BootsnAll Travel Community

Ok, so I've already annouced that I'll be traveling through the UK, Greece, Turkey and India. Now the trick is picking different cities to visit.

I'll be taking a 6 week roadtrip through Ireland, so I'm pretty covered there. But where should I go when I'm in Greece, Turkey and India?

I'm thinking of being in either Greece or Turkey for Christmas, but I can't decide which...

Any sueggestions? Did I mention I got my e-ticket to Heathrow today Ok, I think I should stop gloating now! haha

For Turkey I would say Cappadocia definitely, Malatia for the heads on Nimrud Daghi if you are interested in that kind of thing although the weather will not be in your favour there. Pamukale is interesting, great photo ops. Of course, Istambul is a must.
In Greece we found Athens with trips to Delphi and the Peloponnese interesting but preferred Crete and Santorini. You likely will find your finances less stressed in Turkey than in Greece.
The south coast of Turkey will likely be the warmest at Christmas. The Med can get cold and windy and central heating is not always available.

If you like hiking try Meteora in Greece, it rocks. You can get there by train.. i don't know the details but I can find them in my journal if you'ld like.

In the Peloponnese Monemvasia is really cool. It's like this Byzantine city built on the side of a mountain that broke off from the mainland in an earthquake, and the side it's on is hidden from the shore. We went during low season and hiked and stuff, and were the only people there. Walking back it was pitch black.. and there were so many stars. I just loved it.

I loved Santorini but be warned it's swarming with tourists. Crete is incredible. Mykonos you can take or leave unless you really want to party, then it's the spot. I didn't see other islands but there are so many to choose from.

I personally am in love with Athens but many people have mixed feelings. It depends on your preferences for big cities and whatnot

You should mention how much time you plan to spend in each country. I spent 9 weeks in India last summer and that barely put a dent in knowing the country..

That being said, New Dehli, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Rajastan are generally what people think about when they think of India.

I just want to point out that Ireland is not part of the UK.

I know Ireland is not part of the UK, lol. I didn't mention it separately because Ireland is pretty much taken care of...

In Greece, Delphi was one of our favourite towns...less for the temples that draw people, and more the atmosphere and the view. The islands we visited (Naxos and Lesvos) were also quite nice. Didn't much care for Athens. Meteora is impressive, but overly touristy and rather inconvenient to visit without a vehicle. If your looking for an isolated place for some R&R, we really enjoyed the Dadia nature reserve, which is well off the tourist trail, though it's on the way if you are travelling to Turkey by train. Not sure how good it would be in winter, though...certainly a different experience.

In Turkey, Istanbul and Goreme are clearly the must-sees. There's a very well established tourist loop running Istanbul-Goreme-Antalya-Olympos-Fethiye-Selcuk-Istanbul (or reverse), and that's mostly what we saw. While great, my desire for a future trip to Turkey is to get away from that route a lot more...spending more time towards the black sea, and the border area near Georgia. Particular places that I'm craving to visit include Hattusha (the Hittite capital), and Safranbolu (kind a living museum of a town, where traditional crafts are still practiced.)

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I'm thinking of being in either Greece or Turkey for Christmas, but I can't decide which...

Well, the experiences will be very different, so it rather depends on whether you want to see how christmas is celebrated elsewhere (and double check when, because most orthodox countries celebrate on Jan 7), or do you want to avoid christmas by spending it in an overwhelmingly islamic country?