Once the clocks go back, London pretty much gives up on sunshine until March. That’s usually when the flight searches start. Turkey comes up a lot, and fair enough. A long weekend works, so does a fortnight, the food is brilliant and your money stretches further than it would in most of southern Europe.
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Here’s the thing, though. Anyone who travels a bit knows that what makes or breaks a holiday is rarely the big stuff. It’s the phone bill that turns up a week after you’re home. The taxi driver who shakes his head at your card. That ruin you meant to see, except the last bus went at four. All easy enough to sort. All very easy to forget until you’re standing in arrivals, slightly sweaty, wondering what now.
So here’s what we’d get done before flying out from London. Most of it takes minutes, honestly.
Why Turkey works for a break from London
It’s close, for one. Direct flights go from the major London airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, and you’re in Istanbul in roughly four hours. Antalya’s not much further. Think of the train up to Edinburgh, only you step out into actual warmth.
And the pace is different. Breakfast drags on (in a good way), the tea keeps coming whether you asked or not, and twenty minutes can vanish talking to a shopkeeper about a rug you were never going to buy. If you mostly want to get off the London treadmill for a week, you could do a lot worse.
Six things to sort before you go
1. Passport and insurance, first
Before you even open a hotel site. Right now Brits don’t need a visa for a short holiday in Turkey, but that kind of thing changes, and Turkey has its own rule on how long your passport has to be valid once you arrive. The UK government’s foreign travel advice page for Turkey has the up-to-date version. Takes five minutes.
Then insurance. Boring, yes. Feels like wasted money right up until it isn’t. Diving along the Turquoise Coast or doing a balloon ride over Cappadocia? Check those are covered, because plenty of policies quietly leave them out.
2. Your phone
This one gets people every time. Turkey’s not in the EU, so most UK contracts don’t include it in their roaming deals. A few pounds a day sounds fine. Ten days of Google Maps, translating menus and sending everyone photos of your dinner, and suddenly it’s not fine.
There’s always the SIM kiosk at the airport. They’re usually dearer than the shops in town, though, and who wants another queue after a four-hour flight? An eSIM is easier. You can set it up at home, on the sofa, days before you go. With Holafly Travel’s eSIM for Turkey you’ve got data pretty much as soon as you land, and no fiddling about with those tiny plastic cards and the pin you can never find.
What about my UK number?
You keep it. The eSIM sits alongside your normal SIM, so texts to your usual number still come through, which is handy if your bank likes sending codes every time you buy something abroad. Turn off data roaming on the UK line before you take off, though. Otherwise it can quietly eat data in the background. Might be worth asking your network what calls and texts cost while you’re out there too.
Quick checks before you leave:
- Is your phone unlocked, and does it take an eSIM? Most newer ones do. Some older or locked handsets don’t.
- Download offline maps and save your boarding passes and bookings while you’re still on home Wi-Fi.
- Data roaming off on the UK SIM before boarding. eSIM on as your data line when you land.
3. Cash and cards
Cards are fine in most restaurants, hotels and bigger shops in Istanbul, Izmir and the resort towns. Go a couple of streets back from the main road and it’s a different story. Street food, bazaar stalls, loads of taxis, village markets: they’d much rather have lira.
Got a fee-free travel card yet? If not, sort one before you go, whether it’s from your bank or one of the app-based ones. You’d be surprised what normal cards charge in foreign transaction fees. Keep some lira on you for small stuff and tips (about ten percent in restaurants is normal, unless service is already on the bill).
Skip the airport exchange desks. Their rates are rubbish. Use an ATM from one of the big Turkish banks once you’re in town instead, and if it asks whether you’d like to be charged in pounds, press no. The “convenient” option is nearly always the more expensive one.
4. Getting around
Istanbul’s public transport is good and it’s cheap. Grab an Istanbulkart from a machine at a metro station or ferry pier, then just top it up. Metro, trams, buses, the ferries across the Bosphorus, it covers the lot, and it’s much cheaper than single tickets. Pretty much an Oyster card. Nicer views, mind. Antalya and Izmir have their own cards too.
Going further? Domestic flights and long-distance coaches reach most of the country. The coaches are surprisingly comfy, actually.
5. Tours, or do it yourself?
Depends what you’re after. On your own, you can do whatever you like, including spending three hours at a café in Kadıköy and calling it a day.
The catch: some of the big sites, like Ephesus or the ruins scattered down the Lycian coast, are spread out and a pain to get to by bus. A small group tour is handy for those. Transport and tickets are someone else’s problem and you just turn up and look around. Less freedom, sure. For a week away, lots of people do a couple of tours for the awkward places and leave everything else open.
6. Don’t plan every hour
With only so many days of leave, it’s tempting to cram it all in. Don’t. Some of the best moments happen when nothing’s scheduled. A little family restaurant you walked into because of the smell. Some tea garden on a backstreet you’d never find again. Getting pulled into a game of backgammon with people you met ten minutes ago. Leave an afternoon or two empty and see what happens.
And learn a couple of Turkish words. “Merhaba” is hello, “teşekkür ederim” is thank you. People really do light up when you try, and getting your tongue round the second one is a small victory in itself.
Before you go
None of this is a big job. One evening at home and you’re mostly done. But with the phone, money and transport already sorted, day one is for enjoying yourself, not for sorting problems. There’s a lot to enjoy, too. The bazaars, the smells, the noise, and the sort of hospitality that has people booking their next trip before they’ve even left.
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