Due to some unforeseen turn of events earlier this year, I found myself on an airplane to Turkey. No real plans other than staying in Antalya for a bit, nor a return ticket in my possession. But no matter where I go, I always want the option to ride a motorcycle, so my jacket, motorcycle jeans, boots, and gloves were packed, assuming I could rent a helmet with a bike. It turned out to be one hell of a trip, with the most friendly people I've ever met, fantastic motorcycle roads, but also a break-down almost in the middle of nowhere and a deathly earthquake. Nonetheless, it has been an incredible experience and I would happily recommend this country to any biker.
You can always find fuel
Before heading into the practical tips and highlights, let me share a bit more about the overall experience. For the first four weeks of my trip to Turkey, I stayed in Antalya, a city on the south coast. I enjoyed it a lot. I stayed in an Airbnb at the edge of the city, near the beach and with good transportation to the city center. The center has an old, charming part, full of bars, restaurants, and sea views. From Antalya, I traveled to the countryside quite a bit. Out there, almost nobody spoke English, but everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful nonetheless. Using Google Translate on our phones, we were able to get around quite easily.
One weekend we rented motorcycles and had an incredible ride through the Köpülü Kanyon, planning to spend the night in Egirdir. I had looked up beforehand where we would be able to get fuel halfway, and there seemed to be an option in a town called Kesme. As it turned out, this town had about 3 streets. We crossed it, no fuel station. Crossed back, nothing. Asked someone by pointing at our tanks, they sent us to the other side. We asked someone there, they sent us back. Clearly, they were all convinced there was a fuel station, but we just didn't see it. Finally, some men in a van told us to follow them. We did, and in the middle of the village, they pointed at a blank wall with just one door and told us to park there. He shouted at some people drinking tea next door. They all got up, started running around, there was more shouting, and then this happened:
Ha! Behind the one door must be some type of big container or something, but either way, the tanks were full. (I later learned from Jim Rogers in The Investment Biker that gas is actually the one thing you never have to worry about, because there will always be someone who sells it to you.)
However, right as we were ready to go, my bike decided it had enough. When we left in the morning everything was fine, but throughout the day the battery seemed to get weaker and weaker. We already had to push start it once. Then just before Kesme the engine light went on, and while riding back and forth looking for fuel, it started to stutter. When we wanted to leave with full tanks, it died again. Knowing we had about 2 hours to go through the mountains with no other real places to stop, and that soon it was gonna be pitch dark, I decided to admit defeat and call the rental company.
While waiting for the rental company to pick us up, we were welcomed with open arms by the tea-drinking people who helped earlier with the gas. Sitting on a chair on the sidewalk, sipping the hot drink all Turks seem so proud of, I started chatting with some of my Turkish Instagram followers. They all offered to help with translations and contacting friends who were closer by. But the funniest thing was that one of them saw a video I shot in the village and of the place I was at, and told me that where I thought I was waiting in some sort of tiny restaurant or alcohol-free bar, it was actually a men's tea house! A MEN's tea house! I looked around and yes, there were indeed only men. That did make me feel a bit awkward, but oh well, there was literally no other place I could have waited for the pickup truck. Once that arrived, everyone helped and soon we were in the backseat on our way back to Antalya.
The next morning I picked up another bike at the agency and ended up having another super fun day.
The city that grew on me
The other big thing that happened was, unfortunately, less of a 'that'll make a great travel story'-situation. After Antalya, I stayed in Izmir for 4 weeks. When I arrived, I wasn't too excited. The view from the apartment was amazing, but the city seemed incredibly noisy and a bit hectic. However, later on, it seemed that maybe I was just in the wrong spot. When discovering other parts of the city, I found loads of nice bars and restaurants, cute coffee places, you can stroll along the waterside all day long, watching the fishermen. And by the end of it, even 'my' neighborhood had grown on me. The bakery at the corner for our daily coffee and baklava, the döner shop downstairs whenever I was too busy to cook, and the 'water guy' across the street with his tiny shop - waving to people whenever I was walking around made me feel like I was becoming a part of it.
For one of the weekends, we had rented motorcycles. The plan was to pick them up on Saturday morning. However, on Friday at around 2 pm, everything started to shake. Badly. I had never experienced this before, but after the initial 'Is this an...earthquake?!' I grabbed my phone and ran downstairs, just like the whole block, the whole neighborhood, the whole city. I sat in shock outside for a while, and the döner shop lady gave me a stool so I wouldn't have to sit on the ground. A bit later I went to the bakery where they were going around with tea while the tv broadcasted live streams of collapsed buildings. At first, I misunderstood and thought it was in another town, but soon I realized the footage came from just a few kilometers down the street. 6 days later, the rubble was gone; 114 people had lost their lives and over a 1000 were injured.
We decided that we still wanted to take the motorcycles the next day; in fact, I wanted nothing more than to leave the city for a few days to get away from the aftershocks. However, upon arrival at the rental agency, it turned out that there was a crack in one of the building's walls and nobody was allowed to go in. There was no way of getting to the bikes. Of course, that was unfortunate, but obviously, it was an incredibly small price to pay. I'm just very thankful that we were safe.
As I'm typing this, I'm actually still in Izmir. Things have calmed down, and after being a nervous wreck for several days, I have calmed down too. Next weekend we'll be traveling to Istanbul, but most likely the motorcycle part of this trip is over. Time to give you some practical tips!
My favorite roads
Köprülü Kanyon A fun road that takes you away from the touristic coast and makes you feel like you're in the 'real' Turkey. Don't be surprised by cows crossing villages and friendly dogs who often prefer attention over food. If you have the right bike, there are plenty of dirt roads near it to enjoy as well.
I actually believe the road will continue to be great if you keep going north after Kesme, but I will need to come back to see for myself.
Or open think link on your phone.
Kumluca - Üçoluk - Antalya Close to home if you're staying in Antalya, this one is a must! I was treated to spectacular views, right above the clouds, just as the sun started to set. It was magical! In addition, the pavement was good, but rumor has it there are also plenty of dirt roads.
D400 Finike - Yeşilköy This part of Turkey is known as the 'Turkish Rivièra' and this road takes you all along the coast. There are countless hidden beaches down the cliffs and the water is 50 shades of blue. You can see the Greek islands on the horizon, which makes for more interesting views than your average ocean view. Made a stop at Fethiye and sit down at Denizatı Restaurant & Bar for delicious food right at the waterfront.
Datça - Knidos One night I was staying in Datça, which is a nice town in itself, out on the peninsula. From there, you can ride to the ruins of Knidos. The ruins itself weren't the most interesting (I had been spoiled earlier on in the trip!) but the ride up there was definitely fun. If you plan it well, you can drive back a bit and then take the ferry to Bodrum instead of crossing the peninsula again.
Dilek Yarımadası Büyük Menderes Deltası Milli Parkı This was an interesting one. Google maps shows a road going all around this nature park, following the coast. On the map, it looks like it should be very fun! However, halfway through we found out it's actually blocked by a police post. Nobody could really tell us why - it had something to do with Greece, but who knows what exactly?
Either way, if you're there around lunch or dinner time, I would still recommend it, because just before the police post there are a couple of very cute restaurants, with small fisher boats right in front of it. You're not getting your fish any fresher than here.
Motorcycle Rental Agencies
Kros Rental - Antalya There are plenty of rental agencies in Antalya. After all, it's very touristic. I decided to go with Kros Rental and I'm glad I did. They have both older and newer models, but I was glad to take the XT660R. Indeed, it's the bike that failed on me. However, I do believe it was just bad luck that could happen with any older bike, and the Kros team was absolutely perfect in their customer service. We could choose between having another bike brought to where we were or being picked up where we stranded and dropped off at our AirBnB. Three hours later, they rolled into the street, which means they had left Antalya within 15 minutes after our phone call. The next morning, another bike was waiting for me. It was sh*tty that it happened, but they couldn't have handled it any better.
One thing I will recommend is to bring your own helmet, or goggles at least, since almost none of the rental helmets have visors. I left with one hoping my sunglasses would protect my eyes enough, but I ended up buying a new helmet, which is how I ended up riding around with a helmet strapped on the back.
The bikes all seemed equipped with racks to tie down some bags and they borrowed us some bungee cords too. I believe they also organize full (off-road) tours with a support truck if that's what you're looking for.
Avis Izmir Alsancak City Finding motorcycle rental in Izmir turned out to be a whole lot more complicated. I had to turn to my Turkish followers once more and ended up booking with a specific Avis office (thanks, Alp!). It seemed like it was a very new thing for them; the motorcycles aren't listed on the website, nor can you borrow helmets or any other gear. Having said that, close by there are plenty of motorcycle shops, where you can buy decent, full-face helmets for €55/$65 (shoutout to Motovento!). If you know that renting a Honda NC750X is less than €25/$28, buying a helmet for a weekend is totally worth it.
Unfortunately, as mentioned above, I didn't get to actually ride the bike, but since Avis is a respectable company, I think in normal circumstances the rental would have been absolutely fine. In order to rent it, it would be best to give them a call or go there directly, as it's not possible to rent motorcycles via the Avis website.
My Turkey trip has been very intense. On top of everything that happened, COVID-19 had a grip on most of the world, which didn't make travel plans easier. What stood out most to me, was the friendliness and willingness of people to help. Overall, it has been such an amazing experience and I would absolutely go back to explore more. The north and east are supposed to be beautiful as well, so I guess that'll be on the list for my next trip to Turkey.
Have you been? How did you like it? What was your favorite road? Make sure to share it!
