Spring break in Turkey with kids

Spending spring break in Turkey with kids is an epic option! Turkey is a vast country that has beautiful natural landscapes to explore, ancient ruins, historical sites, beaches, and more. You can find something for everyone in Turkey. Here’s how we spent an 8-day spring break in Turkey with kids, including our itinerary, logistical information, tips, what to pack, and more.

The beauty of Turkey’s landscapes is striking.

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Spring break in Turkey weather

Depending on when your spring break is, you’ll want to consider the typical weather, and that will help determine where you end up going. For us, we went at the very end of March and early April (March 29-April 7). Our selected locations were estimated to be mostly in the 60’s during this time period, and there was definitely a chance of rain. Do your research on the specific places you want to go for your trip to get a better idea of what the weather may be.

Eastern and Central Turkey tend to be drier and more desert-like, while the coast is wetter and warmer. Personally, we experienced mainly temperature in the 60s, with some rain and clouds and also some sun. These were great temperatures for both hiking and exploring ruins. Spring is often a little bit of a riskier time to travel because of the unpredictability of the weather, but I found spring break in Turkey with kids to be a fabulous destination!

In fact, Cappadocia is best visited during the spring or fall. In summers temperatures can reach dangerously high levels. On the coast, the locals said May and September are actually the best time of year, and they noted it can be 100 degrees in the summer as well.

Getting around Turkey with kids

Turkey has public transit as well as taxis, but we elected to rent a car and this is what I would recommend, particularly if you are short on time. Car rentals via DiscoverCars were not super expensive, reliable, and they allowed us the ultimate flexibility to visit the areas we wanted to see without being tied to a group tour. Additionally, having a car is SO much easier when you have to bring car seats. Book your rental car now.

A rental car allows you to do WHATEVER you want, WHENEVER you want to do it. Cannot recommend it enough. Also, DiscoverCars was great, easy to book, and we got our full deposits back both times despite returning our car in Cappadocia VERY DIRTY/DUSTY.

Driving in Turkey was relatively simple. Roads are generally easy to navigate and well maintained, Google Maps worked great, and signage is adequate. The exception was the old town area of Goreme. This involved driving on narrow, one-way, cobblestoned streets with cars parked so tightly that I had to get out a couple of times to see if our compact SUV would fit. I personally would have been too stressed out to drive in that area, but my husband was totally fine.

For car rentals, the exception for us was Istanbul. Since we were only there for one day and the transit there is solid, we did not rent a car there and this is what I would recommend as well. The traffic is heavy and I think it would be unpleasant to have to manage a car there. The cost of a taxi from the airport to the Sultanahmet, which is where most people stay on their first trip, was about $35. While in the Sultanahmet, we just walked for transit.

No need for a car rental in Istanbul! Use your feet.

Note that taxi drivers have a bad reputation in Istanbul for scamming tourists/ripping them off. You can call taxis via Uber, which should help reduce this type of problem as the app determines pricing.

We also took internal flights, because Turkey is large. You can drive or bus between Istanbul and Cappadocia, for example, but it’s a 8-9 hour drive versus a 1 hour flight. We bought flights about 2 months before departing and each cost around $100 USD per ticket. You’ll likely need to plan for internal flights as well, which means multiple car rentals. We simply rented cars at each of the two airports near our destinations.

Spring break in Turkey with kids: budget and costs

Turkey used to be a very budget-friendly destination, but is less affordable now. Simply getting to Turkey and internal flights for the 3 of us totaled about $4,000 (a large chunk of which we paid with credit card points, though!). Our hotels were on average about $100 USD per night, and I picked the cheapest option that met all my requirements: mainly, a desirable location, spare bed for Nico, and in the case of Cappadocia, a cave hotel experience.

In terms of food: entrees at restaurants were generally in the realm of 600 Turkish Lira ($16 USD per person) and cocktails were generally around 450 TL ($12 USD). I ended up eating a lot of chicken kebabs which actually tended to be cheaper menu items which was nice. Also, two of our three hotels included breakfast, which definitely helped reduce costs. You can filter for free breakfast on my favorite hotel booking site!

One of my favorite meals, at the Buzz Beach Bar restaurant in Oludeniz. The chicken skewers were amazing, especially with the Turkish dips/sauces they provided. Big fan of the minty yogurt and spicy tomato dip!

Car rentals were approximately $150 USD for 3-4 days each, which felt reasonable to me.

Activities were not necessarily cheap. While some things like hiking are very affordable (often just parking cost or totally free in the case of Love Valley), the camel safari and paragliding were pricier, for example paragliding was about $105 USD. Derinkuyu underground city was $15 USD per person to enter, which was also the cost for the Zelve Open Air Museum.

Exploring Derinkuyu was a little wild! Be warned if you feel claustrophobia that there are some very narrow passageways.

Spring break in Turkey with kids itinerary

I did a LOT of research in planning this trip and I honestly think our route was fantastic and I would recommend it to other families planning a spring break trip to Turkey. Here’s the breakdown of where we went and what we did, and what I would have added to the itinerary if we had the opportunity. We had 8 full days in Turkey, and one travel day on either end, making for 10 total days.

Spring break in Turkey day one: Fly to Istanbul and then Kayseri (stay in Goreme)

Day one was all travel, with a 12 hour flight from Seattle to Istanbul, a 3 hour layover, a 1 hour flight to Kayseri, and a one hour drive to Goreme. It was a long day, but our son was 2.5 and did really well! If you want to see more about traveling to Turkey specifically with a toddler, you can read all about that here.

One thing to note, I did buy the trips on separate tickets: one round trip from Seattle to Istanbul, and then one way tickets within Turkey. I did some research and determined that a 3 hour break between arrival in Istanbul and departure to Kayseri should be sufficient, and this proved true. We even had time to grab dinner in the lounge which was great.

Cave hotel room in Goreme! One of our coolest, most unique hotel stays EVER.

There are multiple towns in the Cappadocia region you can pick from, including Uchisar which is also popular with families. I picked Goreme because it is the largest one and has the most going on in terms of restaurants and activities, and was happy with that choice. I absolutely LOVED our cave hotel in Goreme and would highly recommend it. It was one of the coolest places I’ve ever stayed and it was relatively affordable. Book your stay now.

Spring break in Turkey day two: Love Valley and around town (Goreme)

Leisurely breakfast and Love Valley excursion. Breakfast in Turkey usually starts at 8:30 or 9 am, so if you have a hotel breakfast that you want to take advantage of, you’ll generally have late starts to your day. After eating, head to Love Valley (Love Valley trail on Google Maps) a 15-minute drive from town, and hike as far as your family wants to. Take in the fairy chimneys and unique landscape that Cappadocia is known for.

Hiking through the Love Valley was a sight to behold. It’s also awesome because you can really just walk as much (or as little) as you want and you’ll still get cool views regardless.

Return to town for lunch and rest. Then, visit Uchisar Castle (10 minutes from Goreme) in the late afternoon. Enjoy the views from the top of the castle, which is the highest point in the region, as you look out over the valleys and fair chimneys of Cappadocia. Have some ice cream afterwards!

The views from the top of Uchisar Castle are epic! Hold on tight to little ones though as there are some serious drop offs and straight-up holes.

Note: We did not have time due to a mid-afternoon nap, but if we had the opportunity I would have gone to the Goreme Open Air Museum between lunch and Uchisar Castle. It’s basically super close to town and a really cool area to explore

If you do NOT have a car, this tour is an excellent option to see several of the main attractions in the region, including Love Valley and the Goreme Open Air Museum mentioned above.

Spring break in Turkey with kids day 3: Hot air balloons, Red Valley, and Zelve Open Air Museum 

Start your day with watching the hot air balloons fly over Cappadocia, or getting in one with your family! You can fly in a balloon with children as young as about 5 years old. It’s recommended you book the balloon flight for one of your first days in the region as flights can and do get cancelled. We got up around 5 am on our second and third mornings to try to see them fly, but sadly they were cancelled BOTH days. You can’t know until you head out to the launch site if they will fly or not. Hopefully you will get lucky! We drove to the Love Valley view point half an hour before sunrise, which supposedly has great views of the balloons.

At least we got to see the sunrise here!

Alternatively, you can find a rooftop in town as a lower-key option for watching the balloons. This would make for a quieter/easier morning, which can definitely be a priority when traveling with kids.

Our hotel’s rooftop was pretty rad and would have been a perfectly adequate place to watch the balloons!

Return for breakfast at your hotel or in town, then take a hike in the Red Valley. It’s one of the more spectacular valleys in the area for the colors of the rocks. What’s also nice about it is that you can get a fantastic view simply from the parking lot.

To reach the hiking area, type in Red Valley to Google Maps, and look for the item called “Panoramic View Point, and it will take you to the parking lot with the panoramic view. There is a small fee to park there, and restrooms available as well. You can hike down as far as you’d like to see the rock formations and the ancient rock churches/caves. You can also hike all the way to the Rose Valley, if your family members are big hikers! We spent about an hour and a half here and enjoyed it thoroughly.

The view from the top of the Red Valley. We walked about half an hour into the area. It was quite cool.

In the afternoon, visit the Zelve Open Air Museum. This was one of our favorite spots on the trip. There is not a lot of information about it at the site, but it is very cool to walk around. There is a great trail you can take (we went counter clockwise) to explore the ancient dwellings and marvel at the environment.

In awe of the cave dwellings at the Zelve Open Air Museum, a wonderful place to explore with kids. I mean, what kind of kid doesn’t want to poke around in a ton of caves?!

One thing to note is that your entrance ticket to the Zelve Open Air Museum also includes entrance to Pasabag Valley, which you pass on your way to Zelve. We were not able to take advantage of both because we hadn’t gotten lunch and our son needed a nap. Pasabag is one of the areas with fairy chimneys, but it was also absolutely PACKED with tourists, there were a bunch of buses parked there when we drove by. It’s one of the most popular places to see the fairy chimneys, likely because it’s built up and very accessible, but I definitely was glad we had gone to Love Valley which was very peaceful and had few visitors when we were there. However, if we had the time I would have stopped to visit since it was included in our ticket.

Spring break in Turkey itinerary day 4: Derinkuyu Underground City and camel safari

After breakfast, take a one hour journey to the largest underground city in the world: Derinkuyu. Used in the Hellenistic and Byzantine periods up until the 1920s, the underground city was constructed over many centuries and spans 10 floors. There are over 600 entrances to the city, many of which were discovered in private homes, and an astounding amount of tunnels. The city was used as protection when invaders would raid, and families could live underground for months at a time in these eras.

The city of Derinkuyu is a marvel. Hard to imagine how people were able to build such a complex place underground.

I have never seen anything like it, and it’s definitely worth the trip. I’d probably recommend getting a guide here though as signage is extremely limited. There are also very tight tunnels that you have to walk through hunched over so be aware if you have issues with tight spaces that you may find some areas uncomfortable. There are also plenty of areas where you can fully stand!

If we hadn’t wanted to do everything on our own, I probably would have opted for this tour, which includes Derinkuyu among other really epic places like the Ilhara Valley, and benefit from the knowledge of a local guide.

We rested in the afternoon, but if you have the energy you could add in a visit to a Turkish hammam (if your children are over 4) or another valley exploration like the White Valley.

At sunset, take a camel safari for about an hour and enjoy the scenery from above! This one charges less for children 11 and younger, and is the one we selected. Some companies have age limits, but ours did not. We were able to take our two-year-old without a problem and it was a really cool experience, even though we didn’t get much of a sunset due to cloud cover.

Camel safari: check! A new experience for us. Deflinitely helped to have some M&Ms to dole out to our son when he got fussy, but for the most part we all had a great time.

Spring break in Turkey with kids day 5: travel to Oludeniz and enjoy sunset

You’ll spend most of your day getting to Oludeniz, but I promise it’s worth it. You will need to take two flights from Cappadocia as there are no direct flights to Dalaman Airport, and then you will drive about an hour to the beach town of Oludeniz. Enjoy a relaxing sunset and evening on the Mediterranean and get some rest.

Got myself this frozen peach margarita & watched the sun and the ocean. Perfect ending to a long travel day!

I highly recommend staying right on the beach. There are plenty of hotels and lodgings a 10 minute drive away in the main town of Oludeniz that are cheaper, but we LOVED walking straight out to the beach from our hotel and eating breakfast with a view of the water. We also loved not having to get in the car to get to the beach. It costs more, but in this case I 100% think it was worth the splurge and we adored our hotel, the Kumsal Beach Hotel. They were super sweet with our son and very helpful and warm, and their on site restaurant was really good.

Spring break in Turkey day 6: Oludeniz Beach and paragliding

Oludeniz Beach is an ideal place to relax and play in the sand and water. We lucked out with a gorgeous sunny day and had the best time playing with our son on the beach. You can rent chairs and umbrellas, but I’d definitely recommend full coverage swimsuits for little ones because even in early April the sun was STRONG.

This day was simply perfect. And the beach wasn’t ever crowded!

Oludeniz is famous worldwide for paragliding, and the weather was so incredible that even though I had not originally planned to go up, I decided to do it and it was one of my favorite moments from the entire trip. Depending on your kids’ ages and preferences it can be a whole family activity; one paragliding pilot said he had flown with children as young as 2.5 (I would never send a kid that young on a flight though!).

The flight time is about 30 minutes and you will get spectacular views of Oludeniz and the surrounding areas. The entire activity takes about 1.5 hours because you also need to drive up the mountain where you take off. I went midday around 2 pm, which isn’t the time I would have chosen beforehand, but it was actually ideal in my case due to the sun and the brilliant colors at that time.

You can book your paragliding here. Costs can vary depending on what time of year you go!

Spring break in Turkey with kids itinerary day 7: Tlos Ruins, possibly Saklikent National Park or Xanthos ruins

Take a break from the beach and head to the stunning Tlos ruins, an ancient city over 4,000 years old. It will probably take you an hour or two to explore, depending on how much your family enjoys walking around ruins. The views of the surrounding mountains are also incredible. It’s built on a hill top and in a gorgeous setting.

This place is wild. Tlos Ruins, about an hour from Oludeniz beach, and just a few dollars to enter.

Be sure to wear sturdy shoes as the trails around the ruins can be sandy and slick. Also, this is another good site to have a guide for if you want to learn more about the history. There is more signage than in Derinkuyu but I still would have liked to know more!

Here’s a view looking out over the ruins from higher up

There is an area where you can see a carving of Pegasus that my husband went to, but it was too dangerous to go with a toddler. If you have older kids this may be worth exploring, but definitely consider the risks if you seek it out. My favorite part of the ruins was the bath area.

Restoration is ongoing and the coliseum/stadium area was closed but will likely open to visitors in the future. Regardless, it’s a fascinating site.

Afterwards, consider visiting the Saklikent National Park, which is a 20-minute drive away. We did not know that the canyon was closed to hiking beyond the platform (which is like a five minute walk into the canyon) due to the risk of flooding and high waters. If you go later in spring you will have a better chance of getting to actually hike IN the canyon, which involves walking in the water. This would be a super cool experience! I’d recommend calling the site first to ask if you can hike, if that’s something you want to try.

Feels like this could be one of those shirts: “I went to Saklikent Canyon and all I got was this pic”. Haha. It was gorgeous and we wished we could have seen more!

Alternatively, try visiting the Xanthos ruins, also located relatively close by (40 minute drive from Tlos). We wanted to see these but ran out of time.

Spring break in Turkey with kids day 8: Oludeniz beach, Babadag Gondola, or Patara Ruins and fly to Istanbul

We had planned to go to the Patara Ruins, but because of a late brunch at our hotel and the craziness of packing everything, we ran out of time (our flight was at 6:20 pm) and decided to just play and relax at the beach for a few hours. Certainly not a bad way to end your time here!

If you go to Patara Ruins, there’s also Patara Beach that you can visit as well. This would make a great day trip if you can get your family up and out EARLY.

Another alternative would be to take the Babadag Gondola up the mountain for views of Oludeniz and the surroundings from above. I’d definitely recommend this, particularly if you don’t paraglide (the paragliding take off spot is right off the gondola).

When you get to Istanbul, know that it’s about an hour from the airport into the main tourist area, Sultanahmet neighborhood. We took a taxi because public transit was going to take nearly 2 hours and it was about 9 pm by the time we left the airport.

Spring break in Turkey with kids day 9: Istanbul highlights

For your final day, explore the highlights of Istanbul. For us, this meant the Blue Mosque, the local market, the Arasta Bazaar, and the Hagia Sofia church and museum. Be sure to eat lunch on a terrace. That’s all we had time for. We would have liked to visit the Grand Bazaar but unfortunately it was closed on Sunday, the day we were in the city. We also would have liked to visit the Spice Bazaar. Learn about the history of this ancient city and marvel at how old some of the buildings are!

In front of the Hagia Sofia. The tulips were in full bloom which was an added bonus.

Spring break in Turkey with kids itinerary day 10: Return home

This will be a full day of travel. We had an early afternoon flight so we got breakfast at an awesome bakery, Dudu Bakery Coffee, then grabbed some souvenirs and headed to the airport. Say gule gule (bye bye) to Turkey.

General tips for traveling to Turkey 

• Rent a car, except in Istanbul. It is so nice to have the flexibility to drive around to the places you want to visit, when you want to go. Before kids I never rented a car while traveling; now I pretty much always do. But! Get a small car, because the driving and parking situation can be truly wild on tiny cobblestoned streets.
• Figure out an esim before you leave for Turkey. You will definitely need data to access maps, internet in general, and translations as needed. We were figuring out getting an esim at 11:30 pm while getting our rental car. Don’t be us.
• Nothing opens in Turkey until around 9 am, for the most part. If your kids are early risers and need food, it’s a good idea to keep snacks in your room because depending on where you are, it might be difficult to find anywhere open. In Goreme there were definitely a couple spots open early, but in Oludeniz nothing was. As in, you might not even be able to find a coffee to enjoy while your kids are racing around on the beach.
• Turkish people are so kind and loving to kids. It was such a joy to see and a reminder that children are to be treasured.
• Download Google Translate. Many people speak English, but Google Translate was a life saver when there was a language barrier. You can literally speak into it in English and it will translate to Turkish and vice versa.
• ATM fees are very high in Turkey. The local ATMs charged about 11% of the value of the transaction in addition to whatever my bank charged. Thankfully you can pay by credit card at most places, but not all. We had to pay in cash for some things, and actually at two of our hotels because their credit card readers weren’t working. I also unexpectedly had to pay with my debit card when one reader required a pin with credit cards (apparently Turkish credit cards have pins, not just debit cards).
• Remember, you can do laundry if you need to, so try to pack light. There are plenty of laundry areas in Turkey. Be sure to ask how they charge laundry if you ask your hotel or another laundry service to wash your clothes. I made the mistake of assuming they charged based on weight (how they charged when I did laundry in Colombia many years ago) but they ended up charging based on loads and did an entire load for my one white shirt that was in the pile of clothes. The cost for two loads at our hotel was 400 TL.

What to pack for spring break in Turkey

Because spring temperatures can vary heavily, you will want a mix of warm and cool weather clothing and gear. We found that generally speaking we were comfortable in pants and short sleeves in the day time, but wanted a jacket in the morning and at night.

Sun hoodie uniform. Both my husband and I spent a lot of time in these!

• Sun hoodies. These were our most-worn items during the entire trip. Even in April the sun was really strong and we would have gotten burned without good sun protection! I love these ones and my husband loves these sun hoodies. Our son has this one.
• Sun hats for you and the kids. We forgot ours and I really regretted it.
• Rashguard swim suits for your little one. We have one of the full body suits from Honeysuckle Swim and it was amazing, the full zip around the legs makes it really easy to get on and off.
• Sunscreen. I prefer the spay on kind, especially with kids.
• Activewear sandals that you can get wet. Particularly if you are going to the beach, these are a must! For adults, I like these for super durable and rugged adventures (I have had a pair for 10 years now…) and these for softer and lighter wear. For kids, you can’t get any better than these!
• Microfiber beach towel so you don’t have to use your shower towels in the sand
• Lightweight travel pants. Seriously, I brought a pair of jeans and never wore them. I like these or these, which will both take up less space and weight in your luggage and be far more comfortable than jeans.
• A headscarf/covering for entering any mosques. You won’t be allowed to enter without one.
• A fleece sweatshirt and down jacket. This is my favorite down jacket ever (and I currently have 4). It can get cold, especially at night, in the spring! I love this fleece for kids.
• Melatonin that your kids can take too. This one mg dose is great.
• Power adapter to charge your electronics. This two pack was perfect so my husband and I didn’t have to share.
• Toiletry organizer. I had been using ziploc bags for toiletries before this trip and let me tell you, this is a life changer. It’s so affordable too, I don’t know why I waited so long to get one! I love that this one has a hook that I could hang it up on a towel rack.
• Pack in packing cubes. This is a game changer for suitcase organization, especially with multiple people packing in one suitcase. I like how this set has a bag for dirty laundry and a shoe bag as well.
• Car seats for your baby or toddler or older kids!

Final thoughts on spring break in Turkey with kids

Move aside Cancun and Hawaii, Turkey is a marvelous place to take your family for spring break. With unique natural areas to explore, ancient ruins to experience, and turquoise beaches, you can’t find a better place to visit!

His smile says it all! Parent planned, kid approved spring break in Turkey.