1. Stay at a cave hotel in Cappadocia – This must be in the bucket list of everyone who plans a trip to Turkey, and it definitely is worth the experience, and overwhelming. While researching online, there were equal polls on people favoring Goreme and Ürgüp in Cappadocia. My suggestion would be Goreme, even though it is more crowded than Ügrüp, the amazing view of fairy chimneys make up for it. It also has more number of shops, hotels around. Also from the place we stayed, the bus station was just a 5 minute walk.
2. Definetly go on the Green and Red tours in Cappadocia, you will be taken to all the important places you would have planned visiting, without the hassle of finding your own way of getting from one place to another. Both these tours are from morning to evening, and the Green tour has a lot of hiking, so a pair of sturdy sneakers is a must.
3. Hot air balloon in Cappadocia – online articles say hot air balloons fly 365 days a year. Well, it does not! We got cancelled two consecutive days before we managed to make our way through the morning we left Cappadocia. It all depends on the weather – or to be specific, the wind. When we visited, in one week the balloon flew only on the day we went on. A sub-tip is to book directly through the balloon company, rather than at the hotel you are staying, because the balloon company will try to squeeze you in somehow as you pay them directly. The balloon that we flew was “Butterfly Balloons”. There are many reputed companies to choose from if you search online. And I truly hope you get to fly in Cappadocia, it is a magical experience!
4. The bus service we used was “Metro bus”, it was comfortable and the most reliable according to the locals. Internal travel is best in buses, because of the frequency and the number of companies to choose from.
5. If you plan to go to Konya (for attending the Sema ceremony or the whirling dervishes) DOWNLOAD.GOOGLE.TRANSLATE!! I cannot insist on this enough because people over there can hardly say single words in english, let alone sentences! We accidently booked our bus for the next night and couldn’t figure out what those guys at the counter was telling us (they could not tell us the word “tomorrow” in english), the only thing that helped us to be put on the bus that night was google translate.
6. If you are interested in attending the Sema ceremony (which you should, because this is where it originated and is not in the least bit commercial), it happens at Mevlana Cultural centre, every Saturday at 7.00 pm, for an hour. The timings may differ during Ramadan.
7. Konya bus station has a luggage depository – I did not see even a single confirm answer while I searched online before we left. Since we did not stay at Konya we needed to leave our luggage somewhere before we explored the place. It is called “Emanet” or “Emanetçi” in Turkish, just look for this sign wherever you are looking to keep your luggage safely.
8. We did not have time to explore Pamukkale on our own, just one morning till evening before we left for Selçuk, so using a day tour seemed most sensible. We booked our tour from the Metro bus office, where we were dropped off in the morning (night bus from Konya), the tour happens from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm. This was convenient for us to catch our bus to Selçuk at 4.00 pm.
9. How to get to Şirince? There are mini buses running every 30 minutes from Selçuk to Şirince, the last bus back from Şirince being at 8.00 pm.
10. If you are pressed for time in Istanbul like we were, follow this plan. First day do Sultan ahmet area (Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Basilica cistern – all within walking distance) and Grand Bazaar. On the second day go to Istiklal street, Taksim square, Galata tower and bridge and end the day with a Bosphorus cruise. There you go, the highlights of Istanbul are done!
11. Things to buy/do – Hog on Turkish food. Definitely get a Hammam done. Buy organic creams and soaps, from good places (we got them from this small shop in Şirince). Buy Baklava and Lokum for people back home. Eat the Turkish icecream and let the vendor trick you. Cologne is very important in Turkish culture, buy one bottle to take home. Buy something in turkish pottery. Tea lovers have like a zillion number of choices, check them out. Learn to haggle, a skill you definitely need in Grand Bazar. Buy the most beautiful of all the souvenirs in Turkey – the blue evil eye (you need not stop there, we didn’t!).