Many people want to visit Turkey and see all the fantastic sights, both exotic and wonderful, not to mention experience the food, the music, the total atmosphere. However, with recent bombings designed to halt tourism and further terrorism, how is this lofty goal accomplished?
For starters, a tour group is the safest bet. If it is truly unsafe, the tours will not run and travelers will be offered a trip to another destination, or refunded their money in full. Or if the US State Department issues a travel advisory, the group will avoid those specific parts of the country. These travel warnings are not intended to halt tourism completely, just to advise of areas that should be avoided for a specific period of time. Tour groups most certainly oblige. Their company travel insurance requires it. However, groups can be cancelled in the event of extreme danger, so if other travel plans are part of the adventure for nearby countries, have a good back up plan which includes travel insurance.
Solo or independent travel in Turkey is still not out of the question even in today's uncertain times. A traveler may want to avoid however, places with high tourist traffic such as the old town in Istanbul by the Blue Mosque known as Sultanahmet, and other areas that may become a target for terrorists. This may not be perfect, but there are other ways to still see Turkey.
One way as a solo traveler, is to visit the resort towns and not the major cities. Resort towns near Izmir still have quite a bit of antiquity to offer, and areas by the Mediterranean such as Marmaris where the Gullet cruises depart, are perfectly safe as of this writing. These cruises can be purchased independently online, although tours groups do offer them in their trips, such as tours with Overseas Adventure Travel. The Turkey trips with the Gullets have been and remain favorites. However, for straight solo travel to Turkey, flights can be purchased that bypass entering Istanbul altogether. Budget European carriers such as Easyjet fly directly into Bodrum, from London for instance.
Another solo option for mixing this trip with other countries, is to purchase an inexpensive plane ticket departing from a neighboring country, and have hotel plans that can be cancelled for no charge. Then if a problem occurs which makes travel there feel unsafe, a traveler is only out the small amount of airfare. Large tour companies have plans A, B and C, so why shouldn't an independent traveler? So for instance, an Easyjet ticket from London to Bodrum will cost very little, and if necessary, more time in the UK or Europe can be added at the last minute if world events require it. In addition, the US Dollar seems to be holding its strength, while Turkey is begging for tourist dollars. So it is a very good time to go from a financial perspective.
Whether traveling with a group or independently, any American tourist should sign up for the STEP program (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) with the State Department. This Smart Traveler program alerts the Department to a traveler's whereabouts in the event of an emergency evacuation or other incidents, and sends out email as necessary.
Lastly, be aware that the problems in Turkey are not going to end tomorrow. The Turkish government is helping to fund some of the problems going on there with ISIS, and the current administration in Turkey wants to create a Sunni Muslim population for the entire country that adheres to the strictest religious laws. The country is as of this writing evenly divided over this, as evidenced by the last election, where the president was reelected by a small margin. So the goals of groups such as ISIS, are very much in keeping with the goals of the president who wants an Islamic and religious country. The means for how to achieve that end appear to be very different, and certainly there is nothing barbaric going on in Turkey as there is across their borders in neighboring Syria. To the contrary, it is a fascinating country, and their issues are timely to learn about. Understanding what is happening in Turkey helps shine a light and put a different perspective on some of the world's curr ent problems.
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Source: Vising Turkey during troubled times
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