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/
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