Hey!
I am soon in turkey but am a bit unsure how I will go about this big one. Usually in Europe a pretty logical road is there and I end up on a lot of nice calm secondary roads and still progress fairly straight.
On maps.me the secondary roads seems scattered and not very connected with each other and that might be terrain but I am thinking that a paper map might be good as well and could solve this issue a bit?
So I am basically wanting to stay away a bit from to heavy tourism but still be able to have at least a few bathing nights and mornings what patch of coast should I go for? Otherwise villages before cities, calm roads before highways and hilly landscape isn't to bad if scenic and a bit varied. Oh and I am counting to go though turkey in about 20-25 days
Long post but hopefully a lengthy answer is on its way.
Cheers!
http://radreise-wiki.de/T%C3%BCrkei#Radwege
There is a route outlined here which i am you doing nie in reverse (Istanbul to Tiflis) it has been working pretty well. From suşeriye to erzincan i took the highway. Low traffic but scenery wise its not great. I recommend trying the bayburt route. Around kandira in izmit there are towns with great beaches I.e. kepke. Eregli to devrek was great.
http://radreise-wiki.de/T%C3%BCrkei#Radwege
There is a route outlined here which i am you doing nie in reverse (Istanbul to Tiflis) it has been working pretty well. From suşeriye to erzincan i took the highway. Low traffic but scenery wise its not great. I recommend trying the bayburt route. Around kandira in izmit there are towns with great beaches I.e. kepke. Eregli to devrek was great.
Hi
Coming from Alexandroupolis in Greece, I crossed the Turkish border in Kipi and then cycled through Trakia to Istanbul. I did not like it at all. The streets were either almost highways (although, thanks to the wide shoulders, safe enough to cycle on) or too small and winding which means too slow. And there was a terrible head wind all through Trakia. So, I can't recommend it, although some part of the route follows the Marmara Sea coast.
From Istanbul I took a tourist Bosphorus cruise towards the black sea and unboarded the boat with my bike (no problem to carry it on the boat) at Anadolu Kavagi which is as far as you can get with a Bosphorus tourist cruise. From there I cycled to Sile at the Black Sea coast. Sometimes, it was not easy because oftentimes, the streets changed to dirt roads.
What I can definitely recommend, is the scenic road from Amasra to Sinop along the Black Sea coast. At least if you like regular climbs. It is a regional, concrete road with not a lot of traffic. There are lots of beaches and other spots you can camp on and Sinop is a very nice destination too.
Wish you a nice ride!
Christian
Hi,
Blacksea coast is the fastest way to pass Turkey, but dull at the eastern section, after Samsun. And taking secondary roads is not easy, since the entire coast is mountainearous.
I'd take a more central anatolia oriented route, if i were you. :)