Secret Revealed - 14 Days Turkey Travel Guide | 2 Weeks Budget Travel Itinerary from India 2023

Do you also want to visit Turkey? I have brought a detailed 14 days Turkey tour plan that internet has ever seen. I am going to give you all the information in this video. Right from best places to visit, how to travel around Turkey, how much will you spend including your food, transportation, accommodation and sight. And I will also give you a lot of tips to save money. Come, let's go on our journey. Welcome to the land of Turkey. A unique country that is divided in Asia and Europe continent with a rich cultural heritage that spans over thousands of years. Turkey's population is 8.5 crore, which makes it one of the largest and most diverse countries in the region. And you won't believe, in 2022, 4.5 crore people visited Turkey, which made it one of the highest visiting countries. So now let's talk about which is the best time to visit Turkey. December to February is extreme winter. And June to September is extreme summer, which leaves us with the best month, which is March to May and October and November. So we planned our Turkey trip at the end of October. Now let's talk about flight tickets. If you are traveling from India, then you have two options. Direct flight and one-stop layover flight. You will get direct flight from Mumbai and Delhi. And one-stop layover flight from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The cost of direct flight will be around Rs 90,000 to Rs 1,00,000 per couple round trip. And the cost of one-stop layover will be up to Rs 70,000. Direct flight will take you to Turkey in 7 hours. But one-stop layover flight will take 12 to 16 hours. We planned our Turkey travel at the end of October, which costed us around Rs 1,00,000. And we didn't have a direct flight. It was with one-stop layover. But if you are planning to travel to Turkey this year, then direct flight options are also available. And if you plan to book it 3-4 months in advance, then you will get cheaper deals. So we add this Rs 1,00,000 in our expense list. And now let's talk about the visa. We applied for a visa in September from Bangalore VFS office, which we got within two weeks. Total cost for visa, including your medical insurance, will be around Rs 27,000 for two people. And once again, whatever price I mention in this video, that will be for two people. I'll be making a separate video on how to apply for Turkish visa within a coming week. So stay tuned. So we add this Rs 27,000 in our calculation. So now let's talk about Turkey travel itinerary. So our day started from Bangalore airport. But unfortunately, our flight was delayed for 5 hours. But it was good that we booked connecting flights of the same airline. So somehow they managed and we were able to make it. So my suggestion would be that if you are traveling internationally and if you are booking connecting flights, then book flight tickets of the same airline. So the next day we reached Istanbul by 2 o'clock. And it took us an hour to process the visa. From there, we went directly to the bus terminal, The distance between airport and city center is 50 kilometers. But if you want to travel in cab, then car services are also available there, which will cost you around Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. It had around 20 GB of data for 15 days. The network was very good in the whole country. And the data was good enough for us. So it was around 6 o'clock when we reached our Airbnb. And 15 to 16 hours of long journey. We were so tired that we decided to take some rest and charge our phones. So it reminded us that do carry universal adapter if you are traveling internationally. So at night we took a stroll around Sultanahmet area. And there was a Turkish authentic restaurant there. So we planned to have dinner there. They had amazing food and super delicious dessert. I have mentioned its name here. The next day we started from Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet. It took us around 3 hours to explore the vicinity there. And then we took a tram to the area of Balac. There are many Instagrammable picturesque spots there. So we took a lot of pictures. Also, they have very cute cafes. So we decided to have our lunch over there. So our next location was Galata Bridge. Which is famous for its beautiful sunset views. So we took a tram and went there. And we witnessed some amazing views. Not only that, we also had an amazing experience of local fishing culture. After Istanbul, our next location was Pamukkale. So we took a flight from Istanbul airport to Denizli airport. We took a shuttle from Denizli to Pamukkale city center. Which took us around 40-50 minutes to reach there. Pamukkale is world renowned mineral rich thermal water pool. One of the highlights of the day was enjoying the warm water with a scenic view of natural calcium terraces. There are two more locations around it. Which are Hierapolis ancient city and Cleopatra's pool. So all these three locations are within a 10 minute walk of each other. And you can complete them in 3-5 hours. The main reason we came to Pamukkale in the morning was to avoid the crowd. So we started early in the morning at 8am and finished exploring by 1pm. So after our 1pm tour, we headed back to our hotel. We had our lunch there. And then we took a bus to Fethiye. Which was around 4 hours of journey. One more important tip. Whenever you book a hotel, make sure that they are at the city center and near the main bus stop. This makes travel a lot easier. Fethiye is famous for its paragliding throughout the world. And it was in our bucket list. So our day 5 started with paragliding. After paragliding, we decided to take it easy and soak up the relaxed atmosphere of this charming and vibrant city. On day 6, we spent our time wandering around Fethiye old town. And watching the sun go down at Kalis beach in the evening. If you have more time to spare, we highly recommend a day trip to Stakliken Canyon. Which would take around 5-7 hours to complete. We took an overnight bus from Fethiye to Cappadocia. Which takes around 12 hours to reach there. We were there around 6am in the morning. On day 7, we checked in at the hotel. After that, we did a guided tour. It includes Open Air Museum, Goreme Valley and Fairy Chimneys. Uchisar Castle, a local pottery and ceramic factory and the Imagination Valley. The tour cost around Rs 11,000 for 2 people. And included pick up and drop off at our hotel, lunch, entry to all the places and our tour guide. After the red tour, we reached our hotel at 4pm which was in Goreme. And took a short nap before taking a stroll in the nearby area at night. Cappadocia looks beautiful at night, so do take a walk. We ended our day with a lovely dinner. Next day, we woke up at 4.30am to start our hot air balloon experience. Which turned out to be the highlight of our trip. It was 200% worth it and I would come back to Turkey just for this experience. After landing at 8.30am, we celebrated with wine and achievement certificates. This whole experience cost us Rs 35,000. Which included breakfast, pick up and drop from our hotel. After that, we did a green tour which cost us Rs 11,000. And it offered similar services to the red tour. Here, we visited the Zerinkiu underground city, Ilhara valley, had lunch on the river valley and explored Stellimeh which is a Star Wars movie location. We returned to our hotel after a full day of sightseeing. So day 9, we chilled a bit and changed our hotel to one of the best rated luxury resorts in Cappadocia. Let's see some highlights of it. So next morning, I completely allocated for my dream photo shoot. We hired some professional photographers and videographers. They costed us around Rs 18,000. If you are not interested in photography, you can skip this activity. After the photo shoot, our flight was back to Istanbul. And after reaching Istanbul, we headed to Taksim Square and Istiklal Street. We spent all our evening over there. We visited Basilica Cistern early in the morning. You'll be required to pay an entry fee of 300 Lira per person. The visit shouldn't take more than an hour. Post that, we dedicated the entire day to shopping at Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar and nearby area where locals buy from. You can buy leather goods, clothing, spices, Turkish delights, souvenirs, rugs, jewellery. Basically everything. Day 12 was my husband's birthday. We visited the historic Hammam place. I'll be mentioning the name of the place in your screen. One of the oldest and most famous hammams in Istanbul. Then, we explored Istanbul's unique neighbourhood. We tried traditional Turkish cuisine and ended the day with a special birthday dinner and cake. It was an unforgettable celebration. On day 13, it was finally time to say goodbye to this beautiful country, Turkey. We booked a flight back from Air Arabia and it took us around 14 hours to reach there. Now, let's talk about accommodation. We paid around Rs 5,000 in Istanbul, 3,000 in Fethiye, 3,500 in Denizli, and 7,000 in Cappadocia. These prices vary according to your range and type. So, better you research, compare prices, and read reviews to find the best accommodation within your budget. Let's talk about sightseeing. The entry charges for Basilica Cistern were Rs 2,500, Rs 1,700 for Pamukkale, Rs 13,000 for paragliding, and around Rs 57,000 for Cappadocia. So, total cost including our flight tickets, visa, accommodation, transportation, shopping, photoshoot, and all other expenses, our total cost was around Rs 3,36,500. If you want to travel on a budget, you can see the break-up on the screen. I hope if you are planning to travel to Turkey, you found this video to be quite detailed. If you found this video helpful, then do like and subscribe to my channel. Also, comment below which part of the video you liked the most. And if you are planning to go to Turkey, if you need any help, I'd be happy to help. Until next time, happy travelling!