Ask Lonely Planet: Exploring Turkey's ancient delights

My husband and I are visiting our son in the UK. The three of us are going to Turkey for five days and we want to see Istanbul, Ephesus, Gallipoli and Troy. I wondered about hiring a car and driving down to Ephesus but now think that the driving would take up too much time. Are there any sleeper trains to Izmir/Ephesus that would allow us to travel overnight on day one, see Ephesus on day two and either an overnight train or a flight back to Istanbul? We could then take a day trip to see Troy and Gallipoli, leaving us one full day and two part days to see Istanbul. Any advice would be appreciated.
-Bonni Wilde

Lonely Planet's Asia-Pacific travel editor Shawn Low writes:

Five days is certainly a short time in Turkey. To taste the full Turkish delights, I'd recommend extending your trip out to a full week. This way, you won't have to worry about rushing to catch a train or plane.

If you want to stick to your five-day plan, it's certainly doable. Don't bother with a car. Why fuss and drive when you can take a bus or a train? Here's a suggested itinerary that might work for you and your family.

Since you want to do Ephesus first, you can take a one-hour flight from Istanbul to Izmir.

If you time it right, you can even make a nice connection from the UK to Istanbul and on to Izmir. A train will take you nine to 10 hours. There are also overnight buses from Istanbul (11 hours). From Izmir, make your way to Selcuk via a one-hour bus ride. Selcuk is the gateway town to Ephesus. You'll no doubt find a variety of methods to get to Ephesus and any pensions in Selcuk offer free lifts to Ephesus.

Head back to Istanbul via the same way you came. You could spend your entire journey in Istanbul and not see it all. Plan on getting lost in the Grand Bazaar and exploring Sultanahmet. Don't forget to check out the Hippodrome too. The Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Basilica Cistern are also must-sees. Aches? No worries! Just get a steam bath and massage in a hamam.

It's a tight rush but you could squeeze in both Gallipoli and Troy. In fact, various tour agencies specialise in doing them both in a day! The Lonely Planet Turkey guide lists quite a few of them.

Going solo in China

My friend and I are planning a trip to China for a couple of weeks at the end of June. We were hoping to fly into Beijing and travel down to Hong Kong where we will then fly to Bangkok. We have both travelled around Thailand before so it is just China we need some help with. We have looked into tours but they are quite expensive, so we are planning on doing it ourselves. The main things we want to see are the Great Wall, the terracotta warriors and the giant pandas. We are also interested in doing a cooking course while we are there.
-Jemma Crisp

Lonely Planet's Asia-Pacific travel editor and co-author of Lonely Planet China Shawn Low writes:

Aside from the major cities, travelling around China is still relatively cheap. If you use local buses and trains and stay at modest hotels, you can expect to get by with $150 per day, double that in Beijing and Hong Kong.

One challenge would be language. You'll be fine in large cities, but it would be good to brush up on some local language phrases. A good place to start would be the language chapter in Lonely Planet guides or our Lonely Planet Mandarin phrasebook.

Spend three to four days in Beijing. Tick off all the major sites: the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, Wangfujing Shopping St, the Drum tower, and of course, the Great Wall. There are various places to see the Wall and some are more touristy than others. Badaling is where you will see the most crowds and get postcard-worthy pictures. Simatai is further flung but is much quieter and the climb is harder.

From Beijing, you can jump on a train (11 to 13 hours) to Xi'an. The stunning site housing the Army of Terracotta Warriors can be reached by cheap public buses from the city. The Giant Pandas, at Chendu in Sichuan, are even further west. Chengdu connects to Xi'an via air (only 2.5 hours). A train will take 16 to 18 hours. Your choice. But the pain of a long train journey will be forgotten when you catch sight of the cute, giant pandas. If you want to catch some "action", March to May is mating season.

If you want to do a cooking course, check out blacksesamekitchen.com. The company is based in Beijing and runs classes in English. Expect to pay $60 for a three-hour class.

On the topic of food, wrestle your way into Tim Ho Wan (Shop 8, 2-20 Kwong Wa St, Mong Kok, Kowloon). This is the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant. Fill up on exquisite dumplings for $5 ... if you can stomach queuing for three hours that is!

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