Absolute Turkey

4 Reviews

Excellent

50%

Good

25%

Average

0%

Rather Poor

25%

Bad

0%

• DB

  Diana
  Written on April 23, 2016

  4.0 - Good

  I went to Turkey & Peru (different trips) with G Adventures and both were superior. The guides were great and so were the fellow travelers. On both trips everyone had a fab time!

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• DS

  David
  Written on September 27, 2015

  2.0 - Rather poor

  G Adventures tour: "Cattle Class"? Be warned! We have just finished the two week G Adventures "Absolute Turkey" tour and thought it would be helpful to others to share the experience. My first - and only - G Adventures tour: NEVER AGAIN! The tour was a 3200km 13 day circuit of Turkey by road starting and ending in Istanbul. THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED kilometres! That's a LOT of driving time - many hours each day (up to 8 hours) on the road. So you look for a tour with a comfortable coach. "Stretch out and enjoy the view from the comfort of your private ride" repeatedly effuses the honeyed language of the G Adventures literature. Stretch out? HAH! If you are four feet tall you might be able to stretch out in the van G Adventures hire for this circuit: normal sized adults are shoe-horned into tight (about 8" space from your seat squab's front edge to the back of the seat ahead) and narrow (about 15" as hip width space) seats - which also have negligible lateral support (making sitting through the winding roads a real effort). The seating would be OK for say a day-trip, an hour or so at a time: but is inappropriate and unacceptable for a circuit of THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED kilometres. Vans of this size are available in different configurations: the 14 seat layout (12 passengers plus guide & driver) offered in the Mercedes Sprinter (photo attached of another tour company's van at Kas) would be an comfortable ride. Four rows of passenger seats. Or the next larger size van up, with 20+ seats would probably be ok. But no, G Adventures use a VW crafter van crammed with five rows of seats to squeeze in the 15 passengers they book as standard on this tour. (See photo of G Adventures van, five rows of passengers squeezed in) As well as the poor tourists being crammed in, so is their luggage: so many people mean the cases tower over the rear row of seats - ready to slide forward and hit someone's head any time the driver has to do a fierce stop! (see picture of unsecured stacked high luggage free to fly forward onto the passengers) It would appear that G Adventures maximises profit from the tour by getting the most people on the cheapest/smallest van they can. But such penny-pinching is surely a step too far. Transport is cheap in Turkey - as are hotels. And throughout the tour this penny-pinching showed elsewhere in the arrangements too. "Good Tourist class hotels" honeyed the literature. "Barely OK Tourist class hotels" might be more honest. With hotels so cheap here (the "walk-in" rate where we stayed seemed around €20-€25 a person sharing a two person room including tax & breakfast. At "group" rates G Adventures no doubt paid far less per room) the tour could have been housed in GOOD hotels for very little extra. Hotels with nicer rooms and/or (for example) hotels where the air-con worked properly. With daily temperatures around 36 - yes THIRTY SIX degrees - cooling is NECESSARY to get the room down to a temperature at which cooler-climate foreigners can sleep. But air-con is expensive to run, so many inexpensive hotels (seemingly including two on our tour) reduce running costs by emasculating the system so it costs less to run - and as a consequence hardly emits any cool air. I could continue listing shortcomings of this G Adventures tour, but enough said. Instead of putting (say) 12 people in a comfortable space for 3,200km, G Adventures crammed in 15. They also skimped on hotels. Despite their so elegant and honeyed phrases in their literature, is this not suggestive of a company that views its guests with some contempt? Mere bums on seats? I hope they are happy with their profits. They'll get no more from me! To close, see the picture of the space and legroom offered by the CHEAPEST LOCAL BUS service in Selcuk, Turkey. 3TL (about $1 for a 30 minute ride). Much more generous than that in the G Adventures van. Maybe they should rent those? Photo: Ordinary local public bus in Turkey - look at the space! About me: I have travelled nine months a year for more than 20 years, with some ninety countries explored so far and I average 50-80 hotels stayed in a year. I also spent some years in Organisation and Methods for major companies including in the travel sector. P.S. Thinking I may have inadvertantly selected a "back-packers quality" of tour from G Adventures range, I checked their website. But no, this seems their "standard". More comfortable G Adventures tours in Turkey - eg with sections by air - seemed only to be short "taster" tours. Flying actually makes so much sense as a way of touring Turkey - a country as large as Germany & France put together - rather than spending umpteen hours in a van. The really interesting places are hundreds of miles apart. And domestic flights are SO cheap - eg only $40 a leg in many cases. Note: at this moment site will not upload the pics; will add later

  

  G Adventures commented on this review

  Hi David, Thank you for taking the time to let us know your thoughts about your recent tour to Turkey. I am very sorry to hear that that there were elements of your tour that caused disappointment, specifically regarding the less than comfortable design of the van that you used for long distance travel, and unsatisfactory hotel accommodations. We at G Adventures do all that we can to take care of the logistical aspects of a tour, so that our travellers can enjoy the sounds and sights of the destination they choose to visit. In order to cater to the tastes of the different explorers out there, we offer tours that range in comfort level and travel style. “Absolute Turkey” is a product in our Classic tour line that caters to the interests of those travellers who wish to see the “must-see” highlights of a destination, with comfortable accommodations, and a mix of public and private transport; this tour style is designed to keep value, and your budget in mind. That being said, for a tour that covers this many kilometres, we understand that a comfortable vehicle and accommodations are elements that are crucial to the enjoyment of this tour, and we are sorry that these services fell short of the standard that you expected. We constantly strive to find that happy balance between value and affordability for our tours, and as a seasoned traveller your feedback is very valuable in this regard. Please know that I have passed on your concerns to the Regional Manager for our Turkey tours. Based off of your feedback, it does seem like you would have better enjoyed our Comfort version of this tour, “Turkey Explorer”, which is also a 15 day tour that enjoys upgraded accommodations, and private transport that includes flights. We do hope that you are able to return on another tour with us again in the future, and we would be happy to work with you to find a tour that is more complimentary to your travel style. If you would like to engage us further about this matter - we would be happy to chat about it. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to customerservice@gadventures.com. Kind regards, G Adventures

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• 

  Jenna
  Written on October 28, 2014

  5.0 - Excellent

  Absolute Turkey with G Adventures is an absolutely fantastic tour! I have done my fair share of tours with a variety of companies and in different countries and this has been my favourite. It covers everything you want to do in Turkey (and there's a lot to do!) with a great balance between activities, adventures and relaxing (if you choose to). It is a busy tour (only 1 night in most places) but done so well you don't feel rushed. Would and already have recommended it to friends!

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• 

  Tom
  Written on September 20, 2013

  4.5 - Excellent

  Fantastic tour to Turkey with G Adventures. The tour was well laid out, our guide was top notch, and the time at the sites was perfect. G Adventures does a great job of dividing up time spent touring and free time. The small group approach of no more then 15 is also fantastic. You really get to know everyone rather well.

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