Self Guided Turkey

Self Guided Turkey opened up a new way of travelling for me and my partner. I am not an experienced camper or hiker, and the support / advice from Self Guided Turkey gave us the confidence to explore the Lycian way, walking from Fethiye to Antalya. It turned out to be the trip of a lifetime!I cannot recommend this service highly enough. It took all the cognitive load and 'admin' hassle out of hiking the Lycian Way, so that we could just focus on the spectacular nature and ruins at every corner. Being self-guided meant that we could experience total quiet, and go at our own pace. And we could discover the route ourselves, and be surprised by what we found!We were provided with back up GPS for periods when the way isn't clear. The company arranged for our luggage to be transferred while we hiked, and everywhere we arrived was prepared and understood exactly what would happened. Furthermore on days when we arrived late, Altay called us to check we were okay. Altay was on hand to help all the time with all logistics, like helping when the airline lost our luggage or recommending an excellent hammam to rest our muscles at the end of the trip!Altay had great taste and chose really tasteful hotels that were excellent value and often simple but set in spectacular nature, with excellent food. On days when we wouldn't pass somewhere for lunch, he organised a packed lunch. He did all the 'googling' and logistics and it really meant we had a totally stress free experience. It opened up a whole new way of travelling and experiences I don't think I could have ever found (like hiking for 4 hours through valleys where we met no one but cows - and then being met by a boat who took us to a sunken city only accessible by water!)I wish he had a network in every country - and we'll be back to do more !

Altay is amazing - I really cant say it any more clearly.Firstly we were having some technical difficulties communicating using our emails for an unknown reason - after a while he suggested instant messages and we built the whole bespoke trip up using these instant messages. It was really creative and I was impressed how patient he was.Everything went exactly as he had told us it would, there was a guy waiting at the airport for us and from that moment we were looked after every step of the way. He gave us books, GPS, information, and he had trip notes. We experienced amazing Turkish hospitality in all the places he booked us into and our bags were always there before us which was important after hours of hiking on dusty hot trails!We made some changes on the last day to our planned itinerary and Altay took it in his stride and went off to find us a solution, he was polite and helpful from start to finish and I cannot recommend him and his guys enough.

I just wanted a short hiking trip for a few days, so I booked Latmos Mountain Tour and it exceeded my expectation totally!!Altay organized everything in advance. He picked me up at the airport and made sure that everything was working for me. I received a tripbook beforehand which was still flexible when I was in Turkey. The hikes have been great, I made all of them with joy and excitement. I almost met no one on the hiking trails and could fully enjoy the nature by myself with a lot of quiteness and purity. The hotel where I slept was cute and ran by a family with great food and self-made olive oil, jogurt and jams. I'll definitively come back and will book over Self Guided Turkey, because you actually book a private tour with hand-picked trails and hotels. Thanks to Self Guided Turkey, I felt once more in love with this country :-)

We had a wonderful 5 days walking part of the Carian Trail. We were limited when we could go and as it was May we walked the coastal trails so we could take advantage of cooling dips in the sea. Altay organised everything so well. The route was way-marked but we did need the GPS mainly because we were easily distracted by the views and wildlife! The accommodation was excellent as were the restaurants that were recommended. The trail is unspoilt we highly recommend you to book through Self Guided Turkey. Altay is very knowledgeable and can tailor days to suit your needs.

Six of us went on a 7 day self guided walk on the Carian Trail in May. It was a week I will never forget, amazing views and scenery along the way from Akyaka to Bodrum. From mountain villages to deserted beaches, when you enter a village it's like being a long lost friend who's just come home. It all went according to plan and Altay is only ever a phone call away. Nice accommodation in varied locations.Definitely five star.Altay we will be back!Trevor

A great way to do the “Lycian Way” without any guide and with the full flexibility in terms of timing. Altay & Rikki were very helpful and we will come back and hike again next year.

We recently completed a 4-day Eastern Lycia walk. We can highly recommend Self Guided Turkey. Altay's communication during our booking process was prompt and informative and his organisation of the walk was extremely professional. The GPS, trip notes and mobile phone he provided were very useful and made it easy to follow the tracks which at times were not well marked. He checked in with us each night, which we found very reassuring. The route was all it promised to be and more with a variety of great scenery and terrain each day. We are in our 60s and found the trek challenging but well within our capabilities. Accommodation was comfortable and meals were a good variety of Turkish cuisine.

Truly beautiful experience hiking The Lycian Way near Antalya, a very well planned and detailed itinerary and guide book, transfers and accommodation throughout were brilliant, but my god the scenery and landscape! I was blown away. Thank you Altay, we will be back.

Overall we enjoyed the trip very much. We think it was the highlight of our two-month holiday in Europe and Turkey. The choice of walks each day seemed excellent. The length of the walks, though fairly arduous, was just what we wanted . We enjoyed the mix of scenery, rural villages, hills and coast, and ruins. We didn't have any trouble finding our way and didn't need to use the GPS - in fact we were unsure how to use it! Having the phone was good, although we should have made sure that the language was set to English.We were also very happy with the accommodation and the drivers. We were a bit disappointed with the second restaurant (the dolphin); although it was a public holiday they shouldn't have accepted so many bookings so that the level of service didn't need to slip.Finally, although we didn't meet with you Altay, we really appreciated the extent to which you kept in touch and checked that everything was going OK.

If you want to have a fabulous self-guided hiking experience designed by a certified guide, a trusted friend and a local organizer all in one then you came to the right place, Altay is all that and more.I had two magnificent weeks in Cappadocia and Antalya hiking amazing trails with all planning, lodging, transfers, meals and route details completely taken care off by Altay. I just had to show up, do my hikes and enjoy my time.You won't go wrong with Self-guided Turkey... They literally won't allow it :)