Blue Escape from Fethiye to Demre - Four Days

Отличный тур. Очень насыщенная программа, успели посетить все основные места и слетать на воздушном шаре. Очень хорошая организация. Ни одной заминки, встретили в гостинице в Стамбуле, отвезли в аэропорт, встретили в аэропорту, два дня катали, потом в аэропорт, снова встретили в Стамбуле. Машины новые, водители адекватные. Все очень здорово. Гостиницу посоветовали отличную. На все вопросы отвечали онлайн. За организацию - 5 с плюсом. Огромное спасибо.

Tomamos el tour de un día de Estambul a Efeso Tou. Ls pasamos increíble. Nos fueron a buscar a nuestro hotel ala hora acordada, ya en el aeropuerto estuvimos un rato ahí, pero no fue para nada fastidioso. Al llegar a Izmar nos encontramos con Gonca quien iba a ser nuestra guía este día. Gonca es increíble,es muy profesional, tiene un gran conocimiento de los lugares, es amable, muy divertida , ella es una persona muy abierta y te hace sentir en confianza apenas la conoces, debido a que te hace sentir tan en confianza le pudimos preguntar sin pena todo lo que quisimos acerca de los lugares, ella siempre nos respondió de forma amable y paciente. En nuestro recorrido visitamos la impresionante ciudad de Efeso, fuimos al templo de Artemisa, la casa de ls virgen María, incluso tuvimos tiempo para ir a la tienda de alfombras. Al terminar nuestro recorrido, nuestro conductor (el cual también fue muy atento con nosotros) nos llevó al aeropuerto de Izmar de forma segura. Una vez en Estambul otro conductor nos regresó a nuestro hotel. Fué un día muy emocionante, disfrutamos cada minuto. Muchas gracias a Gonca y a nuestro conductor. La pasamos super bien. Los recomendamos con los ojos cerrados!!

This will be a pretty comprehensive review. Context: I’m a 24 year old solo female traveler from the US that has never done a tour before. I have been to many countries, but always as a backpacker. Consider this while reading my opinion. Guides: Some guides are really excellent. It’s like with everything, hit or miss. Because this is a small group tour, I was with a different group and guide for every location I visited. Due to the pandemic and it being low season, sometimes I was by myself and sometimes I was with 2-4 other people. I would say half of the guides were excellent - giving me great advice, being flexible, and were clearly happy to be working. Other guides were on their phones, clearly not engaged, and even skipped or rushed through part of the itinerary. Food: All the meals you have on your tour days will be mediocre or worse. The tour guides always take you to these horrible, buffet style halls that only serve tourist buses. I know there are reasons for this, but why can’t they pick a more local restaurant in each one? Luckily, I don’t prioritize food too much and I was happy with the food when I went on my own to find local restaurants. The hotel breakfasts are nearly always really good and enough to get you going! Hotel breakfast is one of the perks. Itinerary: Coming to Turkey for the first time, there are the typical sites and famous historical places that you almost HAVE to see, so the itinerary is good and to be expected to hit the major points. I was quite happy with the amount of time allocated in each place. The only thing I did not like - and everyone on the tour will agree - is that each tour day includes a visit to a local shop. It is interesting to see the craft, but it’s really awkward because you’re expected to buy something. I would have been happy visiting 1-2 of these, but I ended up repeating experiences and going to 2 ceramic shops and 2 rug shops. Unnecessary. Tour agency: The absolute best part of this tour was working with Kerem. He is fantastic. He was so communicative always, no matter when I texted him or what I needed. He was available to make changes and to answer questions. He is really wonderful. Overall: I really enjoyed this tour, but it all depends on your attitude. I’m a happy person and I’m low maintenance, so I chose to have a good time and I did. But I would have preferred a more authentic experience. I know that is hard to find, but that would set a tour agency apart. If a tour company could actually offer a homestay, or local restaurants, or staying in a village and not in the major huge city - that would completely change the experience and they would receive SO MUCH business. My major recommendation: This is a fantastic agency, but take control of your experience! I added 2 days to this tour to visit places I wanted to see. I added activities like scuba diving and even picked a different hotel at one point. I didn’t take full advantage of this at the time, but you can totally make suggestions and ask for changes. Kerem makes it easy and is so willing to work with you to make your trip a great experience. **travel, whether backpacking or in a tour will ALWAYS come with inconveniences, delays, unexpected annoyances, but this is part of what it is to travel. They cannot be blamed on the agency or the guide. Thank you for making my first experience of Turkey a fun one!