Turkey made me feel like an idiot for waiting so long: Istanbul, Cappadocia, and the Aegean coast
Mika Soren
I’d been within a few hundred kilometres of Turkey for months.
Greece. Bulgaria. Romania. Every time I’d plan a route and somehow Turkey would get pushed to the next trip. Too much, I kept thinking. Too different from what I was doing. Too much to understand quickly.
Eventually I ran out of excuses and crossed from Bulgaria via the land border at Edirne on a Tuesday afternoon in November.
I felt immediately stupid for waiting. Turkey was the best country I went to that year and I’d been to seventeen.
Istanbul: the city that requires surrendering your plans
Istanbul is enormous. Fifteen million people, two continents, seven thousand years of recorded history, and a food culture that makes you want to apologise to every kebab you’ve eaten in any other country.
I planned five days.
I stayed ten.
The structure of the city. Istanbul sits across the Bosphorus Strait, European side and Asian side, connected by bridges and ferries. The European side has the historical centre (Sultanahmet), the chaotic bazaars, the nightlife districts (Beyoğlu, Taksim, Karaköy). The Asian side (Kadıköy specifically) is where a lot of locals actually live and the food markets and neighbourhood feel are different. Take the ferry across at least once. It takes twenty minutes and costs almost nothing and the view of the skyline going and coming is the view you keep.
Sultanahmet (the historical peninsula). The Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Topkapi Palace, the Basilica Cistern, the Grand Bazaar: all here, all within walking distance of each other, all extraordinary. The Hagia Sophia has been a mosque again since 2020: cover your hair if you’re female, shoes off, visitor access still available outside prayer times. The sheer scale of the interior is something no photograph communicates properly. Go first thing in the morning.
The Grand Bazaar versus the Spice Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar has 4,000 shops and is primarily for tourist-facing goods now. Atmospheric, worth walking through for an hour. The Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) near Eminönü is smaller and the serious spice and produce buying happens here. The streets around the Spice Bazaar going toward Galata Bridge: this is where the real market activity spills out. Fishmongers, produce, tea sellers, the noise.
Beyoğlu and İstiklal Avenue. The long pedestrian street running north from Taksim Square through Beyoğlu. The street itself is crowded and commercial but the side streets are excellent: boutiques, record shops, old apartment buildings with ornate facades, meyhane (traditional Turkish taverns with meze and raki) on the back alleys. The Balık Pazarı (fish market) off İstiklal is worth finding.
Karaköy. The neighbourhood at the base of Galata Tower, now full of coffee shops and galleries and the better breakfast spots. The Turkish breakfast (kahvaltı) tradition is serious: olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled egg, honey, clotted cream (kaymak), simit (sesame bread rings), menemen (scrambled egg with tomatoes and peppers). Order the full spread once. At a Karaköy café, looking across the water to Sultanahmet in the morning light.
What I ate beyond breakfast: Balıkçı Sabahattin in Sultanahmet for fish (old Istanbul, white tablecloths, the meze first, then the whole grilled fish). The köfte (meatballs) at Tarihi Sultanahmet Köftecisi on the Hippodrome, been open since 1920. Dürüm (flatbread wrap with minced meat and vegetables) from any street stand after midnight near Taksim. The fresh pomegranate juice at every street corner everywhere, always, 10 lira, always correct.
Cappadocia: the hot air balloon thing is real
Cappadocia is in central Anatolia: volcanic landscape, underground cities, and the “fairy chimney” rock formations you’ve seen in every Turkey travel photo. I was mildly cynical about it. I was completely wrong.
The balloons. You’ve seen the sunrise balloon photos. They’re real. There are genuinely 100+ balloons up at dawn over the landscape and it looks like exactly that. Book one through a reputable company (Kapadokya Balloons or Royal Balloon). Not cheap but not the most expensive thing you’ll do in the country.
The launch before dawn, the silence above the valleys in the low morning light, the landing in a field with champagne that you drink immediately because you’re absolutely awake in a way that only altitude and adrenaline produce. Do it.
The cave hotels. Hotels carved into the rock and tufa formations. Göreme is the central town with the most options. The cave rooms feel genuinely cool (temperature, not aesthetics) in summer and retain heat in winter. The views from the terrace breakfasts over the valley are the kind of views that make you resent every hotel with a parking lot view you’ve ever stayed in.
The Göreme Open-Air Museum. Byzantine cave churches cut into the rock with 10th-century frescoes still intact. The Dark Church (Karanlık Kilise) has the best-preserved frescoes. Entry fee. Small extra fee for the Dark Church. Worth both.
The valleys. Rent a scooter or a horse (yes, a horse) and ride through the Rose Valley, Pigeon Valley, and Love Valley. The walking routes between valleys take two to four hours and the landscape is constantly different. Go at golden hour.
The Aegean coast: a week that needed two
From İzmir south through Bodrum, Marmaris, Dalyan, Ölüdeniz. Rented a car. Took my time.
İzmir. Turkey’s third city, on the Aegean, completely undervisited by tourists doing Istanbul-Cappadocia-Pamukkale. The Kemeraltı Bazaar is one of the better markets I’ve been in the country. The kordon (waterfront promenade) in the evening, tea, people-watching. Easy day trip to Ephesus.
Ephesus. The best-preserved ancient Roman city in the world outside of Rome itself. The Library of Celsus facade is the famous part. The whole site takes half a day to walk. Go in the morning before the cruise ship day-trippers arrive. The terrace houses (extra fee) are extraordinary: Roman houses frozen in time with mosaics and frescoes and hypocaust systems.
Bodrum. Whitewashed Aegean town, St. Peter’s Castle (actually worth going in, the underwater archaeology museum is the best of its kind), good fish restaurants on the harbour. Busier in summer. The peninsula outside town has better beaches with fewer people.
Ölüdeniz. The lagoon photo you’ve seen. Real, yes. The beach is beautiful, the Blue Lagoon swim is excellent, the paragliding from the Babadağ mountain above is on every list because it works. The view landing on the beach with the lagoon below is something I didn’t expect to be as good as it was.
A few practical things
The Turkish lira. Turkey has experienced significant inflation in recent years. Prices for international travellers are comparatively low by Western standards, but local prices have changed substantially. Check current exchange rates. Cash (lira) is preferred in markets and smaller towns. Card works everywhere in cities.
Tea is not optional. Çay (black tea in small tulip glasses) is offered constantly: when you enter a shop, when you’re looking at a rug, when you’re anywhere. Accept it. It’s genuinely good and refusing it creates awkwardness.
Bargaining in bazaars. In the Grand Bazaar and tourist markets: starting price is not real price. Counter-offer significantly. This is expected and not rude. In regular shops: prices are prices. Learn the difference.
The hamam. Go to a traditional Turkish bath at least once. Çemberlitaş Hamamı in Istanbul is the famous one, been operating since 1584, not cheap but the experience is what it should be. Local neighbourhood hamams in smaller cities are cheaper and more local.
Mobile coverage is excellent in Istanbul, Cappadocia, and the coastal cities. Signal drops in some valleys in Cappadocia and on rural roads. If you’re renting a car and driving, having offline maps is sensible. I’ve put together a guide to the best eSIMs for Turkey with current 2026 pricing.
Turkey felt like the country I was supposed to find earlier and didn’t.
Everything about it is more than expected. The scale. The history. The food. The welcome.
Don’t do what I did and wait too long.
More from the region
Heading to Turkey? Sort your eSIM first.
I've compared the main providers, checked the real pricing, and put together a guide on the best eSIM options for Turkey.
Best eSIM for Turkey →