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When
you travel to Turkey, keep
this in mind: Turkey is big: 1700
km (1056 miles) from east to west
if you travel by road, a
trip of several days.
But
you can fly from Istanbul (west)
to Erzurum (east)
on Turkish
Airlines (TK, THY) in about two
hours for a one-way fare of
as little as TL79
if you buy your ticket well in advance.
Most other domestic
flights cost between TL69
and TL300.
Because
of the way international airfares
are structured, it is usually far
cheaper to purchase your
Turkish domestic flight tickets within
Turkey, or in advance through
a good
Turkish travel agency, rather
than in your home country. Here's
proof.
A good
Turkish travel agency can
make your flight reservations for
you, and send you the electronic
ticket info,
usually at no charge to you. Here
are my recommended travel
agencies.
You
can also buy your tickets
right at a Turkish airport,
but with Turkish tourism booming,
there may be no seats left on the
plane. Advance reservations
are highly recommended unless
you are a very flexible traveler. The
farther in advance you buy your ticket,
the cheaper it is likely to be.
Check
airfares here.
Onur
Air has a fast-growing
list of domestic flights with
fares as low as TL69
per flight. I've flown them with
satisfaction. Pegasus
Airlines has
fares as low as TL45! Cheaper
than the bus!
Other
low-fare Turkish
airlines are AnadoluJet, Atlasjet,
Borajet, and Sun
Express.
EasyJet also
flies from the UK to Turkey.
Sun
Express, a
Turkish-German joint venture, flies
from Austria, Germany and Switzerland
to Turkey, and within Turkey from Izmir's Adnan
Menderes Airport
to Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Kayseri (for Cappadocia), Konya, Trabzon
and Van.
More...
Most
long-haul international flights land
at Istanbul's Atatürk
International Airport. See Major
Airports in Turkey and Turkish
City Airport Codes.
Turkish
Airlines is a competent national
airline with good service, a
young fleet, worldwide routes and
domestic connections to every
important Turkish city. (Troy
Tours offers discounted
consolidator fares on Turkish
Airlines.)
By the way, you'll save a
lot of money on your flights
within Turkey if you
make your reservations through a Turkish
travel agency. More...
Daily
per-person travel budget: |
Fly distances
beyond: |
€30
to €60 |
750
miles (1200 km) |
€60
to €100 |
500
miles (800 km) |
€100+ |
200
miles (300 km) |
By the way, Backpackers
Travel in
Istanbul operates
a great value-for-money
private transfer service from
both airports (Atatürk and
Sabiha
Gökçen) and the city center that's
far superior to a taxi,
and not much more expensive. More...
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