October 8, 2004 -- Always a haven for visitors from places such as Germany and Britain, it is now increasingly popular with American travelers, too. Here are a couple of more reasons why.
Gate 1 has several packages to Turkey, but one of the best is a seven-day/five-night independent package to Istanbul, priced from just $649, including roundtrip airfare from New York City. Also included are five nights of lodging at the Yigitalp Hotel, daily breakfast, arrival transfer, and more. Departure dates at the $649 price are November 4, 11, 18 and 25, and December 2, 9 and 16 in 2004. A December 23 departure date costs $852, while October 14 and 21 are $919 and October 28 is $899. Other departure cities are available, naturally.
Optional tours in Istanbul will take you to the famous sites and sights, including the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, and more. There's also an optional full day tour cruising the Bosphorus, with lunch. Contact the sponsors at www.gate1travel.com or phone 800/682-3333.
Troy Tours, which specializes in Turkey, has two interesting combo trips featuring Istanbul and either Rome or Vienna, each package costing from just $599 per person. Both trips are for seven days and five nights and include roundtrip flights from New York's JFK on either Alitalia (for Rome) or Austrian (for Vienna).
In each case, you fly first to the mid European destination (Rome or Vienna) and spend two nights, then fly onward to Istanbul. Included in the price are airport/hotel transfers in Istanbul, a half day walking tour of old town Istanbul with a private guide, daily breakfast, and hotel taxes and service charges. In Rome, your hotel is the Piemonte, and in Vienna it's the Kaiserhof. In Istanbul, you stay at the Hotel Saint Sophia.
The deadline for booking either journey is February 25, 2005 at 4 PM PST, but travel dates differ. For Rome, you can travel from November 1 through December 10, 2004 and again from January 4 through March 1, 2005. For Vienna, you travel from November 1 through December 10, 2004, and again from January 4 to March 3, 2005. Add-ons range upwards from $40, with some samples following: out of Boston $40 to $80, depending on destination; from Chicago $50 to $90; from Miami $70 to $100; from Washington, D.C. $50 to $60. All other major gateways are available, so just ask. Weekend travel costs $30 more in each direction.
Contact Troy Tours at www.troytours.com or phone 310/417-3460.