Touring in Turkey

[robert17]

I'm dreaming of future fun and I like a to b type touring. Ankara to Istanbul in a week tickles me and my mate. Anyone any experience of cycling in Turkey? Thank you.

[simonhill]

I vaguely looked into it when Turkey was one of the few countries still open in Autumn last year. Not your route, but more around the southern tourist regions (cheap flights). It didn't greatly appeal for a number of reasons I can't really remember (roads, traffic, terrain, dogs I think) and then we found they were lying about their Covid figures and it was plague ridden and got put on the UK naughty list.

Surprisingly I haven't heard of any people who have gone specifically to Turkey. However, plenty have cycled through it on round the world or to China type tours. You may find some info on blogs and sites about those.

Also are you aware of crazyguyonabike - should be some stuff there.

[Psamathe]

I don't know anything about the author/operator of the site but it has a bit about cycle touring in Turkey (and loads of other places)
http://europebybicycle.com/Cycling-in-Turkey.php

Ian

[robert17]

Thanks. I fear road surface may be the biggest put off and I really try hard to avoid main roads.

[1982john]

I've cycled the west coast which was only about 4 days worth. From what I remember the roads were fine enough - nowhere near as bad as some of Eastern Europe. But there were certainly a few stray dogs about and it was also very hot - there was a couple of times I almost ran out of water.

It's super cheap at the moment because of the exchange rate which is a nice bonus and the people are also very nice.

[robert17]

Thanks. I've heard many times that the people are fabulous. A walker told me that he rarely paid for accommodation as locals kept putting him up on his route. Dogs! Worse than rural Ireland?

[st599_uk]

If you can get to it, the Galipolli peninsular is very nice, ferry over to the mainland near Troy, then down the coast away from the tourist centres.

The only downside is the coaches of Australians who stop in the bay next to Anzac Cove, get a photo and get back on the bus without ever actually seeing Anzac itself.

Istanbul centre is wonderful too, but the interior away from the coast is hot.

[dondelion]

I rode for 6 weeks through south and east Turkey in 2015. Also took a few buses as Turkey is biiiig. I don't know where to start as it has everything I want in a tour - culture, mountains, history, beaches, hospitality, dirt roads, wide spaces. Also lots of poverty, sexism and religion. No dog issues that I remember. The north west is probably the most developed part of the country so I'm not sure how much my experience will help as the east was very rough in places.

My route was roughly Alanya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Batman (!), Van, Kars then to Georgia via Hopa. Highlights were cosmopolitan Adana (city of 2 million where Turkish Turks, Arab Turks and Kurdish Turks have lived together for centuries), Gobekli Tepe (oldest temple in the world), the old markets and alleys in the town of Urfa (mentioned in the Bible), camping on the banks of the Tigris at Hasankeyf, riding the back road 2000m up Mount Nemrut to see the giant stone heads of the Commagenes, Mardin on the Syrian border, the crazy feeling of Dogubeyazit on the Iranian border, the Armenian church on an island on Lake Van, riding through Kurdish parts of wild eastern Turkey, old Armenia, riding with Mount Ararat in the distance. The Syrian war was already underway so I didn't stray too close to the border for too long. The far south east along the Iraq border was also out of bounds although someone did try to tempt me to come and ride around Kurdish Iraq.

I had a Crazy guy blog but I think it's been deleted. I stayed with numerous generous Warm Showers, Couch Surfing and random hosts and wild camped regularly without any issues, other than avoiding shepherds after a long day riding. Hotels of every type for every budget and I stayed in some shockers. Roads of all sorts from pristine empty highways to twisty vertical dirt roads. Loads of mountains and hills. Heat and dust. Great cheap fresh food. Liver kebabs for breakfast. Muezzins. Weird language, to an English speaker.

I plan to return someday as it was so overwhelmingly interesting. Istanbul is fabulous but is supposed to be a nightmare to ride into. Go for longer than a week!

Good luck with your plan and happy to answer any questions. I don't know if any of this is helpful but it's been nice reminiscing!

Edit - found my CGOAB http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1 ... 20300&v=Ge

[st599_uk]

Quite a few modern words are borrowed from European languages (mainly French) so you can eat kek and drink kok, wait for a taksi, get on a long distance tren or walk to the otogar to get an otobus.

[robert17]

I rode for 6 weeks through south and east Turkey in 2015. Also took a few buses as Turkey is biiiig. I don't know where to start as it has everything I want in a tour - culture, mountains, history, beaches, hospitality, dirt roads, wide spaces. Also lots of poverty, sexism and religion. No dog issues that I remember. The north west is probably the most developed part of the country so I'm not sure how much my experience will help as the east was very rough in places.

My route was roughly Alanya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Batman (!), Van, Kars then to Georgia via Hopa. Highlights were cosmopolitan Adana (city of 2 million where Turkish Turks, Arab Turks and Kurdish Turks have lived together for centuries), Gobekli Tepe (oldest temple in the world), the old markets and alleys in the town of Urfa (mentioned in the Bible), camping on the banks of the Tigris at Hasankeyf, riding the back road 2000m up Mount Nemrut to see the giant stone heads of the Commagenes, Mardin on the Syrian border, the crazy feeling of Dogubeyazit on the Iranian border, the Armenian church on an island on Lake Van, riding through Kurdish parts of wild eastern Turkey, old Armenia, riding with Mount Ararat in the distance. The Syrian war was already underway so I didn't stray too close to the border for too long. The far south east along the Iraq border was also out of bounds although someone did try to tempt me to come and ride around Kurdish Iraq.

I had a Crazy guy blog but I think it's been deleted. I stayed with numerous generous Warm Showers, Couch Surfing and random hosts and wild camped regularly without any issues, other than avoiding shepherds after a long day riding. Hotels of every type for every budget and I stayed in some shockers. Roads of all sorts from pristine empty highways to twisty vertical dirt roads. Loads of mountains and hills. Heat and dust. Great cheap fresh food. Liver kebabs for breakfast. Muezzins. Weird language, to an English speaker.

I plan to return someday as it was so overwhelmingly interesting. Istanbul is fabulous but is supposed to be a nightmare to ride into. Go for longer than a week!

Good luck with your plan and happy to answer any questions. I don't know if any of this is helpful but it's been nice reminiscing!

Edit - found my CGOAB http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1 ... 20300&v=Ge

Many thanks. It is one of a few ideas. I'm at the stage of my life (work, family etc) where 7-10 days really would be my maximum). Ankara and Istanbul should offer cheapest flights as most frequent I believe too.

[simonhill]

Using holiday charter or budget type flights to the coastal tourist destinations will probably be cheapest.

[chocjohn9]

It seems like cycling in Turkey is THE place to cycle -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_abG1PxQI

Whilst I have not cycled in the country, it was one of my favourite back packing trips - lovely and warm people, a lot of very interesting stuff to see, wonderful landscape and great value. I visited Istanbul, Cannakkale, Ismir, Pamukkale, Konya, Cappadocia and Ankara. Highly recommended. This took me two weeks.

One note to caution - I read recently that Turkish Airlines say they will take your bike.... but then decline at the airport. Certainly worth checking this.

[pq]

Dogs, feral kids (well boys specifically) and steep hills are what I most remember about Turkey. That was in the far east near the Iran/Iraq borders but those three things feature in much of the country apparently. On the positive side, there is some nice scenery (though not everywhere, research is necessary) and people are generally nice, sometimes too nice when you want a bit of solitude.