Middle East Travel

» hughtaylor - Istanbul travel for NY's

Hi Thomas

Good to hear from you. Catherine told me you were looking for information
Like you I prefer to travel independently although sometimes I will book a package trip because it is cheaper than I can get a scheduled flight.
I hesitate to recommend places to stay as I have not been to Istanbul this year and accommodation is changing all the time.
Even if I am returning to a hotel I have used before I always check to make sure it still has the same owners or management. There's nothing worse that booking into an old favourite, discovering it has recently changed hands and has live bands playing until 3 in the morning.
What I do when I am traveling or planning a trip is to check what's available via the internet. There are a variety of good sites but the one I now use most of the time is Expedia
. In the last year I've booked accommodation using their site in Mexico, Jordan and Amsterdam. I was more than happy on each occasion. For apartments I have used owners direct.

I'd be inclined to book the first two or three nights in an hotel, identify a few self catering options then check them out when you arrive.
I also prefer to travel alone but have also been to Istanbul as part of a group tour. I found it useful in terms of giving quick introduction and overview of the city. But on subsequent trips, alone, we got a lot more out of the city just wandering about and talking to people. If I get a chance later in the week I'll post an article about our experiences and how, late one night, we ended up locked inside a local shop discussing the political situation with a couple of Kurds.
There's a lot to see and do in Istanbul but things not to miss the Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque, the Bazaar, that famous hippy hangout The Pudding Shop and the Hagia Sophia which like Petra is in the running to become one of the Seven Wonders of the World. You can vote here
for it and Petra.
I'll try and put some time aside during the week to look at your blog.
Maybe when you are in Istanbul you can pop into one of the internet café's and let us know how you are getting on.

-- posted by hughtaylor