Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Turkey Related Subjects => Places to Visit => Topic started by: Elsa Padfield on June 20, 2011, 23:09:58 PM
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Hi all. Just some information would help us decide whether to drive overland.
Plan is to travel via France & Italy; we'd like to visit Rome (how we negotiate that city I don't know), across the ferry to Greece and visit Istanbul. Then we plan to drive down to Calis. Hopefully the middle of September. We'll then return via Istanbul again, but through Bulgaria, Romania etc....
Has anyone done this, how dangerous is it and how easy is it to negotiate your way through Istanbul[?] And how expensive - we do realise it's going to probably cost more than flying but thought it'd be a great experience.
Oh... thanks. :)
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Elsa there have been reports from people doing this but haven't seen one for some time. Have you tried a search??
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I posted about our trip across Europe when we returned with the dogs. It is easy across France and there are plenty of hotel chains,FI,B and B, Campanile, Mercure etc or the farmhouses sometimes advertise chambre d'hotes which is when they let accommodation out on the farm.If you are going through the Frejus tunnel it only takes about twelve minutes. Once through the tunnel if you need a hotel for the night Italy tends to have individual hotels. At Torino(Turin) there is a good stop for the night at Rivoli,the Davide Hotel, and the owners brother owns a pleasant restaurant nearby. Also in the Asti area is a village called Bricco Barrano where the Cascina Bella Vista is very pleasant and run by an English couple.
When we visited Rome we did not even attempt driving in the city. It is best to stay outside the city near a train station and go in by train.Once in Rome there is a bus which travels a circular route and you hop on and off of it on the one ticket at the tourist spots.II Colle degli Ulivi is one place to stay outside the city. We also stayed at the Villa Vecchia for a night(Frascati area)nice sparkling white wine!I could imagine the Sopranos holding a wedding there.
Florence is also hard to drive around and we parked in the hotel car park. There is so much to visit in Florence and it is fascinating walking around. I especially enjoyed the Pritti Palace with the Boboli gardens.
When going on the ferry to Greece it is easy.It takes about eight hours to drive across Greece. We stayed at Kavala (I think it was the Egnatia hotel).There is also the Imaret which is an ottomman style hotel.As usual parking is a nightmare.Very pleasant there with a lovely view of Thassos from the room. You may not need to stop in Greece and make it over the border to Turkey. I wonder how the present situation in Greece would affect anyone visiting? We visited Gallipoli not Istanbul and that was a moving experience. It was easy to catch a ferry across the Bospherus and quite a pleasant little trip (tea in plastic cups and men selling perfume).
We are driving to the west coast of Ireland today with the dogs so they are still travelling!:D
We visited Istanbul on separate occasions and did not drive. We flew in and used the taxis and excellent clean metro system for sightseeing. When visiting friends there they drove and the roads and drivers are quite daunting.
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With regard to the cost it depends on how you travel. Some people may not use hotels and sleep in their car. On the ferry to Igoumenitsa I saw people with blow up beds,sleeping bags and blankets and packed sandwiches on the top deck bedding down for the night. You can alternatively have a cabin and wear something a bit smart for a meal in the restaurant. You can have fun on that trip.
In France the F1 was a very budget hotel but clean and smart but a Mercure is a bit more comfortable.
Fuel is going to be the biggest bill.The Frejus tunnel cost 35euros I think and then you may use toll roads or not. The ferry across the Bospherous was 25 lira if my memory serves me right.
I would advise anyone doing the trip to sort out a hotel in Italy in advance. Not easy to find one at short notice if you are sightseeing and on the move.
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Friends of ours did it and I asked how much they spent on petrol - £750 one way.
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When you cross from Greece to Turkey at Ipsala you don't need to go to Istanbul but head down towards Gallipoli and there are ferries at Gelibolu to Lapseki and further down in Gallipoli there's the ferry to Canakkale. This is the easiest way to get to Ipsala border crossing for Greece or the Edirne border crossing for Bulgaria.Knowing the traffic in Istanbul I would avoid driving there at all costs, get a cheap flight from Dalaman.
Personally I would try and avoid Bulgaria and you can do this by travelling across Greece toward Thessalonika and then head north into Macedonia this bypasses Bulgaria completely and is not to much further to travel in time and distance.
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Why pay to cross the Bosporus when you have 2 perfectly good motorway bridges that dont charge when you drive from the Asian side.
Advice, when driving through Istanbul, take the TEM highway and not the E-5. The E-5 is Istanbuls version of the M25, and most of the time if you look at it you would think it was a car park.
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Thanks so much for all the interesting and informative information. I'm going to print it all out and then we can make an informed route choice. And starman, I didn't know there were bridges so that'll be good. Thanks everyone, very much.
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I think to work out the petrol costs it would be best to look at distances on the RAC planner. If you are doing about 2,500 miles on a trip and your car does 35miles to the gallon how much would that cost?Answers on a postcard please!:D:D Then there is the varying cost of ferry crossings and hotels.Each individual trip will cost a different amount depending on the route,ferries,hotels,tourist sites visited etc. I don't think it cost 750pounds for us one way for fuel. Check it out for yourselves.
Look into the Green Card situation as well. The Green Card is a must for Turkey and costs about 90 euros at the border last time I heard anything about it. Ours was free from the insurance company.
As Firo says if you are visiting Gallipoli then the ferries are on that route.Then a pleasant coastal drive to Izmir and pick up the toll road to Mugla,about one pound.
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You also need to bring your registation document as the they need the chassis number. The crossing into Turkey can be a pain but be calm. When we were entering the country one guy was creating merry hell so they took hiom aside and made him empty the car. Because we were polite and spoke our few words of Turkish they were fine.
We took the ferry from Ancona to Greece. It was a bit expensive and did not save any time but it gave plenty of time to rest and also saved us 4 hours driving time down to Bari.We were also fresh enough to drive through Greece and stayed in Gallipoli
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Starman the extra mileage and time for one reason. It's only 25tl to cross the Bosphorus and the fuel costs to drive onto and through Istanbul would be more than that.
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Sorry you are wrong. To get to the one car ferry that crosses the Bosphorus you need to drive to Harem near Kadikoy which then the ferry takes you to Sireci. You have the hassle of long queues to get on to the ferry then you have the hassle and slow traffic of driving out of Sirkeci to reach the motorway. Where as if you stay on the TEM (you need to come off it to get to the ferry and then back onto it to get to Bulgaria) you would do the journey I would say 2 hours less and burn less fuel as you would be in 5th gear on the TEM where as not for the ferry. Also the ferry rates are not 25 lira but 6 lira for the car. The FSM bridge going from Asia to Europe is FREE.
Trust me, after living here and driving here for the last 15 years, I think I know what I am talking about.
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Trust me....lol
As good as you usually are at giving great info, on this subject you are wrong.....
Have you ever driven from Fethiye to the border crossings? My guess will be No.
You may have driven from Istanbul area to the border crossings but the shortest and quickest route to the border crossings from Fethiye go no where near Istanbul.
The route is from Fethiye to Izmir and then to Canakkale, via the coast road, and then get the ferry at Canakkale or Lapseki (30mins further on from Canakkale) which cost 25tl and take 30 mins and we have never queued....
I'm thinking that the ferry you are on about is just outside Istanbul, and it would take another 2 hours to get there from Canakkale, and by that time has passed we have already crossed and arrived at the border crossing, rather than trying to find our route through Istanbul.
Trust me we have actually done this route 6 times along with many many others who live in the Fethiye area...
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quote:
Originally posted by Elsa Padfield
across the ferry to Greece and visit Istanbul. Then we plan to drive down to Calis. Hopefully the middle of September. We'll then return via Istanbul again, but through Bulgaria, Romania etc....
Has anyone done this, how dangerous is it and how easy is it to negotiate your way through Istanbul
Firo,
The OP did state that they would visit Istanbul for which my information is correct and bang on. Your is wrong. There is no place on the Bosphorus outside Istanbul as the Bosphorus is all in Istanbul. It is physically impossible to cross the Bosphorus without going through Istanbul.
I think you maybe referring to the Dardanelles by Canakkale way but thats like the difference between the irish sea and the english channel.
Here is the link giving details to the ONLY car ferry service to cross the Bosphorus.
http://www.ido.com.tr/en/index.cfm?page=SubPage&kapsam=178&textid=3017&ln=EN
Also here is a picture to better show you that there is no way to cross the Bosphorus without going through Istanbul.
(http://i54.tinypic.com/2h31qm8.png)
I think that brings this debate to an end I believe.
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Also I have driven between the border and the South coast and made the painful drive all the way from UK several times (I have lived here for almost 20 years now and not only in Istanbul but Calis aswell as many other places).
Anyway back to topic as the original poster asked about visiting Istanbul and ways to get around the city (not avoid it completely).
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We do actually want to visit Istanbul, hopefully on this trip using the car and so would after reading all the information and obviously doing more research, go via TEM and not use a ferry if that's possible. However, we've just had an offer (today)on our house, so the road trip may be postponed until next year possibly (if they come up with a better offer that is).
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In my original post there is no mention of crossing the Bosporus so why did you mention it in your reply. I wrongly was confused by your reference to it in your reply.
I apologise about that mistake but rest assured if this member decides or wants alternatives to get to the border the quickest way then my routes are correct.
If they want to go via Istanbul then your route is no doubt the best.
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quote:
Originally posted by Firo
Starman the extra mileage and time for one reason. It's only 25tl to cross the Bosphorus and the fuel costs to drive onto and through Istanbul would be more than that.
I think it all started when Daffodil said it was 25 lira to cross the bosphorus and then you said it aswell.
I was just wondering if somebody got ripped off by paying 25 lira when it could be for free. (please note that it does cost 3 lira to cross the bridge from Europe to Asia)
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Hi we did this trip last August and planning to do it again this August. Travelled with 2 girls (10 and 13 years) went into Turkey via Hungary, Roumania and Bulgaria. Went home via Greece (car ferry to Italy) and through Austria into Germany and back again via the Channel Tunnel.
The roads through southern Europe are in a somewhat state of disrepair. The roads through Romania were the worst with the pot holes being the size of dustbin lids!
The drive through Romania was the worst day, due to the roadworks where they are updating the roads. The road along the gorge along side the Danube was under serious re-construction with stop and go boards. All the locals were jumping the stop boards and it became a bottle neck! It took us 8 hours that day to just travel 200 miles.
Going home via Greece we prebooked our car ferry from Igominitsa to Brindisi (even though our friends did say just turn up). In hindsight we should have just turned up. The roads through Greece were good almost motorway all the way with some fantastic tunnels. We got to the ferry port in good time but then had to wait almost 16 hours to board the booked ferry. If we had just turned up then we could have jumped on the next one!
Italy motorways are very expensive, burned as much diesel as we did toll fees!
Day 1 - Waterlooville - Ravensburg 688 miles (via euro tunnel)
Day 2 - Ravensburg - into Austria, (90 miles) purchased a 10 day vignette (road tax), crossed into Hungary 290 miles
Stayed overnight southern most town Szeged.
Day 3 - up very early to do Romania in a one hit. (advised to do this by Bulgarian friends) Crossed over at Calafat 258 miles from the hotel. 1453 miles from Hampshire so far.
Arrived at Sofia, Bulgaria worn out. 417 miles on the day,
Day 4 - left Sofia and crossed into our beloved Turkey at lunchtime so far 1804 miles from home. 192 on the day.
Crossed at Cannakale 341 miles on the day. 23 lira to cross.
Over night at Ayvalik 2067 miles from Hampshire. 454 miles on the day.
Day 5 arrived at Ciftlik after 46 driving hours total miles from home 2355.
The journey down took 4 and a half days. We know it can be done in less time but as I say we travelled with our daughters and always made sure that we had good hotels to stay in overnight and 4 good stops on the day to refresh our legs. We never drove in the dark.
What a feeling it was though when we crossed into Turkey.
Travelling home
Ciftlik to Andro (spilt a cup tea and can't read the town name) was just over the Greek border. Spent a night in hotel lovely walk along the front.
Arrived Igominitsa at 3pm had to wait till 7am following day for ferry - could have paid more to get on earlier ferry - decided not to and spent the day in the town and then sleeping!
Car ferry to Brindisi (via Corfu) was lovely. Had pre booked aircraft type seats. Hardly used them, spent the day on deck watching the sea and the dolphins.
Now I stopped keeping a diary as I took ill and slept for 48 hrs. The journey home was a total of 5 days including the car ferry and the delay waiting for it.
But we enjoyed it so much we are doing it again this August - even our girls are up for it - so it can't be that bad.
We have a good size car and they were comfortable in the back.
We froze some bottled water and each day as it defrosted we added orange to it for fluids.
Few moments when we fell out with each other - but overall its a good experience.
This time we will avoid Romania, but still do a similar route.
We did 5850 miles in total, this did included driving up into Seki and doing several other long days whilst we had the use of the car.
The boot space is already full - its a good time to bring out heavy objects and items for the Animal Aid and Childrens Charities.
Good Luck - if we are doing it again - it can't be that bad.
I have the names and numbers of all the hotels we stayed at in the diary - I can post them if anyone wants them.
We had a rough idea of where we wanted to get to each night and at 5pm if we had not reached our target made a point of coming off the motorways and finding a bed.
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Good post and most helpful Pompeylil. Thanks.
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Great write up, thanks for sharing it. 1 question, do you have an appx cost of ferry/chunnel, fuel & tolls please?
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Yikes 688 miles 1st day - I can feel the early adrenolin [:o]. This is something we decided we wanted to do in our 7 seater charabanc. The girls often talk about it and ask when it's going to happen. They think they'll have the adventure of their lives. I know better and I know they'd hate it before we got to the border (with England, not the Turkish border!).
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Yikes 688 miles 1st day - I can feel the early adrenolin
We have friends spread far and wide in Scotland - they learnt from a very early age not to ask 'Are we there yet' !!!
Aberdeen at Easter with 3 quick stops -
Helensburgh done regularly with a quick top up of fuel - hubbys only regret is that we do insist on stopping for the loo!
Yorkshire and back in a short week-end to see friends. Depends what you are used to. But the girls are good and we had plenty to keep them amused.
Amazon sell the I spy books - on a motorway, cars, travelling etc so we all played these games. Took a dictionary (English) and made them learn to spell hard words, the youngest learnt her times tables too on that drive! She couldn't escape from us!
have a student staying with us till Friday - once she has gone will pull out the diary again and post approx costs.
With 4 of us travelling and not always the option of a family room if we were quoted more than 100 euros for one large or two smaller rooms we said no thanks and made to leave. Twice we were asked how much we wanted to pay.
The girls are not very good at eating at 6 am in the morning - so we would skip breakfast in the hotels and eat further down the road at a service station or cafe.
As my previous post stated we had lots of water on board that was cold and bottles of squash that we poured into the water to make drinks. Sausage rolls were also frozen and can satisfy a hungry child. Fruit and dried snacks were also taken.
Would say it was the same as four of us flying as the hotel costs bumped up the price. But will get the info together and post for you to browse over.
Don't let your kids take a photo of the tunnel just as you are about to enter it - the camera flash went off in the car, the second hubby turned on the lights - lots of panic and swearing in a second! We both thought the entire fuse/electric system had blown in the car - until a voice said - Don't worry Daddy, it was only me taking a photo!!!!
When your travelling round, over and through mega pot holes don't let them play with an empty pringle tube with a rubber in it to make a drum! The drum banged the car door the same time we went into a nasty hole. Thought we had lost something from the back end of the car!!! Again a little voice pops up - I've made a drum to beat to the music!
Anyway, sorry for waffling, but it was a superb trip. Only once did hubby discretly central lock the car doors. This was on the road works in Romania when we had a group of boys come begging to the car doors.
Our daughters lead a charmed life and this trip certainly opened their eyes to just how fortunate they are.
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Thanks for all this information Pompeylil. We will do the trip (have to be next year though I 'spect)BUT we have a buyer for our house and probably won't be able to do it this year :( On the market for over a year and as soon as we plan something we sell! Can't grumble I suppose but now we can't find anything we want for the price we want to pay. Maybe we should have the road trip instead? And then come home and live in a tent.
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I agree, great post Pompeylil - I think the place in Greece may have been Alexandropoulis? Lovely little spa, seaside town. I too have done the journey several times, using different routes - the worst country and one which I wouldn't want to revisit was Romania - held up by bandits and rogues posing as police several times. But maybe the lowest point of the journey was when I managed to lock us out of our car, at 2am, in the deserted ferry border crossing between Romania and Bulgaria...if I said the air was blue, would you believe me, lol? But as Pompeylil says, the feeling when you cross that final border into Turkey is unbelievable - home at last!!
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Apologies for saying the Bospherous when it was the Dardanelles!Memory lapse!
Just driven back today from the west of Ireland and had a trip on my first ever hydrofoil, the Jonathan Swift,brilliant!Ireland was great! It really is the emerald isle.