istanbul on a budget

DA1ES · Sep 6, 2011

hi, i will be in istanbul overnight on 20th October en-route to Antalya, looking for a budget option accomodation, checking Kayak it comes up with hostels from £6 and hotels from £20 so cheap enough, i will also have tent as a last resort, does anybody have any reccomendations on locations/areas within istanbul where best to stay, budget, location and secure is the key. when i say budget dont really want to be spending more than £30.
the general idea was to arrive and find something via kayak but knowing where to go would be great.
thanks from a tight yorkshire man

ExpatinIstanbul · Sep 6, 2011

One night, yes? Which airport are you coming into? Which airline? Will you be wearing jeans or a chino type pant?

Ok, just the airport / airline info.

DA1ES · Sep 6, 2011

I'll be on the bike so secure location preferred, travelling from igoumenitsa, don't do chinos

L · Sep 6, 2011

Do you really want/need to stay in Istanbul? If not, you can stay in any of the touristy places out and about and get really cheap rates as its off season...

DA1ES · Sep 6, 2011

I have no hard or fast rules, Just thought it would be a shame not to stop there, seen as though I was so close and passing through.

ExpatinIstanbul · Sep 6, 2011

There's not much point unless you make an effort to spend a couple of days here, I'd recommend you give it a miss then come for a long weekend in the future. You're better of heading toward Antalya via the Galipoli peninsular and staying somewhere in Eceabat. It'll be cheap, you'll be able to find a couple of hours to look around, and not have to deal with Istanbul traffic.

petkostas · Sep 7, 2011

I agree with the above comment, stayed for 2 days in Istanbul, definetely needs more days to be able to enjoy the city and it's history!

Driftwood · Sep 10, 2011

petkostas said:
I agree with the above comment, stayed for 2 days in Istanbul, definetely needs more days to be able to enjoy the city and it's history!

So do I. Istanbul traffic is confusing to say the least. Plus the ride down Gallipoli to Canakkale is beautiful. From there to Antalya can be done in a day, but it is better to break it into two days and the roads and scenery are superior to the Istanbul route.

But if you are set on going through the city, the Sultan Inn in the Sultanahmet district is cheap and clean and within walking distance to the main touristic attractions.

L · Sep 12, 2011

If you can bring a bike battery down with you (supplied by me of course), you can kip at my place...

ExpatinIstanbul · Sep 12, 2011

If you can bring ten packs of decent bacon, 2kg of Cheddar cheese, 1 x jar Branston Pickle (large), 1 x bottle HP sauce (large) and 25 tins Heinz Baked Beans, you can stay at my place and eat for free. Turkish food, mind, not mine.

zapada · Sep 12, 2011

Turkoman Hotel - Blue Mosque square

Stayed here on the way down.
http://turkomanhotel.com/
They sent a guy out in a taxi, to ride pillion and direct us to hotel.

Istanbul is well worth a visit, we added an extra day to look round, still not enough, will come back some time.
You need a motor way token, we jumped the barriers (could not understand the machines (in turkish) in Istanbull, then took ferries to avoid being caught and fined.

We came back through Galipoli. Fantastic ride, had to move tortoises out of the way to avoid squashing them.

DA1ES · Sep 12, 2011

hi guys, thanks for all your constructive comments, in an ideal world i would love to stay in Istanbul for longer, but will have to wait for now and return with the wife at a later date, my route home is via canakkale and eceabat to do a little sight seeing so hence the reason for coming this way.

if anyone does genuinely need something bringing down i'm sure i could oblige, within reason obviously

ExpatinIstanbul · Sep 12, 2011

DA1ES said:
if anyone does genuinely need something bringing down i'm sure i could oblige, within reason obviously

My post, genuinely. Don't worry too much about within reason.

There's really no point in passing through Istanbul unless you have more time, you'll be on the motorway until heading to Antalya, and then the road is pretty uneventful for much of the next hundred or so kilometers.

If you're dead set on this route though I'm sure us lot here can figure the nicest way through.

Driftwood · Sep 12, 2011

DA1ES said:
hi guys, thanks for all your constructive comments, in an ideal world i would love to stay in Istanbul for longer, but will have to wait for now and return with the wife at a later date, my route home is via canakkale and eceabat to do a little sight seeing so hence the reason for coming this way.

There's not that much to see between Istanbul and Antalya. It's 700 km and is a long day's ride. The portion between Adapazari, where you get off the autobahn and Kutahya is a bit scenic, but you'll miss all that because you must keep your eyes totally on the road. It is mostly two lane, very patchy and rough and heavily used and abused by overladen and slow moving lorries. It is the most dangerous part of the route. After that it straightens out and is pretty boring. Have a rest at the big auto-stop at the Ayfon crossroads (the one on the left side) and have Sucuk Yumurta (sausage and eggs).. It's a tradition. Also try Kaymak.

If you want to break the trip there are great hot springs and mud baths in Sandikli about an hour on from Afyon. The Hüdai Thermal Hotel is basic but quite ok and has all the thermal spa stuff right inside the hotel.

Be aware that motorcycles are not give much respect in Turkey. And even less road space. Be very defensive and expect the unexpected, it's is one the most dangerous places in the world to ride or drive. Be very wary of farm vehicles traveling on the road. They will do a 90 degree turn across the road into a field without looking. They rarely have tail lights either. Also don't speed as there are lots of radar traps and no posted speed limit signs except for slow zones. The limits for a motorcycle are 90kph on a undivided hwy and 100kph on the E80 autobahn. This is 10k less than cars.

Other than that, it's a great place and the people are super friendly to foreigners on motorcycles. Enjoy!

L · Sep 12, 2011

ExpatinIstanbul said:
If you can bring ten packs of decent bacon, 2kg of Cheddar cheese, 1 x jar Branston Pickle (large), 1 x bottle HP sauce (large) and 25 tins Heinz Baked Beans, you can stay at my place and eat for free. Turkish food, mind, not mine.

Expat. Three points to note;
1) You live in the middle of nowehere so your pad doesn't really count as Istanbul
2) If you really want, I'll bring the above - just let me know. (don't forget, Xmas is coming up, and you'll want to be stockpiled!)
3) My request was genuine. Unfortunately, I have a bike battery which costs £80 in the UK that I can't bring on the plane and it will cost me 280Euros in Turkey for the same thing. :blast

ExpatinIstanbul · Sep 12, 2011

L said:
Expat. Three points to note;
1) You live in the middle of nowehere so your pad doesn't really count as Istanbul
2) If you really want, I'll bring the above - just let me know. (don't forget, Xmas is coming up, and you'll want to be stockpiled!)
3) My request was genuine. Unfortunately, I have a bike battery which costs £80 in the UK that I can't bring on the plane and it will cost me 280Euros in Turkey for the same thing.

L. 2)

We'll talk.

OP, L outbid you, you'll have to stay at his. He's a decent bloke and will almost certainly not fiddle with your bits while you sleep. Perhaps we can all get together for a beer if you take him up on his offer.

Driftwood · Sep 12, 2011

L said:
3) My request was genuine. Unfortunately, I have a bike battery which costs £80 in the UK that I can't bring on the plane and it will cost me 280Euros in Turkey for the same thing.

Excuse me for butting in. I don't know what you ride, but that seems exorbitant. I put a Yuasa battery in my 1200GS last year for 170TL. It was the proper replacement one for the OEM that crapped out and I got it direct from the distributor, Entel Enerji in Istanbul. They also are the source for D.I.D chains.

ExpatinIstanbul · Sep 12, 2011

An 1150 battery is more expensive here, they would be though as they are agricultural spares.

I am wondering why you have a chain on a 12GS?

Driftwood · Sep 12, 2011

ExpatinIstanbul said:
An 1150 battery is more expensive here, they would be though as they are agricultural spares.

I am wondering why you have a chain on a 12GS?

I don't. I think that might be one modification too many. I did on the Tiger 955 though.

petkostas · Sep 13, 2011

Driftwood said:
Be aware that motorcycles are not give much respect in Turkey. And even less road space. Be very defensive and expect the unexpected, it's is one the most dangerous places in the world to ride or drive. Be very wary of farm vehicles traveling on the road. They will do a 90 degree turn across the road into a field without looking. They rarely have tail lights either. Also don't speed as there are lots of radar traps and no posted speed limit signs except for slow zones. The limits for a motorcycle are 90kph on a undivided hwy and 100kph on the E80 autobahn. This is 10k less than cars.

Other than that, it's a great place and the people are super friendly to foreigners on motorcycles. Enjoy!

Kind of disagree with that, I never felt danger over Turkey, Greek drivers are much worse (yep...I can now definitely say that), just watch for cars changing lanes, although they use turn signals they will never wait for you, I feel this has to do with the speeds, as most Turkish drivers do drive within speed limits (with the exception of high class cars which you see now and then) and probably they do expect you are moving also within the same limits.
Nevertheless whenever my lights came after them they would always move out of my way (contrary again to Greek drivers who don't give a f**k most of the times).
Trucks do mostly drive on the right side of the road, which is definitely better than the Greek version where they tend to stay at the middle.
Mind you about the radar, did not see any cameras, but I had the unpleasant surprise to get a speeding ticket (140Km/h my speed where the limit was 70) when I was enjoying some twisties at the route from Pamukkale to Bodrum, ticket was payed at the tax office in Bodrum (you also get a discount if you do pay within 15 days), the radar was placed in a car with no marking on it (no Police sign or lights) which was placed before a gas station, the radar metered us and gave signal to another car a few Km's further down.
Never had a similar experience (radar in an unmarked car).

istanbul on a budget

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