My wife and I are planning a two week tour of Western Turkey next week, starting and ending in Istanbul. Does anyone have any suggestions of routes? We're hoping to stay off the beaten track, but also not do much camping (home-stays or hotels).
Starting in Istanbul, we're thinking of going from Bandirma to Canakkale, and then down to Bozcada Island, and Assos, and finally to Ayvalik and Bergama, before taking the bus back to Istanbul. What do you think of this general route? Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance!
Hello there! I'm a person from western coast. I think it's a good plan because I highly recommend this trip. You can start from Istanbul to my current place Çorlu (check my profile to see it on the map) and then you can go to Çanakkale from here. You can take a ferry (leaves every half an hour) to go to asian side then you can ride to my hometown, Izmir. After Izmir, you can follow west coast to reach Antalya which is one of the most touristic city in Turkey but I should warn you, it's gonna be hot. Two friends of mine from Belgium did it and they were satisfied. Because you will visit dozens of small towns and local people can speak in English or it's easy to find someone to communicate. You can find a lot of camp-sites, low cost or expensive hotels (up to you). If you have any questions about your trip, I can provide some useful source, give some advices, just contact me.
from istanbul to bandirma there is a ferry (ido) everyday. start cycling from bandirma to canakkale and then to geyikli, where you can take the ferry to bozcaada. follow the coastline to assos-ayvalik-bergama and izmir. you'll have many options of hotels and pensions.
I suggest you to contact with the local cyclists there. There is very nice community of cyclist there. You can contact with them through this link
https://www.facebook.com/groups/idabisikletgrup/
They will help you to find your way, place to stay, technical support, etc.
Enjoy your trip!!
At least think of İzmir as an ending. Ozlem is right, you should contact with local cyclists on the route, i also recommend Foça, near İzmir. If time and hot weather is not a concern, you can go all the way to Fethiye, southernmost point of Agean Sea.