Our Turkey Travel Itinerary: Istanbul and Cappadocia

When we had to fly all the way to Miami for a work visit, we didn’t waste the chance to extend our layover in Istanbul. After days of much thinking and researching we finally booked our tickets. And that’s when the excitement and anticipation started to sink in!

We visited in Jan 2019. Summers is the peak season to visit, understandably because winters are cold and can be wet. But the summer pulls in throngs of people from everywhere. Even in Jan there were a lot of people in Istanbul so you can imagine how crowded it must get in the summer.

Here’s a summarized version of our time in Turkey:

Istanbul (Day 1 – 4)

Getting to Istanbul: we landed in Istanbul, Ataturk airport. From here to get to the city you can take – taxi, metro or bus. Taxi is the most convenient obviously and not very expensive – usually takes about 45-55 TL  (10 US$) and around 30 mins commute time. Always keep some buffer just in case there’s traffic though.

Accommodation: we stayed in the Taksim district. Airbnbs are our favourite and we booked this one with a great view, where we had a loft area with a private bathroom and a small kitchen, to ourselves. Get USD $35 when you register on Airbnb using this link, click here.

Commuting: we got ourselves an Istanbul public transport card which works on all modes – metro, bus, trams and ferry. We used the tram a lot and on one occasion used the ferry to commute between european and asian sides of the city. We also walked a lot and if we were too tired, we just booked an uber ride which were quite affordable.

Things to do: We spent these days visiting historical sites, exploring centuries old bazaars, chasing sunsets over the bosphorous, relishing delicious turkish food, indulging in their sheesha/hookah and having lots of chai all through the day. Check out our suggested things-to-do in Istanbul, here.

Goreme, Cappadocia (Day 5 – 6)

Getting to Goreme: to get to Goreme, we flew to Kayseri airport from Ataturk aiport. From Kayseri, it’s about an hour long drive to arrive at Goreme. It’s best to arrange a taxi pick-up and drop-off in advance between Kayseri-Goreme. We were glad we did that through the hotel we were staying in.

Accommodation: we stayed in cutest cave hotel called Anatolia Cave Pension (this one) which we also booked through airbnb.

Commuting: it was mostly on foot as it’s a small town. From our room to the restaurants, even to the open air museum, it was all on foot. To get to a couple of places like the Rose Valley and the Evranos restaurant in Avanos we arranged taxi through our hotel.

Things to do: We lived inside a fairy chimney aka a cave hotel, saw a byzantine settlement which is now an open-air museum and a sunset over insanely beautiful snow covered rock formations. See our vlog here.

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We hope this post will help you to start planning your own trip to Turkey. And if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and we’ll try to answer as best as we can.