Best accommodations in Turkey

Simply turning up and finding a bed for the night is generally not a problem in Turkey, except in high season at the busier coastal resorts and in Istanbul. Most places have internet booking services, so you can reserve ahead. Prices are generally good value by most Western European standards, though Istanbul can be very expensive. In most of the larger coastal resorts, the big cities and touristy inland areas such as Cappadocia, a wide range of accommodations is available, from humble pansiyons (guesthouses) to five-star hotels. However, in towns of the interior, with fewer tourists, there’s often little choice between fleapits or four-star luxury.

Rates are generally lower in winter (November to March) than high summer (June to August) but shoot up at Christmas/New Year and for religious festivals such as the Şeker and Kurban bayrams , when many Turks take their vacations. Spring and autumn rates fall somewhere between the two, except in Istanbul, where prices are high during this period. Many establishments peg their rates to the euro as, after years of stability, the inflation rate has crept back to around 10 percent. All but the most basic hotels include breakfast. Note that many pensions and hotels in coastal resorts close for the winter.

Rooms are generally on the small side by European standards, some have inadequate lighting and many have barely enough power points. To avoid noise, pick a room away from main thoroughfares and/or an adjacent mosque. You won’t cause offence by asking to see another room, and never agree on a price for a room without seeing it first. Though break-ins aren’t the norm in Turkey, security should be at least a consideration.

Plumbers quite frequently pipe the taps up the wrong way round, so check that the tap that should be hot is not the cold. Baths and sinks seldom have plugs, so bring a universal plug from home. Especially on the south and southwest coast, air conditioning (a/c) is found in most accommodations, even pansiyons. Double beds for couples are becoming more popular; the magic words are Fransiz yatak (French bed).

Touts can be a nuisance in places on the backpacker trail (for example Cappadocia, Selçuk and Eğirdir), greeting weary travelers off the long-distance bus with offers of accommodations. If you do decide to check out the accommodation offered by a tout, make sure it’s up to standard before accepting – there will be plenty other choices available.

Lift/elevator buttons can be a source of potential confusion. ‘Ç’ stands for ‘call’; a lit-up ‘K’ means the lift is already on your floor; an illuminated ‘M’ means ‘in use’; ‘Z’ stands for ground floor; and ‘A’ means the mezzanine floor.

Apartments and pansiyons

Self-catering apartments are widespread in coastal resorts, and are mostly pitched at vacationing Turks or foreigners arriving on pre-arranged packages. Some are available to walk-in trade – local tourist offices maintain lists. Apart from the weekly price, the major (negotiable) outlay will be for the large gas bottle feeding the stove. Ensure, too, that kitchens are equipped well enough to make them truly self-catering.

Often the most pleasant places to stay are ‘pansiyons’ (pensions), small guesthouses common in touristy areas, which usually include breakfast and many offer home-cooked evening meals at modest prices. These usually have en-suite facilities, and many feature common gardens or terraces where breakfast is served. Rooms tend to be spartan but clean, furnished in one-star hotel mode and always with two sheets (çarşafs) on the bed. Hot water is always available, though with solar-powered systems, not always when you want it. Many have air conditioning, often for a supplement.

Particularly when it comes to family-run pansiyons, you may well find that the proprietor has links with similar establishments in other towns; often he/she will offer to call ahead to arrange both a stay and a transfer from the otogar for you. This informal network is a good way of avoiding the hassle with touts and a late-night search for a comfy bed.

Campsites

In areas frequently visited by independent travelers, pansiyons and hostels with gardens will often allow camping. Charges are invariably under €10 per head, even in a well-appointed site at a major resort; you may also be charged to park your vehicle. The most appealing campsites are those run by the Ministry of Forestry, open April to October inclusive; look for brown wooden signs with yellow lettering. Twenty of them are sited in shady groves at strategic locations (mostly coastal) across the west of the country, and they make an ideal choice if you have your own transport, especially a combi-van or car and caravan.

Camping rough is not illegal, but hardly anybody does it except when trekking in the mountains, and, since you can expect a visit from curious police or even nosier villagers, it’s not a good option for those who like privacy.

Hotels

Turkish hotels are graded on a scale of one to five stars by the Ministry of Tourism; there is also a lower tier of unstarred establishments rated by municipalities. The four- and five-star establishments can be extremely expensive, especially restored palaces or very upmarket boutique hotels. Two- or three-star outfits are more basic; no baths in bathrooms and more spartan breakfasts, though in resort areas they may have a small pool, terrace and bar. The walk-in price of three-star and up hotels is always much higher than if it is prebooked, but if the hotel is slack you may be able to negotiate a much better deal.

Boutique hotels are popping up all over the place, especially in restored old mansions in such places as Amasya, Cappadocia, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Mardin, Safranbolu and Urfa. However, the term is overused to market any accommodation that has been done up in a minimalist or modernist style, and prices vary widely accordingly.

The unrated hotels licensed by municipalities can be virtually as good as the lower end of the one-star class, and most have en-suite bathrooms, televisions and phones. Others though, at the very bottom end of the market, will have a basin in the room but shared showers and (squat) toilet down the hall. Most solo female travelers will feel uncomfortable in unstarred and even many one- and two-star hotels, especially in less touristy parts of the country.

Hostels, lodges and treehouses

While there are only a handful of internationally affiliated, foreigner-pitched hostels in the country, this gap has been amply filled by backpackers’ hostels, found most notably in Istanbul, Çanakkale, Selçuk, Köyceğiz and Fethiye. Often 1970s pansiyons that have been adapted to feature multi-bedded rooms, laundry and internet facilities, a self-catering kitchen, tours and lively bars, they can be fair value – costs vary between €10 to 20 per head in a large dorm, but double rooms are often more expensive than pansiyons or cheap hotels.

In recent years, a large number of trekkers’ lodges have sprung up in the foothills of the Kaçkar Mountains, especially on the south slope, and along the Lycian Way. These generally offer a choice between communal sleeping on mattresses arrayed on a wooden terrace, or more enclosed double to quadruple rooms without en-suite facilities – strangely, cooking facilities may often also be absent. Costs are generally comparable to the backpackers’ hostels, though some are far more expensive.

So-called ‘treehouses’, usually just elevated shacks, are found principally on the southwest coast between Antalya and Fethiye. Some have dorm rooms while an increasing number are designed for two people and have doors, windows, electricity, air conditioning and, occasionally, en-suite facilities.