We have just returned from this amazing tour, I immediately want to thank our guides Murat and the guide historian Rustam - these are wonderful, smart, funny and great guys with whom our tour flew by like one day, how cool, interesting, fun and easy it was.Amazing places that take your breath away, the time on the road flew by unnoticed, the bus and the driver were at the highest level. Everything is perfectly organized, you are met, settled, everything is explained, etc., etc. If I was worried about how it would all be, but thank God that I agreed to go, these memories will remain for the rest of my life.
If anyone doubts, do not hesitate to go!!! Just read carefully all the reviews and the tour program to understand what to expect from this tour, because the tour is very active, but who is used to seeing only the good, you go there!!!)
Many thanks to Sarabi travel and our wonderful guides Ravil and Inara for this fabulous and magical trip
Immersion, saturation, informativeness, the general organization of the tour is on top!🔥🇹🇷
And what wonderful people we met on this trip is beyond words😍
The charge of emotions from the beauty and immensity of all that we have seen is off the scale🔝🫶
Thanks a hundred times to all involved ❤❤❤❤❤
I'm ready to write an honest review :)
I saw a lot of negativity at the bottom, and indeed it's all true. But the positive aspects were overlooked in these reviews.
I'll write down our experience now, and it's up to you to decide whether to go with them or not.
So, we received vouchers for the Antalya-Pamukkale-Kapadokia trip. Let's start in order
1 day. We arrived at the airport at 5 a.m., were met and taken to the hotel. We warned you in advance that the transfer will cost $ 40 for two people. Well OK
Upon arrival, we were told that if we wanted to check in earlier, we would have to pay $100 (you will often hear the phrase "pay" :)
We refused, and the guide immediately rolled out a price list for us so that we could pay for entrance tickets and meals. Since some trips will take from 10 hours, we decided to pay for a minimum package of $305 per person.
We went to look for a place to refresh ourselves, because breakfast is not available on the first day, and the hotel is honestly located in the railway station. The hotel is called Port River.
When leaving the hotel, if you go to the right, there will be two markets, where in one of them the seller speaks Russian. He basically helped us with everything. We learned from him where it is better to eat, where prices are more acceptable and how to get there. He will continue to help us in the same way.
At 2 p.m. we checked into the hotel. Stated 5*, but with a stretch of maximum 3*. But more or less the hotel is ok. And this is the only hotel where there has always been delicious food.
Day 2. We went on a sightseeing tour to Antalya. We were taken to partner stores, like a leather goods factory and a Thai pharmacy. It's all just absurd and a complete waste of a lot of time.
Then there was a tour of the old town, it was very beautiful and we got positive emotions. By the way, the guide, who is the top tourist in Turkey, is very interesting to listen to, will always support the conversation and answer all questions.
Day 3. We left for Pamukkale. By the way, we wrote below that life on the bus, and yes, it's a really long time. But what did you want? It's a bus tour.
Of course, we are taken in parallel again to some kind of store where we have to get our wallets. But it's all bullshit, honestly. You can buy everything much cheaper in Manavgat or Antalya.
We stopped in the old town, where there are also blue pools. Everything went well, we went up to the amphitheater and even had time to walk on our own.
We were checked into a hotel with thermal springs. The dinner was just as disgusting as the breakfast. It's almost impossible to eat, the staff is rude. The hotel looks like a 90s sanatorium in the countryside, the rooms are the same. (The hotel is called Colossae Spa, also by the way "5*", well, they obviously take these numbers out of their heads)
Day 4.
We are going to Cappadocia.
The journey took about 10-13 hours.
The hotel was Suhan 5* upon check-in. It looks very good from the outside, and so does the lobby, but in fact you can't walk in rooms without slippers, the faucets haven't been wiped for several years. In short, just darkness. The food was terrible, it was impossible to just choose something. As a result , we ate bread with sausage 🙂
Day 5.
In the morning we went to look at the balls, by the way, it costs $ 30 per person. If you don't pay for it, then stay at the hotel.
It was just gorgeous, gorgeous and magical. It's a little cold, but if you dress warmly, then everything is great. There are no complaints
at all, then we booked a horse ride, and sarabi also offers it as one of the entertainment options.
It was the worst thing I paid money for, and I left crying like a beluga, just out of pity for these animals. Horses in a field in a 10x5 levada, without food or water, thin, not well-groomed, young and not worn out, which are dangerous to ride.
Naturally, we told the Sarabi guides this. What do you think?! They didn't even apologize to me for the shit they were offering, much less refund the money. Hurtful
Also on this day we went to look at volcanic tuffs, old houses and viewing platforms - it was interesting.
Day 6.
We are going back to Antalya. We go back to some jewelry stores where everything is super expensive and where they make dishes out of clay. Everything is also three times expensive, you can buy the same thing cheaper in the city.
We arrive at the hotel where we would have been on the first day and get high from the fact that we can eat normal food again. 🙂
Day 7.
It was a free day.
The guides offered to take us to Antalya for $ 25 per person so that we could walk freely for 4 hours.
We went by ourselves, saved 2 times on the road and had more time.
In general, something like that. Also, every day we were taken for lunch to some cafes, where each time there was a standard menu. Salad, meat with rice and soup. I was sick of it at the end.
+ we paid for Sarabi's tickets so that they could pick up the flights for us on their own. We gave away $1,000, and as a result, the day before the return flight, we changed the flight from a direct flight to a connecting flight. No apologies, no apologies, no compensation
I also want to say that the guides were good from sarabi (when they weren't trying to give us something). It was quite pleasant to interact and communicate with them, but only on those topics where there is no benefit for them)))
Would I go if I read this review?
Yes, I would probably go once. Because it's quite difficult to see these places, and there will be more firebrands to get there themselves.
The emotions are positive from the beauty that we saw, but Sarabi's service and approach are complete