Turkey is a very romantic tourist destination. Everyone has heard of this place in many songs. When talking about Turkey, the editor immediately thinks of the hot air balloons in the sky. So in this article, the editor will tell you about it.

Things to note when traveling to Turkey.

First of all, whether to go with a group or travel independently, the route is from Shanghai to Tehran, Iran, transfer - landing in Ankara - Kapa - Antalya - Pamukkale - Kusadasi - Canakkale - Istanbul, and finally fly from Istanbul to Tehran, transfer back to Shanghai and follow

Advantages of the tour: The hotel is all five-star, with comfortable rooms every day, swimming pool, gym, global buffet, local Turkish specialties, MAN bus (a bus that is more comfortable than a Mercedes-Benz, and has wifi throughout the journey), and there are many tourist attractions.

There is no compulsory consumption or shopping point visits, and the tour guide will also appropriately add interesting and cheap activities such as sailing.

Disadvantages of joining a group: The degree of freedom is relatively weak. Although most of the scenic spots are free activities, if you want to go out on your own without the group, you need to say hello to the tour leader, and the tour guide may not agree; the 2-day itinerary in Istanbul is quite tight, and there is very little time for the Grand Bazaar.

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My views on independent travel in Turkey (combined with the feedback from several pairs of friends who have independently traveled in the past): Originally I also wanted to travel independently, but after my friends experienced independent travel and compared the online independent travel strategies, I have

own opinion.

First of all, the cost of independent travel is no cheaper than that of a group tour, and the accommodation is definitely not as good as that of a group tour.

A hotel in Turkey costs 50 or 60 euros a night, and a meal in a small restaurant for just two people costs tens of liras.

Traveling between cities often encounters the annoying experience of being thrown out of the car in the middle of the road. There are also many people who have reported the situation of being driven around by the driver for hundreds of liras without being able to explain the situation.

Secondly, there is a big difference between those wonderful self-guided travel strategies and reality, because my friend who traveled to Turkey came back and said that self-guided travel in Turkey was self-abuse.

Under the scorching Mediterranean sun, no one can happily stroll around the streets all afternoon; the night bus between cities is not as beautiful as other people's travel notes say. You can sit in the bus all night and stop to rest in the middle. You can't help it.

You sleep well, if you encounter someone who kicks you out of the car midway, you will really want to die.

Free travel will also encounter a lot of rip-offs, such as high-priced hot air balloons, paragliding and other projects.

Thirdly, Turkish people’s English is extremely bad. Except for people in major tourist attractions who can speak English, others basically rely on body language to figure out the situation.

Moreover, Turks treat tourists by asking blatantly high prices. Even if they understand your counteroffer, they will pretend to be stupid in Turkish. They are not afraid of losing business.

Regarding in-depth travel, in a remote Mediterranean town you arrive for the first time, you can only surf the Internet in the hotel, or take photos with you in the surrounding towns with your camera.

The reason is very simple. The town is full of Turkish-speaking people, and it takes a long time to buy ice cream and black tea.

Not to mention bargaining for olive oil or drinking black tea and chatting about history and football with the locals.

Of course, there are benefits to traveling independently, such as Capa’s Red and Green Grand Slam, which is definitely not possible with a group tour.

If you want to have a comfortable time in Istanbul, you must travel freely and stay at least 3 days.

Other attractions such as Crocus City Turkish Baths, Fethiye Paragliding, and Pamukkale Paragliding are also difficult to enjoy with a group tour.

Another biggest advantage of independent travel is the convenience of shopping, because the shopping areas around the fixed locations of group tours are often relatively expensive. Independent travel can go to some small markets and hypermarkets to shop at cheap places.

In short, there are more places to visit when traveling independently, but it is easy to encounter unpleasant things; traveling in a group saves effort, and there is basically no shortage of things to do, good accommodation, good transportation, good food, and reasonable prices.

I just feel like I don’t have enough time. When buying things, I have to spend time and effort to find small markets and hypermarkets in small towns.

If you travel independently, your accommodation will not be very good, and the food will not be cheap. Night buses and intercity buses are not as good as described on the Internet, and you are often deceived by Turks.

But when traveling freely, you can play what you want to play and skip what you don’t want to play.

Many people who have never been to Turkey but want to go to Turkey but only read independent travel notes online have been challenging my travel experience by saying that "taking a group tour means sitting on the bus all day."

Well, I can tell you that in a country like Turkey with almost no railways, buses are the only way to travel between cities.

Whether you travel independently or in a group, as long as you travel between cities, you will definitely spend a long time on the bus every day.

The team bus does not stop during the entire highway journey (except for the legal stop-and-break every 4 hours). If you travel independently, it is also a bus and will take longer (waiting for the bus, arriving at the station, transferring, and the route will be detoured.)

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The next step is to prepare currency before traveling. If you travel independently, you can take your Hua Xia Card to Garanti to collect it. However, please note that there are no cash machines in Kusadasi, and it is difficult to find cash machines in Kappa, Ahmed and the Grand Bazaar area of ??Istanbul.

If you don’t have Garanti, you need to get enough cash in advance from other places such as Taksim Plaza.

Only Antalya and Izmir are relatively easy to find Garanti cash machines.

If you are joining a group, bring US dollars and change more when you get to the airport, otherwise it will not be cost-effective to settle your purchases in US dollars.