5 Magical Places in Turkey You'll Never Forget (With Itinerary)

We spent 16 days in Turkey in August and September 2018, road-tripping between Istanbul, Izmir, Pamukkale, Cappadocia and Ankara. It cost our family of four 12,688 TRY (about 2,019 USD at 2018 rates), and delivered some of the most magical moments of our round-the-world trip: hot air balloons over Cappadocia, the pink shoreline of Lake Tuz, the ruins of Ephesus, and the mosques and bazaars of Istanbul. Here is our itinerary, our budget, and the places we’d send you straight to.

We’d read about Turkey and seen the photos before we left, so we expected to like it. We didn’t expect it to become one of the clear favorites of our trip, or for the country — known officially today as Türkiye — to exceed what we’d imagined at almost every stop.

Best Places to Visit in Turkey

Cappadocia

Cappadocia was the destination Jessica and I were most excited to visit on our entire round-the-world trip, and it didn’t disappoint. We spent 4 days (and nights) there and could have stayed longer — it’s hard to think of anywhere else on the planet quite like it.

The place itself, and everything that comes with it, feels otherworldly. Caves have been dug into the region’s fairy-tale rock formations, and many are still inhabited today. The rugged landscape and the clear, dry air make for some of the most memorable sunrises and sunsets we saw on the whole trip.

Beyond the caves visible everywhere you look, 36 underground cities have been discovered in the region, some as deep as 8 storeys and able to shelter up to 20,000 people, dating back more than 4,000 years. They were built by the Hittites and later used by Christians fleeing Roman persecution.

And most mornings, weather permitting, around 150 hot air balloons fill the sky over Cappadocia in a genuinely spectacular display — reason enough to set an early alarm.

To make the most of our nights there, we slept in cave rooms across 3 different hotels, including one 5-star property that has won several design awards.

We couldn’t leave Cappadocia without a hot air balloon flight ourselves. It’s worth doing at least once in your life. We were up at 4am, and the boys — usually the last ones out the door — were ready in under 5 minutes, too excited about the flight to slow down.

Lake Tuz

On the drive between Goreme and Ankara, we stopped at the edge of Lake Tuz (“tuz” means salt in Turkish), Turkey’s second-largest lake and one of its saltiest. After a 10-minute walk across white salt flats, the water itself turned pink. The sky was clear, the wind was still, and the horizon seemed to dissolve — we came away with some of our favorite photos of the whole trip. I’d always wanted to see Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni; Turkey handed us a pink-salt version of it instead.

Lake Tuz sees relatively few visitors, so the access point isn’t well documented. The spot we photographed sits at coordinates (38.8006189, 33.6185854), at the entrance to a gravel road off the highway — also marked on the map further down this page.

Ephesus

Ephesus, where the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, sits about an hour from Izmir. Today it’s an archaeological site that draws visitors from all over the world — its Library of Celsus and Grand Theatre are especially impressive. Nearby, you can visit the house that tradition holds was the Virgin Mary’s last home, the tomb of John the Evangelist, and the remains of the Temple of Artemis, once one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Pamukkale

Pamukkale is a mountainside of brilliant white mineral terraces, formed by thermal springs saturated with minerals. Natural pools along the slope let visitors soak their feet in the warm water as it makes its way down. The ancient city of Hierapolis sits on the same site and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Istanbul

Straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul is split in two by the Bosphorus Strait and is Europe’s most populous city, with around 15 million residents. Our hotel was on the Asian side, so we crossed to the European bank by ferry every day — about 40 minutes each way for roughly 2,00 TRY (0.32 USD) per adult. Seagulls trailed the boat hoping for the bread Mateo and Luka threw them, and there was always another photo to take.

2026 update: Hagia Sophia has operated as a working mosque since July 2020, when a Turkish court ruling reversed its 86-year status as a museum. Non-Muslim visitors can still enter outside prayer times, but modest dress (including a headscarf for women) is required (NPR).

2026 update: The Basilica Cistern reopened in 2022 after a 5-year restoration, with a new elevated walkway and lighting design very different from what we saw in 2018 (Euronews).

How to Plan a Trip to Turkey

Itinerary: Istanbul, Cappadocia and Beyond

We arrived overnight by bus from Sofia, Bulgaria, reaching Istanbul in the early hours, then crossed the city by taxi under a beautiful dawn on the way to our hotel. Here’s how we split our 16 days:

• 5 nights in Istanbul
• 2 nights in Izmir
• 1 night in Pamukkale
• 4 nights in Cappadocia
• 2 nights in Ankara
• 2 nights back in Istanbul

1. Göreme
2. Ephesus
3. Basilica Cistern
4. Grand Bazaar
5. Hagia Sophia
6. Pamukkale
7. Topkapi Palace
8. Suleymaniye Mosque
9. Uchisar
10. Tuz Lake
11. Ortahisar
12. Laodicea
13. Kaymakli Underground City
14. Izmir Clock Tower
15. Goreme Open Air Museum
16. Galerie Ikman
17. Ankara Kocatepe Mosque
18. Ankara Anitkabir

Getting Around by Rental Car

Turkey never felt unsafe, day or night — we found Turks welcoming, helpful and hospitable everywhere we went. We rented a Fiat Linea to cover the 2,500 km of our route; Turkish roads are in good shape and pleasant to drive, even if plenty of drivers seem to fancy themselves race car drivers.

Accommodation with Hotel Points

We stayed well: of our 16 nights in Turkey, 13 were in 5-star hotels, with room upgrades, lounge access, breakfast and excellent service — all paid for with Marriott points. Turkey was full of Marriott category 2 hotels at the time, so our points went a long way. Here’s a look at where we stayed.

2026 update: Marriott Bonvoy has since replaced its published award chart with dynamic, demand-based pricing, so the fixed “category” system described here no longer applies — check current point costs on marriott.com before booking (Upgraded Points).

Turkish Food

Turkish food is excellent, affordable and varied, with every region carrying its own specialties. We ate extremely well and were never once disappointed.

How Much Does a Trip to Turkey Cost?

The Turkish lira lost a large part of its value just before we arrived, roughly doubling a foreign visitor’s purchasing power in the space of a year. We benefited directly, and our budget reflects those unusually low prices.

Our hot air balloon flight, at 500 USD, alone accounted for a quarter of our spending over 16 days in Turkey. We paid out of pocket for only 3 hotel nights, and even those averaged just 300,00 TRY (47.73 USD) for the 4 of us — and they weren’t hostels. Decent accommodation was remarkably cheap.

• 12.688,00 TRY (2,018.86 USD);
• 793,00 TRY (126.18 USD) per day;
• 198,00 TRY (31.50 USD) per person per day.

Amounts were paid in Turkish lira. US-dollar equivalents use the average exchange rate during our trip (August 18 – September 3, 2018): 1 USD = 6.28 TRY.

In detail:

Expense Category	Amount Spent
Bus and Visa	1.963,00 TRY / 312.34 USD
Accomodation	906,00 TRY / 144.16 USD
Transport (including gas, toll roads and parking)	3.573,00 TRY / 568.52 USD
Eating out	1.601,00 TRY / 254.74 USD
Groceries	607,00 TRY / 96.58 USD
Activities	4.038,00 TRY / 642.51 USD
Total	12.688,00 TRY / 2,018.86 USD

Conclusion

Don’t let negative headlines back home put you off — Turkey deserves to be far better known as a destination. It’s seen a tourism boom in the years since our visit, and we’d go back in a heartbeat to explore more of it.

See you in Lebanon!