Family holiday to Istanbul / Turkey

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Looking at a holiday to Turkey next summer at the start of the school summer – departing say last week of July.
Never been to Turkey proper, though liked KKTC / North Cyprus.

Probably 12-14 days; flexible, but people seem to start to want home again at about the 12 days mark.

Kids (12 and 10) have been watching Youtube and definitely want to spend time in Istanbul and see lots of cats.

We’d probably like some city, some countryside, and maybe a little bit of beach, but don’t want to take extra/internal flights as find they eat up the holiday with travel faff, nor move between accomodation too many times (once would be OK, twice would be pushing it – from previous experience)

We’d probably redeem for the flights (aware of the quality of BA on the route). Haven’t got any hotel points but have about 110k Amex points which could be put towards somewhere to stay if it were useful.

We usually prefer Airbnb apartments/houses and to partly self-cater, rather than hotels, because we prefer 3 bedrooms, and it’s not been enjoyable paying to eat out with children – though this is improving as they get older. We’d prefer to stay somewhere quieter – acknowledging that “quiet” and “big city” are somewhat contradictory.

Would be grateful for thoughts about places to go/stay, stuff to see, what has delighted your children in Istanbul, what to avoid, please.

[Aston100]

With that many days, you can and should do a two centre.
Five nights in Istanbul and the rest in the Antalya region. You will need to fly and there are many cheap daily flights.
Perhaps fly into IST and back home from AYT.
BA also fly to Dalaman, which is alright too but I’d suggest Antalya for first timers.

In Istanbul, stay in Beyoglu district, perhaps in one of the side streets off Istiklal Cad, not far from Taksim Square.
You can find rental apartments around there, or very affordable b&b places.
You could stay in tourist central, AKA Sultanahmet, but it’s all overpriced boutique hotels there.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Cheers for this, v useful.

Might do in to AYT and back from IST as the return flights from AYT have horrendous timings.

[Swifty]

Istanbul is lovely but will be super busy and hot. You don’t need more than 3 days with kids I reckon. They also also put prices up majorly in summer for tourists. Antalya is absolutely gorgeous I’d def base there. Seatspy has been dreadfully out of date with flight to turkiye all week. Before you go deep planning, check on ba. So many things to do in antalya. Day trips etc. Loved it. Also transmitting from ist to ant is really easy, but traffic in ist is really hectic. Picked up son from ist and then took 2 hours to get to Asia side. I’ve stayed at holiday inn ist. Was right on the tram line. Took 8 mins to get to hagia Sophia. Recommend choosing somethung with easy access to tram as so simple t use. There is a smallish cable car in antalya. I got a bus there from Konyaalti area and there is a nice icecream place up top, superb views. Was 10Us dollars. Antalya area is huge, its like 90 miles big. On the other side, Lara beach is directly under the flight path for ant. The planes were skimming my hotel all day and night long. Wasn’t fun.

[kiley]

I’ve done this trip a few yrs ago with 4 children. flew to Istanbul from Birmingham with Turkish Airlines, 4 days in Istanbul then flew pegasus Airways (from the airport across the bosphorus on the Asia side) down to dalaman, spent time in Gocek, Calis, Fetiyha and Oludeniz. Flew home back to Birmingham via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. But u can fly direct to/from dalaman to LHR (if your set on useing avios) or Birmingham. Then get a cheap return up to Istanbul on a LCC.

Istanbul is an amazing city, so easy to get around, great food, blue mosque, hagia Sofia, grand bazaar etc.

Didn’t spend anytime in dalaman, gocek is the Monacco of turkey, no beaches thought and a bit pricy, Calis is a lovely small resort with a gret beach, Fetiyha is more tourism and English tourist. Same for Oludeniz. Just depends what you want.

Lots to do and see around this area of Turkey, especially if you like old stuff and lovely clear waters.

[Aston100]

I swear this thread disappeared overnight.

Anyway, the main reason I suggested Antalya despite your initial reluctance to fly is that there aren’t any proper beaches within a decent driving distance of Istanbul. Given the frequency of cheap flights (do not avoid LCCs such as Pegasus) out of both IST (and especially) SAW (which might be a bit of a mission to get to but flights seem to be a bit cheaper from there) it shouldn’t be too onerous. Besides, BA fly to AYT so that really helps IMO.

In the Antalya region, you have a number of ‘resort’ areas such as Lara Beach, Belek, (and further afield you have Side and going the other way you have Kemer). Mostly made up of 5* all-inclusive properties . These don’t sound like your cup of tea but thought I’d mention as that is where most tourists end up (and Lara beach and Belek are very convenient to the airport).
I can’t help you much with self-catering in the Antalya region, but there should be plenty of holiday lets available – especially in the Konyaalti area (an area attractive to locals and has a mostly pebbly beach and which lacks the AI properties found elsewhere). These are likely to be apartments in low rise blocks (usually with a shared pool) across the road from the beach, or on a road or two behind.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Aston100 wrote:

I swear this thread disappeared overnight.

It got marked as spam for some reason but the forum gods have done the needful this morning 🙏

[zio]

Sounds like you are already being talked round, but it’s impossible to recommend staying in and around Istanbul for 12 days to a family visiting for the first time. There are enough “big hitting” first time tourist things to last you beyond 3 days, but it will be hot and hectic. Have a think about what you are really interested in seeing and plan accordingly how much time to stay. If your kids’ main reason to visit is the cats, you can reassure them that Istanbul doesn’t have a monopoly…
Antalya area is tourist central but that does mean a variety of accommodation/activities/ food which will suit anyone.

[SamG]

TooPoorToBeHere wrote:

Cheers for this, v useful.

Might do in to AYT and back from IST as the return flights from AYT have horrendous timings.

I would start with the city and then go to the beach. I like to ride on the energy & excitement of going away for the long days of tourist activity. Then go chill out on the beach before heading back. Can’t imagine having to motivate myself & family the other way around!

The BA times aren’t a complete disaster, book your accomodation for an extra night, go for an early dinner and then head to the airport. All should have a nice long sleep on the way home!

[Aston100]

SamG wrote:

All should have a nice long sleep on the way home!

I’m pretty sure it’s under 4 hours in the air!

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Hmmm, if the return is AYT then possibly in the realms of “cash in the avios and pay for the orange bus out of LPL”. We’re all quite fond of LPL and the orange bus organisation there.

Thank you all for the suggestions – this is great and really useful stuff.

[Aston100]

Is there even any Avios reward availability (I’m too lazy to check)?
Normally I’d expect places like those in school summer holidays to sell out (reward seats) very quickly and I think the seats were released more than a month ago.

[can2]

The city has many institutionalised hotels, Pera Palace being one.

Those who have the view of Bosphorus or are situated by it are rather amazing.

Istanbul is really big. Museums bored me. I enjoyed good food, boat trips in and around the city and shopping.

My only regret was I wish I planned it better.

For me it is always Bodrum over Antalya

[ankomonkey]

I’ve never been, but I’ve heard that the Princes Islands (ferry from Istanbul) are nice and have beaches. I think Istanbul has a Kidzania and a copy. There is one in London which we’ve been to, but my kids much preferred the Cairo one to the London one. Your kids may be a bit too old to enjoy that type of thing by the time you travel. We’ve also been to Miniaturk which is an outdoor museum with mini models of Turkiye’s most famous sites. My kids enjoyed it far more than I expected. It also had a 4D theatre type ride where you are flying over most of the sites there. Again, my kids enjoyed it more than I expected. And there was a Turkish traditional costume shop, but I was the only one keen to do that, so we didn’t.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Booked out to IST, back from AYT.

Masses and masses of redemption availability on LHR-IST and IST-LHR. I thought Seatspy was broken but no – it really is wide open.

Thank you for all the suggestions. Looks like IST things-to-do is going to be easy, if you’ve had a nice villa or pair of villas near AYT then do shout up…

[cin3]

Swifty wrote:

Istanbul is lovely You don’t need more than 3 days with kids I reckon.

A ridiculous thing to say. Istanbul has as much culture as behemoths like Vienna, Barcelona, London, Berlin, Paris. You could easily spend a month there and not scratch the surface.

It would also be nice to spend a week or so in Cappadocia.

The beaches aren’t great but there are some more off the beaten path ones along the Likya Yolu. Also kids could do some fun things like scuba and tandem paragliding.

[The real Swiss Tony]

cin3 wrote:

A ridiculous thing to say. Istanbul has as much culture as behemoths like Vienna, Barcelona, London, Berlin, Paris. You could easily spend a month there and not scratch the surface.

Not ridiculous in the slightest – they are travelling with kids, age 12 & 10. Having done IST a couple of years ago with similar age kids, I would agree that after 3 days we’d got a flavour of the city (somewhere I visited frequently in the late 90s) but they were ready to move on.

As noted by someone else upthread, we then went to Cappadocia for a few days and that was amazing. Again I don’t think this needs a week, we got a guide & a driver for the day and put together a tour that was good value & efficient use of time. Because I’m not one for sitting on the beach, I’d recommend 3 full days in IST, late flight to Cappadocia (we flew about 5pm) and into the hills, 2 full days (so 3 nights) there then down your choice of coastal resort for 7 or 8 nights.

[Aston100]

cin3 wrote:

The beaches aren’t great

Err… what makes you say that?

[cin3]

Aston100 wrote:

cin3 wrote:

The beaches aren’t great

Err… what makes you say that?

Merely the fact I have been to dozens of better beaches in budget countries across several continents.

[Aston100]

cin3 wrote:

Aston100 wrote:

cin3 wrote:

The beaches aren’t great

Err… what makes you say that?

Merely the fact I have been to dozens of better beaches in budget countries across several continents.

Could you kindly list these dozens of better beaches, with consideration to the OP wanting to go to Turkey.
Hence listing something down in South East Asia for example won’t be a suitable comparison really.

[slonik]

Joining this thread, if I may, to ask for any recommendations for Cappadocia. Is it easy to see independently or do we need a guide? Any tips for where to stay and how best to get there would also be great.

[ankomonkey]

slonik wrote:

Joining this thread, if I may, to ask for any recommendations for Cappadocia. Is it easy to see independently or do we need a guide? Any tips for where to stay and how best to get there would also be great.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Museum Hotel in Uchisar a few years ago. Also stayed in and enjoyed Aydinli Cave Hotel in Goreme about 15 years ago, but it looks to have changed a bit since then. In 2009, we did a couple of day-trip tours booked locally rather than a complete organised tour for several days, but it was a less well-known destination back then. On our Museum Hotel trip we were nearby and mainly wanted to stay in the hotel, so didn’t really attempt to see anything other than within walking distance from the hotel.

[cin3]

slonik wrote:

Joining this thread, if I may, to ask for any recommendations for Cappadocia. Is it easy to see independently or do we need a guide? Any tips for where to stay and how best to get there would also be great.

Very easy to do everything independently. If you’re doing a hot air balloon make sure you get a very experienced pilot who can fly close to the features and try to ensure you’ll be on the outside of the basket.

Getting there is simple by bus or plane.