trebizond

I am very interested in ancient and Byzantine history and wanted to do a very detailed tour of a part of Turkey over the 2 weeks I would be there. I have no idea how long some of these ancient sites take to tour - 1 hr? 3 hrs? 5 hrs?

I am willing to get up at 5 AM and leave at 6 or so and arrive at hotels at 8 PM or so, so definitely willing to put in 14 hr days to see as much as possible in western Turkey

I drafted a brief itinerary and wanted to see if anyone here has had experience with visiting these sites and what is realistic or not. What would you recommend skipping? Any tips on how much time to allocate or expect to allocate to different things?

Day 1-3: Istanbul
Day 4: drive to Hellespont/Gallipoli, Kilitbahir Castle, Alcitepe view, war memorial, drive back up and stay overnight in Canakkale hotel - 243 miles driving
Day 5: Canakkale, Troy, Troy museum, Alexandria/Troas, Assos, drive to Bergama, see Bergama sites - 168 miles driving
Day 6: Drive to Akhisar/Thyatira, then go to Alasehir/Philadelphia, then drive to Sardis, then back to Manisa/Magnesia and down to Izmir/Smyrna - 217 miles driving
Day 7: Izmir sites, drive down to Ephesus/Selcuk and see sites, drive to ruins of Tralles/Aydin and see sites, drive back to Kusadasi, see castle, Kaleicii mosque - 138 miles driving
Day 8: Drive to Kursunlu monastery, then to Priene, then to Miletos, then to Didyma, then to Labraunda ruins, then to Milas, then to Bodrum/Halicarnassus - 139 miles driving
Day 9: Bodrum sites, drive to Kaunos, Kaunos rock tombs/Dalyan, Amyntas tomb, Oludeniz beach and vista, back to Fethiye - 211 miles
Day 10: Drive to Tlos ruins, then Sidyma ruins, then Xanthos, then Letoon, then Patara, then Demre Lycian toms and stay at Demre - 129 miles
Day 11: Drive from Demre to Termessos ruins, then Perga ruins, then Antalya Museum, Hadrian's gate, Kesik Minare Mosque, Clock Tower, Konyaalti Beach, Antalya Hotel - 161 miles
Day 12: Drive to Sagalassos, then Salda Lake, then Aphrodisias ruins, then Laodicea, then Colossae, then Hierapolis ruins, then Pamukkale hotel - 295 miles
Day 13: Pamukkale travertine, drive to temple of Zeus Aizanoi, then to Midas Sehri, then Eskisehir hotel - 276 miles
Day 14: Drive to Bursa, Great Mosque of Bursa, Green Mosque, then drive to Iznik and see Hagia Sophia Iznik, city walls of Iznik, southern gate of Iznik, drive to Istanbul - 227 miles

KTtravel

Too ambitious! This sounds like a check off list rather than an enjoyable visit delighting in visiting interesting sights. You will need to research how much each location takes to reasonably visit and each place's visiting hours, days of closure, etc.

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. Unfortunately, with this plan, several days you will spend more time in the car and checking in/out of hotels then actually seeing/doing things.

Sassafrass

I think things will start to blur together and half way through you will not remember much of what you see. Are you doing this solo?
Turkey is a wonderful and interesting country. I urge you to take some time to enjoy their great food and experience and appreciate some of the culture.

neckervd

I know all the historical places you mention. A somewhat serious visit of them takes a lot of time, even if you want to see only the most important buildings.
The problem is not the time you spend on highways or intervillage roads, but the last mile to the sights and the time you will spend there.It doesn't make sense to run through huge fields of ruins without having visited the local museum before and reading a guidebook or explanation panels or hiring a guide. All that takes time

Days 1-6, 9-10 and 13.14 are possible if you don't want to relax in restaurants or on a beach (you mention Olu Deniz). The program of the other days is frarnkly impossible.