Camping in or near Istanbul 2013

Ian Shires
June 2013

Yorkshireman Ian and his partner Judit are well known to readers of this website (see their pre-existing eight articles under 'S' for 'Shires' in the Fellow Travellers feature). Retiring from living, working and 4-wheel-driving in and around Budapest, they bought a Bessacarr E 760 motorhome and hit the rowdy road.

They spent last winter (2012-13) in Greece and then began a 2-month journey through Turkey, including its easternmost regions beyond the Tigris and Euphrates. Shrugging aside rumours of riot and social mayhem, they followed the Mediterranean to its very end, shadowed the Syrian border as far as Mardin, travelled north through Kurdish regions and around Lake Van until they reached the Black Sea in the tea-growing area of Trabzon. Following the southern shores of the Black Sea, they finally reached Istanbul.

The full story of this journey can be found at:

http://bessyonthemove.weebly.com/turkey1.html  

with many captioned images in chronological order at:

http://bessyonthemove.weebly.com/turkey-gallery.html

Their route can be followed closely on Google Earth:

http://bessyonthemove.weebly.com/satnav-tracks.html

Arriving in Bulgaria, at the English-owned and managed Sakar Hills Camping, Ian sent us the following very useful account of camping in or near Istanbul, including the two sites within 10 minutes' walk of the Golden Horn.

The Aire, Kennedy Caddesi, Istanbul, Turkey

N 41° 0.093'      E 28° 58.646'

For location, this place cannot be beaten. You are within a few hundred metres of all the major sites of Istanbul. Other than that, the place is just a car park. Park next to the trees, as they provide excellent shade in the late afternoon and evening. There is a sort of toilet cabin. Abandon hope all who enter. There may be water but it's from the pipe that is used to wash out the toilet! There are crowds of people thronging around, people selling anything from dried pretzels to raw mussels. It sounds bad, but it isn't. Everyone is friendly and the atmosphere is wonderful. Cost 30TL (£10) a night. We left in the afternoon of the third day and were charged only 45TL (£15) for two and three quarter days. We didn't understand why and we did not ask.

Incidentally the Aire at the Sports Centre costs 50TL (£17) a day and is said to have showers, etc. But we were also told that the area is full of drunks. In addition there is absolutely no shade. You must turn off 200 metres before the Sports Centre to access that site. By the time you realise this, you have gone past. On our second and third days, the Sports Centre was empty but we had eight motorhomes in the Aire.

Florya Camping, Istanbul, Turkey

N 40° 58.501'      E 28° 47.535'

To be honest this is not much of a campsite. There is no shade and the ground is railway track ballast. There does not appear to be anything to do in the area, other than watch the aircraft landing at Ataturk Airport. Thankfully it's not noisy. The campsite seems to be an overflow car park for the main business, which is car washing. The pressure washers can be heard until 2000 hours. The toilets are not too bad but are shared with the car cleaning people.

Istanbul Mocamp, Turkey

N 41° 5.067'      E 28° 24.367'

This campsite is in a lovely rural setting. But it is well off the beaten track. The grounds are all grass and immaculately maintained. Facilities: clean toilets, showers, electricity but no wifi. Our recommendation for visiting Istanbul is to go to the Aire/car park on Kennedy Caddesi. This Mocamp is too far out of the city and even the next village is a taxi ride away.

Sakar Hills Campsite, Bulgaria

N 41° 5.067'      E 28° 24.367'

Small well kept grass campsite with immaculate toilets and showers. Electricity and wifi. Very peaceful setting. Just right for a stop when entering or leaving Turkey, or just for the sake of it.  A few kilometres down the road is the town of Harmanli with an ATM and Lidl store. Very pleasant campsite indeed.

It was a pleasure to enter Lidl again (in Harmanli) after two months of Turkish supermarkets. Sadly the bacon is still boiled, as in Greece. I can't wait to get to Hungary and have a decent English breakfast.

We add the following note

Ian's article updates and supplements the following articles on our website under 'Turkey'.

2012: Pete Jenkins' account of staying on the Aire at the Fisherman's Quai on Kennedy Caddesi; Mahmut Kukurt's  own account of the caravan and motorhome park at the Sports Stadium (along with photographs of the site) and Angela and David Lodge's story of their stay at the Sports Stadium with a Google map of its location.

http://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1241/30/

2011: Our own account of six places to camp in and around Istanbul with relevant links and a Google map. Henry Love added his own comment from personal experience.

http://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1136/30/

2009: John and Jennie Briden describe their experience of using the Aire on the Fisherman's Quay.

http://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/870/30/