I've spent a lot of time in Turkey, and I have friends (blonde Western female friends) who live there and have for years.

I've never felt any less safe than in any large city, I feel safer in Istanbul than in Philadelphia, Paris, or Rome.

My Turkish is pretty basic (I can say a few pleasantries and ask for food) but I've wandered around alone with no problem. Sultanahmet is crawling with tourists and totally safe for a woman alone, not to mention gorgeous and a great way for your wife to kill time while you're busy.

In my experience, Turkish people are very friendly and helpful if you are in trouble of any kind, especially women. Whenever I've been lost or need help anywhere in the world, I just pop into a store or coffee shop and find a female employee. My first trip to Istanbul my friend and I got totally lost and the tea shop ladies gave us a bunch of free pastries after helping us find our way (by pointing, smiling and pantomime).

If it makes your wife feel more comfortable, she can always carry a scarf and put it on her head if the neighborhood starts to look a little conservative. If anything though, the more religious neighborhoods are safer because no one is drinking.

Just watch out for too much baklava

You will also hear a lot of time-honored classics, like "my friend, I have my store around here, do you want to buy a 5,000 euro carpet?", to which you should respond "I am going sightseeing and will be back", or "do you have a facebook?", lol...

Outside of Istanbul, does anyone have recent experience or insight to safety concerns visiting Izmir, Adana or Antakya? I'm scheduled to be traveling to these places with a larger German tour group next week...don't see any current warnings on the US Government site, but Antakya is pretty close to the Syrian border.

UK Foreign Office is advising against all but essential travel to Hatay, which would include Antakya.
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey

Canada has similar advice:
http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/turkey

EDIT: Removed fragment of sentence erroneously left behind.

No, they say that there are demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, and that people should avoid them (the demos, not the cities!). Pretty logical, I'd say (my father gave me the same piece of advice more than 50 years ago ;)), but they really don't say that one should not travel to Izmir.

That was a typing error, or rather clearly a scrap of the sentence that was left behind from editing - as it also had the word 'Adana fine' on the next line. Given a link was provided, clearly I would not have intended to say that they advised against Izmir.

Based upon your rather selective quote, if the full post is consider I could quite easily have been saying " and also Izmir (line break) Adana fine." - being what they are advising.
I removed that bit on the basis of only wanting to state what official advice was against, however it did say "Izmir (line break) Adana fine". At the time of your post.

Accordingly, less of the patronising tone perhaps?

Sorry, I didn't know you were in such a bad mood today... :)

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

I was there last month and it felt normal and safe. Really enjoyed it.

After today's suicidal-homicidal bomber attacked in the Sultanahmet tourist section of Istanbul killed and wounded tourists and others, questions about the security situation when visiting Turkey do arise. Unfortunately, the risk assessment would be that the risks have been greater in the last several months than they were even at this time last year.

I think logic would tell you that the risk of terrorism attack in Istanbul is higher than most destinations a tourist would be likely to visit. Statistically, though, the risk is still very, very small.

That said, even though I visited Istanbul as recently as a year ago and enjoyed it (as always), I wouldn't be looking to go back anytime soon. Several reasons. First, my family got on the TSA SSSS security watch list because of our last visit (see Flyertalk thread). No fun. Second, I don't like the direction the Turkish gov't is taking and I'm happy to vote with my feet (I'm not rushing to return to Russia, either). Third, the security situation would definitely be on my mind during a visit, and who wants that tension while on vacation.

Of course with the latest tourist bombing, there are many tourists who will probably see things similarly, so Istanbul will be uncrowded and hotel/airline prices will be low. Contrarians might enjoy a visit this Spring.

Seriously. A look over on the TK website shows direct fares out of IAD sub-$550 RT in April. Tourism is big $ there and the govt will probably have things locked down tight, so likely little real threat. Was there in March a couple years ago and it was beautiful that time of year. Tempting.

I live in Istanbul as an Ex Pat, it is a minor concern but after attacks in Paris and other major cities I don't feel the risk here is greater than any other major city. The Turkish police are efficient for the most part.

More afraid of Turkish domus and taxi drivers...

I have award tickets booked to Istanbul for late May with onward travel to Greece. I've been to Istanbul before so it's not like I absolutely have to go there.

I'm traveling with my girlfriend who is a not nearly as seasoned a traveler as me and if I change my itinerary, it would be more for her benefit/peace of mind.

I'm going to think about it for a week or two before I do anything.