Expert: Burak Sansal - 7/11/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello,

We are planning to visit turkey. we'll be coming from Georgia. the places we want to visit are: Cappadocia -> Side -> Ephesus -> Izmir -> Istanbul

we plan to get off in Samsun first than to take a bus to Cappadocia.

is it possible? are there direct buses from samsun to cappadocia?
maybe it would be better to take a bus from another city, like Trabzon, Unye or Ordu?..

also we plan to use buses during our whole trip, so could you please tell us if it is realistic?.. :)

how long does it take and what are prices for:

samsun - cappadocia
cappadocia - side
side - ephesus
ephesus - izmir
izmir - istanbul



ANSWER: Hi,

I'm not sure if there are direct buses from Samsun to Cappadocia, probabily you have to go to Ankara or Kayseri and then to Cappadocia.

Samsun to Ankara takes about 5-6 hours by bus and Ankara-Cappadocia around 3,5 hours.

Cappadocia - Side (you should take a bus to Antalya) takes about 7-8 hours at least. If you take a bus to Antalya, then you can take a bus to Side which takes about 1 hour.

Side (first to Antalya, 1 hour) - Ephesus (to Izmir) would take about 6-7 hours by bus.

Ephesus (Selcuk) - Izmir takes about 1 hour.

Izmir - Istanbul takes about 8 hours.

Buses are not expensive in Turkey. The costs depends from company to company but for example Izmir - Istanbul costs about 50-60 Turkish Lira, Ephesus - Izmir about 10-15 Lira, and so on..

Burak

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks a lot Burak!!! the answer was very helpful!!! :)

just one more question..
are there any night buses for this destinations? as we can economy time by taking a night bus...

and what would you reccomend to omit if there will be no enough time for seeing everything?...

unfortunately it seems it's just very little time to see everything... :(

thanks once more for fast and helpful reply! :)

ANSWER: Hi,

You can get a night bus from Cappadocia to Antalya, from Antalya to Ephesus (Selcuk, before Izmir), and also from Izmir to Istanbul.

Well, you said 5 days I think, but it's immpossible to do all of this in 5 days. In my opinion you should skip Side-Antalya area, it doesn't seem very realistic to put everything in 5 days only. I wish you had more time.

Have fun.

Burak

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hello it's me once again :)

some-one told me that maybe it would be better to to kayseri (cappadocia) from trabson via sivas... do you think it would be better? also i'm hesitating between goin to side or euther to pamukkale.... by the way, if we'll get to pamukkale, does it cost something to or it is free to see this place? :)

thanks in advace :)
nino

Answer
Hi,

Yes of course, it's shorter from Trabzon to Kayseri via Sivas. In your first request you said Samsun that's why I told you to go to Ankara first etc.

Like I said, if you have to skip something you have to skip Side in my opinion, because ,t's off the course so you can't visit everything in just 5 days.

When you go to Pamukkale you pay an entrance fee to vist the site, it costs 20 Liras per person.

Take care.

Burak