Turkey sits at the gateway where Europe meets Asia, blending ancient history, dramatic landscapes and vibrant city life. Marvel at mosques and endless bazaars in Istanbul, the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, or the sparkling turquoise Mediterranean coastline.
Flights: Istanbul airport is a major international hub, with routes all over the world. I visited Istanbul as a 12 hour layover during my Turkish Airlines flight from Hong Kong back to Edinburgh. There are also plenty of domestic flights to travel around Turkey, which are a good option if you’re visiting Cappadocia or Antalya.
Trains: Turkey is well-connected by train, with some beautiful long distance rail journeys such as the Dogu Express (Dogu ekspresi) from Ankara to Kars, in the very far east of Turkey, on the border with Georgia.
Buses: Turkey’s intercity buses are comfortable, affordable and extremely well organised, with frequent departures between major cities and smaller towns. Companies like Metro Turizm and Kamil Koç operate modern coaches with assigned seating, luggage storage and rest stops along the way.
The best time to visit Turkey is during spring (April to June) and autumn (September to October), when temperatures are warm but comfortable and sightseeing is far more enjoyable than in peak summer heat. July and August can be extremely hot, particularly along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts and in inland areas like Cappadocia, while winters are cold and sometimes snowy in central and eastern regions, though milder along the coast. If you’re planning a city break in Istanbul or exploring ancient ruins and landscapes, the shoulder seasons offer the ideal balance of pleasant weather and fewer crowds.
There are plenty of gorgeous accommodation options in Turkey, ranging from luxury resorts to backpacker hostels. I always book my accommodation through trusted providers like booking.com and Hostelworld, but always read the reviews carefully just in case of fake reviews.
I always recommend checking the official government advice from your own country of citizenship. For example, I’m from the UK so I use the UK Government’s Foreign travel advice website, and navigate to the “Entry requirements” section of the country I wish to visit. That will show me the most up-to-date advice and the correct links to use to apply for a visa officially, without being scammed. E.g. “Turkey: Entry requirements”.
Be aware that if you just google “Turkey visa”, you’ll find lots of 3rd party websites offering to do the application for you, which at best will charge you quite a lot of money and at worst may scam you completely.
If you would rather someone else take care of the application for you to save you time and hassle, I can recommend iVisa. iVisa offer an end-to-end visa application service where they take care of the entire application for you. You just need to sign up via their website and fill out the information they need from you for the application. Note that they charge a fee for this service, so it will be more expensive than applying directly yourself.
Here are some of the resources I’ve found particularly useful for travelling in Turkey. Download the apps before you go to ensure a smooth and stress-free experience! Check out my Useful Travel Resources page for my complete go-to list of websites and apps.
Currency:
Turkish Lira (TRY)
Capital City:
Ankara
Languages:
Turkish
