Matt Barrett's Guide to Turkey

Welcome to my Turkey Guide where you can get information for booking your holiday and have fun planning it. Whether you want to cruise along the Turkish Coast or visit the amazing city of Istanbul or the archaeological sites along the coast and inland, Turkey is one of the most facinating places and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and if you have not visited yet, you don't know what you are missing. So get started by reading my Guide to Turkey. Scroll down and start clicking. It's free! If you enjoy this site please share it with your friends.

Istanbul, Turkey
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A Guide to Istanbul

Matt Barrett and friends have put together a fun to read guide with lots of photos and practical information as well as personal insights.

Cappadocia
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Cappadocia

"For a number of years Cappadocia has been on my wanderlust radar for I rightly suspected it was a grand playground of natural and cultural proportions. It is not always the case that a place exceeds my expectations, but Cappadocia assuredly did. In fact, it is now one of my top ten destinations, a statement I do not make lightly having traveled to over eighty countries."-Colleen McGuire

Bodrum, Turkey
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Bodrum

"Bodrum used to be a quiet fishing village on the Aegean Sea until Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, built a villa in the 1970s and invited his celebrity friends to party down turning Bodrum into Turkey’s version of St. Tropez"

Pamukkale
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Pamukkale

"Pamukkale felt like a detour, not just from Turkey but practically from our planet. This World Heritage Site is a rare spot on earth where hot springs, travertine terraces and Greco-Roman antiquities converge."

Kapikiri, Turkey
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Kapikiri

"We were elated to stumble upon a little known pre-historic site dating back 8,000-9,000 years ago. We have always been enamored with rock art’s cryptic spirals and animals and stick figures. We seek it out when we travel in the U.S. Southwest, but we had no idea we would find ourselves hiking to petroglyph sites in western Turkey. For us it was a thrill tantamount to attending a small town folk festival and someone like Bob Dylan pops up onstage."-Colleen McGuire

Ephesus
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Ephesus

"Over two thousand years ago Ephesus was a thriving center of Hellenic civilization. Fifty years after Christ’s death it evolved into a vital hub for the budding Christianity movement. By 100 AD Ephesus became the largest Asian city in the Roman Empire with an estimated 500,000 residents."-Colleen McGuire

Aphrodisias
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Afrodisias

"The spectacular archaeology site of Afrodisias sits in the shadow of Ephesus like a kid sister competing against the established praise and popularity of her older sibling."-Colleen McGuire

Hotels, Travel Agents, Cruises and Tours

Fantasy Travel
Fantasy Travel have Mediterranean tour and cruise packages that are designed to offer you diversity, value and affordability all combined with quality service in your chosen vacation destination. You also have the flexibility to combine any of Fantasy Travel programs, or even create your own independent vacation itinerary. They also specialize in cruises to the Greek Islands and Turkey.

Hotels in Turkey
Descriptions, photos, and booking information in this very helpful directory courtesy of my friends at Booking.com
with photos, descriptions and customer reviews.

Getting to Turkey by Sea from Greece: Though there are no ferries from Greece to Istanbul you can do day trips and overnight trips as well as one way trips from a number of the Greek islands to their corresponding ports in Turkey. The schedules vary by island but in the summer there is usually one boat a day from these islands which are listed in order of their distance to Istanbul along with the corresponding Turkish port. Lesvos to Avalik, Chios to Cesme (Izmir), Samos to Kusadasi (Ephesus), Kos to Bodrum and Rhodes to Marmaris.

Help Support Matt's Turkey Guide
Do you enjoy using my site? Have you found it entertaining as well as useful? If so please show your appreciation by booking hotels through the travel agencies and the links found on my Istanbul Hotels page. The small comission I make on the bookings enable me to keep working and in most cases you won't find them any cheaper by searching elsewhere. You can find hotels, apartments, rooms and even houses through Booking.com's Turkey Pages which also contributes to my website when you book. I also could not have created these pages without the help of Fantasy Travel so please help me by supporting them. If you are appreciative of all the free information you get on my websites you can also send a donation through Paypal or Venmo

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