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Cruising the Mediterranean. Photo credit: Suomi Star via Flickr.
With its vast stretch of Mediterranean coastline dotted with historic sites and sun-drenched beaches, its not surprising that Turkey remains one of the most popular cruise destinations. Whether you’re drifting around Europe’s key sights, exploring the neighboring Greek islands or taking an all-encompassing Mediterranean cruise, cruising Turkey’s wide variety of scenery, historic sites and creative cuisine, means you’ll never be short of something to do.
Sprawled across the borderline of Europe and West Asia, Istanbul is perhaps one of the best-known ports, but the cultural capital is only one of many popular stop-off points. Izmir, recently named “Europe’s Leading Cruise Destination” at the 2012 World Travel Awards is a city worthy of its newfound status. A hugely popular destination for those cruising the Aegean coast, Izmir’s shore excursions offer beaches and historic sights in equal measure, with a mountaintop 4th-century fort offering incredible views over the metropolis. Moving down the coast, the port of Kusadasi is the stop off point for touring the grand Ionian city of Ephesus, another much visited tourist attraction; Marmaris is a shopper’s paradise of rambling bazaars; and Bodrum is widely acclaimed as the coast’s most popular beach resort.
The laid-back seaside villages of Kaz and Kalkan are popular ports on route to the major Mediterranean cities of Antalya and Alanya, both historic cities with a distinctly cosmopolitan vibe. Antalya is also the starting point for day tours to a number of renowned ancient sites including the ancient cities of Perge, Termessos and Side, and the spectacularly preserved theatre of Aspendos.
Of course, you don’t have to stick to the South, the Northern Black sea coast has some incredible coastline to explore, too – the cities of Trabzon, Samsun and Amasra all make excellent cruise destinations, but with fewer ships docking, tours and resorts will be far less crowded.
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