Turkey

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Cheap flights from London to Dalaman start around £60 to £80 return, with May and September to October the cheapest months, while July and August fares more than double to £130 to £200 or more. The direct flight from London (Gatwick or Stansted) to Dalaman takes about 4 hours on Jet2 or easyJet, with Pegasus and SunExpress offering connecting options via Istanbul; the route runs mainly from April or May through October, with almost no direct winter service. Dalaman airport sits about 50 km from Fethiye and 60 km from Ölüdeniz, with shared shuttle transfers costing around £8 to £15 per person. Cheap Flights from London to Dalaman: Your Gateway to the Turkish Riviera I booked the ticket on a Tuesday morning, found a £74 return on Jet2, and spent the rest of the day half-expecting a catch. There wasn’t one. Cheap flights from London to Dalaman exist — not in the £13 flash-sale territory of some European hops, but consistently enough that the Turkish Riviera is well within reach without clearing out your savings. The secret, if you can call it that, is timing. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer The best time to visit Istanbul is April to early June or mid-September to October, avoiding the hot, humid July–August peak; Sultanahmet hotels run roughly €60–130 a night. Sultanahmet puts Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Topkapı Palace within a short walk, an İstanbulkart covers the trams, metro, buses, funicular and Bosphorus ferries on one card, and a normal commuter ferry between Eminönü and Kadıköy or Üsküdar gives the same skyline as a paid Bosphorus cruise for a standard fare. Istanbul, Without the Rookie Mistakes The first thing I did in Istanbul was haggle for a taxi from the airport, then watch the meter and my mood climb in equal measure through traffic that never moved. By the time I reached Sultanahmet I’d spent more than my hotel cost for the night. The next morning a guy at a simit cart laughed when I told him: “You bought an İstanbulkart yet? No? That’s your real first mistake.” ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ✅ Quick Answer Late April to June and September to October are the sweet spot: warm, dry days, swimmable seas on the coast, smaller crowds, and noticeably lower prices than the July-August peak. Istanbul is at its best in these same shoulder months. The Best Time to Visit Turkey, in One Sentence It was a Tuesday in late September, and I had the rooftop terrace in Istanbul’s Galata district almost entirely to myself. The call to prayer rolled across the Golden Horn, ferries cut white lines through the water below, and the tea the owner kept refilling was still warm enough to wrap my hands around. Three weeks earlier, the same terrace would have had a queue. I’d come in the shoulder, almost by accident, and it turned out to be the smartest travel decision I made all year. ...