY has further weakened to 2.5:1.
What to Expect as a Tourist
The Turkey experience can be bucketed into 3 C’s- City, Coast & Cappadocia. There are 2 other famous sites that I will write about in the end.
City
Istanbul is my favourite city in the whole world. It has beautiful buildings & people, lots of eat and see, mix of history and modern influences. Even on a short trip, spending anything less than 3 days in Istanbul won’t do justice to the city.
- Apart from Hagia Sofia & the Blue Mosque, there is the Grand Bazaar, the Basilica Cistern, multiple palaces and towers, a street with colourful houses, a street with colourful umbrellas and my favourite among all- The Istiklal Street from Galata Tower to Taksim Square. You should definitely book your accommodation here.
- The Istiklal street is a walking street with European architecture. It has many brands selling apparel, all types of restaurants selling food & desserts, hammams, souvenir shops, an old tram line typically only boarded by tourists, street performers and vendors, cafes and bars, night clubs and historical monuments etc.
Coast
Turkey has two long coastline, the long yet the shorter one along the northern border of the country with the Black Sea and the longer and the more popular one along the Mediterranean sea.
- Antalya is the most popular coastal city along this border with Bodrum & Izmir being other popular and big cities along the same coast.
- The beaches are huge, clean with stunning views. There are also commercialized with beach beds, shacks and some beach sports options.
- However, all the beaches we went to were pebble beaches. Pebbles both slip with your weight and hurt your feet. I am not a fan of them and enjoy sand beaches much more. Also, these beaches get too deep too soon, not giving one enough breadth to play/move around.
- On other aspects, the roads are well maintained and an Indian can easily self-drive with an Indian driving license and credit card. In fact, I would highly recommend one to do it. There are many places like Fethiye, Kas, Olympos, Saklikent Gorge etc. to drive towards.
Cappadocia
It pronounced “dokia” and not “doshia”. It is a huge arid landmass with land formations unlike anywhere else in the whole world. One should stay in the ‘Goreme’ (pronounced “go” as in “Goat”, “re” as in “Rep” and “me” as in “Me”) region of Cappadocia. It is connected by two airports- Nevsehir (NAV) & Kayseri (ASR). Though the Nevsehir airport is poorly connected, it is closer to the Goreme region. There are 4 things to do in Cappadocia-
- Hot Air Ballooning (HAB)- Cappadocia is undoubtedly the world’s most popular place to experience a HAB ride and it is totally worth it. You have to get up at 3am, reach the base by 4am and then witness the experience. A basket has four sections for tourists and can hold about 25 people. It is a 40-60 min ride and it is exceptionally beautiful.
- Sightseeing- They have divided the landmarks into two tours- The ‘Red Tour’ and the ‘Green Tour’. Both are whole day tours and cover sites along separate routes. Then they also have the ‘Highlights Tour‘ which covers sites from both these Red and Green tours for tourists who just have 1 day to see around.
- Cave Hotels and Dinners- People have constructed modern buildings, mimicking the old unique architecture of the place, in the form of caves. These are small hotels with modern interiors. Their terraces have a traditional carpet seating to witness the hot air balloons from ground or just take in the scenery around. There are a few places which host Turkish performances with dinner in these cave styled buildings.
- Activities- There are multiple trekking routes, horse-riding (though I don’t promote it) and quad-biking options, if one wants partake in. If I remember correctly, each of them was priced at 30 euros per person.
Others
- Pamukkale- Cotton Castles made of minerals oozed out of the earth. Located mid-way between Izmir and Antalya, this small town boasts of a very unique white hill that has several step-pools of thermal water. They are exceptionally beautiful but on a sunny day, the sunlight can make the outing sore. It is a huge place which can take in hundreds of people at once.
- Ephesus- The archaeological site of Ephesus, a 45 min drive from Izmir is home to the remains of one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world- The Temple of Artemis. The temple must have been huge back in its time, but today only a column stands in it place. The whole site is filled with ruins of an ancient city. It is still under excavation and we don’t know what we may discover next.
Cost of the Trip
| Amount (INR) | Comment | |
| Flights (Indigo) | 40,000 | BLR-DEL-IST (Same Return), Booked in May |
| Stays | 25,000 | ~3.5k pp/night (Mostly Air Bnbs) |
| Visa | 8,000 | I think it is 17k now |
| Insurance & SIM | 2,000 | |
| Self Drive Car | 6,000 | 1 6-seater for 3 days |
| Entrances/ Tours | 15,000 | Cappadocia tours, IST entrance fees |
| Hot Air Balloon | 12,000 | Can go up to 220 Euros |
| Food & Drinks | 30,000 | |
| Internal Flights | 25,000 | IST-ADB, ADB-AYT, AYT-ASR, ASR-IST |
| Shopping | 7,000 | Sweets & Souvenirs |
| Total | 1,70,000 |
The Visa Process
Indians require a pre-approved visa for entering Turkey. Only for people who have an active US, UK or Schengen visa, can apply for Turkish E-Visa. For all others, like the 6 of us, one has to apply through “Gateway International”. The visa fees then was around 7-8k per person but it has been increased now to a whooping 17-18k per person. Like a Schengen visa, one must prepare all documents, book a slot with Gateway and then visit the centre in person to make the submission and pay the fees. For my Mumbai & Delhi friends, the visa came in just 3 days, for the Bangalore ones, it took about 12-15 working days. Gateway seems to be a sister-firm or somehow related to VFS as the Gateway centre was the same as the VFS centre in Bangalore.
Our 8D7N Itinerary-
13th August 2022- Saturday
We took the DEL-IST Indigo flight and landed at the IST airport at 10:30am.
We purchased our SIM card at the airport & chose the Turkcell network for 550 liras (20 GB for 30 days, the network was good throughout the country and they have an E-SIM option as well. Turkcell had help centres pan-Turkey).
Bitaksi and Uber are two popular cab-hailing services. Bitakshi is highly unreliable, please choose Uber or the On-the-go taxis wherever you go. We took an Uber (700 Liras for a Mercedes Van as we were 6 with luggage) to our beautiful 3 BHK Airbnb located just 2 mins away from the Galata Tower on the Istiklal Street. Uber is a reliable app, however, the Uber there will always show a fare range, say 50-70 TRY, and the driver at the end of the trip can input the fare amount from this range on the Uber app and he will always input in the highest amount (70 TRY in this case). Also, at times the Uber driver will quote you a rate, say 150 TRY, in the Uber chat and will cancel if you decline. But still it is the best option among operators.
We freshened up and walked towards the Taksim Square. The street between the Galata Tower and the Taksim Square is called the Istiklal Street and it is the best street in the whole country, has a very touristy vibe- has lots of restaurants, cafes, ice-cream parlours, dessert shops, fast-fashion brands, banks, hammams and much more. We had some beer and food at a European-styled café and then a few desserts at Mago (there are hundreds of these in Turkey and they serve excellent desserts). Walked till the Taksim Square. On the way back, visited some fast-fashion brand stores like Kolors, H&M, Zara, Defacto etc.
We, then, headed to the Beyoglu area where the streets were covered with up-turned umbrellas. Later, we took some rest at the Karakoy water-side overlooking the Galata Bridge. There are multiple cafes at the Karakoy water front where one can stop for a nice beer, dessert or a whole meal.
Before it got dark, we headed to the Seagull restaurant (Nothing special) and then to the Zebra Lounge for some good Hookah (Sheesha) and Cigars. As it was a Saturday, we decided to go clubbing and headed to the 360 degree Club at Istiklal (Entry 200 TRY- 1 beer free). The music was techno and the crowd was young, cosmo and metrosexual. There were also several performers to entertain guests. I have adulted into a seldom-party person and to enjoy a place like this, I either had to be super drunk or the music had to be pop. I was also too tired by then. Parties go on until 6am in the morning, but we crashed back to our BnB at around 12am.
On a scale of -5 to +5, Istiklal Street gets a +4, Mago gets a +3, Beyoglu & Karakoy water-side gets a +2, Seagull restaurant a -3, The Zebra Lounge a 0 and the 360 degree Club a +1.
14th August 2022- Sunday
We started the day early visiting the Galata Tower (as it gets very crowded later on in the day) – Entrance was 170 Liras + 40 Liras for the audio guide. The audio guide was excellent and so were the very views both within and from the tower.
From there, we took an Uber to explore the Balat region. First, we sat at a small café for brunch. Turkey has this main course curry dish that they prepare in these earthen pots. It has a vegan version as well. They heat the pots with the meat/ vegetables locked inside. It was good but nothing great, but it surely was quite unique of the place. Post our brunch, we headed towards the fancy painted houses & decorated streets in the Balat region and took some pictures. I honestly feel this place is just Instagram-hyped and could have been skipped.
From here, we headed for a pre-booked Turkish Hammam session. For Impromptu planners- These can be sold-out or the place may not have enough staff to service everyone at once in case of bigger groups. So, plan a day or two in advance. All the Hammams offer similar massages and a foam bath post that. There are some Male-to-Male hammams as well, however all the others only have female masseuses irrespective of the client’s gender. Expect to pay 40 euros in a nice hammam and 60+ euros in a fancy/ heritage one.
Post our hammam session, we decided to spend the second half of the day exploring the Asian side of Istanbul. So, we took an Istanbulkart (1 card supports up to 6 people) from the Karakoy ferry harbour and went to the Asian side (8.76 TRY pp per travel). The Asian side too was very touristy and cosmo like the Istiklal street but the major difference was that the roads were narrower and the shops seemed more local. There are all types of cafes and shops. We took a walk till the Moda Coast from the Kadikoy harbour- ate, shopped and clicked pictures on the way. An enthusiastic tourist will stop a lot on the way.
Later in the night, we headed back to the European side, and had dinner at a restaurant near the coast. Kumpir is a potato based vegan Turkish dish which I simply loved and had a lot.
On a scale of -5 to +5, the Galata Tower gets a +3, Balat region a 0, Turkish Hammams (we went to a basic one) a +1, the Asian side a +3.5, The Kumpir dish a +3.
15th August 2022, Monday
It was raining cats and dogs. We took shelter at a cute breakfast place and ordered waffles, pancakes, toasts, hot chocolates, coffee etc.
Then we headed to the tram junction (like anywhere in Europe) and used our Istanbulkart (7.5 TRY per person per travel) to reach Hagia Sophia. There are numerous guides offering their services outside the landmark and one can haggle the prices according to one’s group size. The entry is free & photography allowed. It is very beautiful from the inside as well. The low-hanging chandeliers are the charm. Just opposite to Hagia Sofia is the Blue Mosque (entry is free here too). It was under repairs then. It is also a historical beautiful landmark but nothing compared to the Hagia Sofia in terms of its interiors.
From here, we walked towards the Grand Bazaar (15 mins walk). It is a collection of hundreds of shops selling sweets, carpets, ceramics, home décor, jewellery etc. You must have heard about their lucrative exchange rates. They really have the best exchange rates in the whole country.
We further walked towards the Basilica Cistern which has an entry fee of 190 TRY- It is aesthetically lit and an eerie music plays down there. It is an old cistern and I would recommend one to go there. There are also a couple of a parks to stroll around in the area. Terrace restaurants are quite famous in the area too. They overlook Hagia Sofia. We didn’t go there as we found them to be quite expensive.
We picked some food on the go and then headed for the Whirling Dervishes Show (booked online at 30 Euro pp) at Hodjapasha. I absolutely hated it- it was too boring. It can be one of the worst things I have sat through.
We headed back to the Istiklal Street for dinner. Later in the night, we visited an LGBT club at Taksim Square and called it a day after a few drinks.
On a scale of -5 to +5, I give Hagia Sofia a +3.5, Blue Mosque a +1, Grand Bazaar a 0, Basilica Cistern a +2, The Whirling Dervishes a -5 and the LGBT club at Taksim (Monday) a -1.
16th August 2022, Tuesday
Confession: This was an ill-planned day. Don’t do this if you plan to visit these places. More about it in the end note of this day.
We took an 8am flight to Izmir (ADB) from Istanbul (IST). The IST airport is quite far from Istiklal Street, so we had to get up quite early and get ready for the day. It was a short flight.
At the Izmir airport, we took a self-drive car & drove to Ephesus. It is a 1 hour drive and the roads are terrific. Ephesus is an ancient archaeological city which had much importance during the Roman-era. A guide is a must here, else there is nothing much to understand from the ruins themselves. We had pre-booked him. The entrance fees was 200 TRY per person. It was a very hot day with the sun at our forehead and no shade in sight. I didn’t find the history of the place to be very interesting either. Moreover, the excavation was still going on and ruins so far weren’t aesthetically pleasing to see. All in all, I didn’t like the place. My historically-inclined friends used the word “good” for this place and “superb” for Hagia Sofia.
The Ephesus tour had ended earlier than what we had anticipated for. It was 12pm now. We had an 8pm flight from Izmir (ADB) to Antalya (AYT). We had to reach the Izmir airport max by 7pm. We had 7 hours to kill and a self-drive car with us for the whole day. We decided to go to Pamukkale.
Pamukkale is a huge white mineral deposited hill with step-pools of water. It is a very beautiful site. It is a 2.5 hr drive from Ephesus and about 3 hours from the Izmir Airport. There are lots of negative reviews about the place being super crowded or its pictures on the Internet being unreal. It looks exactly as seen on the internet.Yes, there were a lot of tourists but the place is huge and one gets enough space for bathing, taking pictures etc. Please go there in your beach-wear. We explored the place for a short while.
We had quick snack and then drove back to Izmir to catch our flight from Izmir (ADB) to Antalya (AYT).
We landed in AYT late at night, our 6th friend had skipped Ephesus and had taken an earlier flight to AYT from IST. He had also checked into our 3 BHK Airbnb and taken our self-drive car rental for us. He was sweet enough to come pick us up at the airport. We checked-into our accommodation and went out for dinner. We were staying near the Konyaalti beaches, which is the best neighbourhood to stay in. At dinner, we ordered some Raki, which is the Turkish National Drink. It looks colourless like water but as soon as you dilute it with water, it becomes cloudy. It is a strong drink.
Coming to why it was an ill-planned day. We drove for 2.5 hours to reach Pamukkale only to realise that we were super hungry by then and would have had to change into our beach-wear and then back to our regular clothes and will also have to enjoy Pamukkale springs in just 1 hour. The visit was too rushed. We prioritized spending time inside Pamukkale over lunch and allocated some 50 mins there. The change of clothes, entry & walk to the top of the mineral hill took us some 35 mins leaving only 15 mins for us to enjoy the pools. Some of us had ordered Hummus-Pita and juice for all of us and we all had a rushed lunch in 10 mins (along with changing back).
On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Ephesus a -3.5, Pamukkale a +2.5 and the Raki drink a -1.
17th August 2022, Wednesday
It was beach-day time. We got up a little late and headed to a beach shack. Had some breakfast & some ice-cream. Post Istanbul, everything feels so cheap in and around Antalya- For e.g. 1 veg food item costs around 100-150 TRY in Istanbul and around 150 TRY in Cappadocia but only 50-60 TRY here.
All the beaches here are pebble beaches which is not very pleasant to the feet plus they get very deep very close to the coast, not leaving a good enough area to play around in. But the water was extremely clear and ambient (temperature wise). We didn’t have the stony beach footwear and so we didn’t play in the water for long. There are numerous shacks offering all types of foods and drinks at the Antalya beach and the beach was also somewhat crowded.
We drove to Olympus (1 hour-one way) and enjoyed the calm-uncrowded beach. We relaxed there for a while and headed back to Antalya in the evening.
We wanted to visit a fine dine and have a scrumptious meal. We went to the first place, there were talented belly dancers at this place but most of the food was non-vegetarian. We went to a second place- mostly non-vegetarian. A third place- again mostly non-vegetarian. All these places had the same 2-4 average tasting vegetarian dishes and we were ready to pay deep for a hearty meal but there were no takers. At the end, we ate these 2-4 vegetarian dishes and headed back to our cosy Bnb to play some cards.
On a scale of -5 to +5, I will score the Antalya beach front as +1, the Olympus beach a +1.5 and the scrumptious vegetarian meal scene in Antalya a -4.
18th August 2022, Thursday
Today another road-trip was planned around the Antalya region.
We drove to Saklikent Gorge– a 3 hour drive from Antalya. This is a must visit. It is a huge natural gorge with just 13 TRY as its entrance fee. One needs to walk in knee-to-waist-to-chest deep waters for about 1-1:30 hours to reach a small waterfall at the end. It is not the waterfall at the end but the journey which is super fun and memorable. Do wear beach wear (unlike us) and rent stone-friendly shoes from outside (which we fortunately did) as the floor is rocky throughout. The water is extremely cold- be ready to get your teeth chattering. There are also unregistered paid guides/ helpers who assist you along the adventurous way. We hired a helper to help cross the difficult parts.
Just outside the gorge, there is a restaurant, with minimal food options, set-up on the stream of the gorge. One removes their footwear and can dip their feet in the stream (but it is too cold) while having their food.
From here, we headed to the Fethiye Beach – a 1 hour drive from the gorge. We just relaxed there. No agenda. Again a similar beach to Antalya and Olympus- a stony beach, clear waters, mildly-crowded. We returned to Antalya- again a 3 hour drive and then relaxed at a beach side café.
On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Saklikent Gorge a +4, the Fethiye beach a +2.
19th August 2022, Friday
We checked out of our stay and headed for the domestic terminal. We took a morning flight to Kayseri (ASR).
Cappadocia is a huge expanse of land. Goreme is the main tourist area within the Cappadocia region. The whole area is arid and sparsely populated. The Kayseri airport is an hour’s drive from the Goreme region and one must definitely pre-book a pick-up service with their hotel in Cappadocia. The pick-up costs 10 euros per person one way.
Goreme (‘Go’ as in goat, ‘re’ as in record & ‘me’ as in meat) is a beautiful and a 100% made-for-tourist place. There are only shops, hotels, cafes, attractions, service providers in the area. ‘Cave Hotels‘ or small hotels with modern amenities designed in the form of a cave are quite popular in the region. They are usually inn-sized with about 10 rooms. They all have terraces with beautiful carpets and a low-seating set-up. The pictures clicked here come out really well. One can also do hot air balloon gazing, if they wake up at sunrise.
We had finished half the day by lunch and couldn’t have gone for either of the 8-10 hour tours – the Red Tour or the Green tour. So, we decided to go for the Highlights Tour. It included the Underground City, Pigeon Valley, Uchisar Castle, Panoramic View Site, Illusion Valley, a sweet shop and a few more locations. One can also do the ATV ride, one of the many treks or visit the other sites in the region.
At night, we went for a Turkish dinner cum show for 30 Euro pp, it had unlimited alcohol and food with dance performances for about 2 hours. It was just okay, not recommended.
On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Cave Hotels a +1, the Underground city a +3, the Pigeon Valley a 0, the Uchisar Castle as a +1.5, the Panoramic view site a +1.5, the Illusion Valley a +1, the sweet shop a +2.5 and the Turkish dinner cum show a -2.
20th August 2022, Saturday
We woke up at 3am to partake in the best activity of the trip- the Hot Air Balloon.
It costed us 150 euros pp, but the fare can go up till 220 euro pp, if booked late or in peak seasons. There are two Hot Air Ballooning locations- Cat and Gomere. The latter is the preferred location, please choose that.
We left our hotel at 4am and drove for about 40 mins to a reach a gathering hall where bed-tea was being served. We were then transferred into another vehicle that took us to our balloon. We were about 20 people with an aeronaut. The whole journey was surreal. The presence of 100s of other balloons taking flight and dotting the sky just accentuates the arid landscape of Cappadocia underneath. The temperature, sunlight, wind were all working in our favour to give us the best experience. The aeronaut pops a champagne after we finish the tour.
We had risked keeping only 1 morning in Cappadocia. There are days when the wind speed doesn’t get along and the balloons are not allowed to take flight. One’s journey will be rescheduled to the next day, free of cost, if that happens but then one must also be there in Cappadocia the next morning to enjoy the reschedule. So, I will advise everyone to stay there for at least two dawns.
Cappadocia is a highly commercial and expensive place. Also, be prepared to meet a lot of Indians. With so many Indian tourists, the tour operators are used to Indian needs- veg food, jain food, Indian food, short history briefings, no long/ arduous walks, right sweet & souvenir shops etc.
On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give the Hot Air Ballooning a +5.
We had kept 2 days and 1 night for Cappadocia. We were supposed to catch a flight from Kayseri (ASR) to Istanbul (IST) in the later half on the second day but this flight got cancelled just 2 days earlier. We had a flight from IST back to DEL (New Delhi, India) later that night. This last minute cancellation was a bummer. The only option left with us was to hire a private car and do a 9 hour road trip from Cappadocia to Istanbul. So, we got back from our hot air balloon experience, got ready and left Goreme at 9 am and reached IST at 6 pm. We made it in time from our IST to DEL flight.
I hope this helps you plan an even better trip for yourself. Thanks for reading.
the 100 countries club 
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