Glad I found this thread. I've planned a trip to Turkey from Dec 25th to Jan 4th. I know it's not the best time but I can make good use of xmas holidays, so why not. I'll be going with the hotel recommendations in this thread:
Dec 25 to 29: old town double tree
Dec 29 to 31: museum hotel cappadocia
Dec 31 to Jan 3: Ciragan palace
Jan 4th: crowne plaza airport
We arrive Dec 25th 4:30 Pm and depart early morning on Jan 4th. I need some advice as I've got family joining us from Dec 29th to Jan 3rd and they need to cover the major highlights while we 3-4 extra days.
We decided on Turkey after reading about the history, architecture, art, food and music. Shopping and nightlife is not high on our list. We like to focus on stuff that's unique to a particular place, we don't want to go to every park, churh, zoo or art museum at a destination. If a particular attraction is better elsewhere in the world, then we will skip it.
I need to put the attractions and activities on the itinerary so that we cover major Istanbul highlights on Jan 1-3, while we can do the other stuff from Dec 25 to 28.
Dec 25- 28: TBD
Dec 29: depart for Capapdocia, meet family at Kayseri airport, relax in museum hotel and go for nice dinner
Dec 30: hot air balloon ride, Rock Castle, open air museum, Rock churches, fairy chimneys
Dec 31: other capapdocia attractions? depart for Istanbul late afternoon
Dec 31: arrive at ciragan palace and NYE party
Jan 1st: Topkapi palace, Blue moque, Egytian spice market, evening in Bebek area
Jan 2nd: Hagia Sophia, Chora Church and Suleymaniye Mosque, Whirling dervish show?
Jan 3rd: TBD Basilica Cistern, Yildiz palace or Rusem Pasa Mosque, Turkish Hamam and massage?
Trying to figure out if we should head to Izmir straight from airport on 25th and spend next two days in Selcuk or should I spend it in Istanbul as this is our first trip. From my little reserach, it seems there is a lot in Istanbul to see. We have decided to drop Pammukkale as I read on TA that it is not being maintained very well. Plus we have been to yellowstone and Pammukkale is similar. We will be going to Greece/Italy in next few years, so I'm wondering if visiting the ruins at Ephesus is worth the effort.
I have been doing a lot of reading on turkey travel planner but sometimes it confuses me more than it helps.
I know sometimes deleting things from the list is very important. Any other uniquely Turkish activities or sights that are not to be missed?