Reviews

The first 2 days in Istanbul were packed full as there was no much to see. In fact, the whole holiday was very much on the go with many activities as well as sightseeing. I particularly enjoyed the lunch with a local family who made us very welcome and provided an excellent meal. The boat trip on the Bosphorus, was enjoyable and interesting. Cappadocia was fascinating with unusual rock formations and houses built into the rock. I enjoyed the visits to various UNESCO Heritage sites and it was good to see places that I had only read about in books. Our guide was helpful and knowledgeable and had a good sense of humour. Overall, I would not leave anything out of the tour as it was all an enriching experience.
This was my first holiday with Wendy Wu and there are some aspects on which I was not impressed. On arrival at the hotel from the airport, there was no information about the Welcome meeting and the person who met me at the airport did not know either.. The hotel receptionist obtained part of the information from Karavan Travel. Subsequently, the meeting was held later briefly as the Tour Guide had been at the airport meeting other members of the group whose flight had been delayed.
I am not happy with Wendy Wu's policy of placing individuals onto different flights. I was the sole individual on my flight from Heathrow for this holiday and yet 2 other couples also came from Heathrow and had 2 different flights from one another. The same applied of course on return flights to the UK. This scattergun approach stretches the resources of the travel company carrying out the tour on behalf of Wendy Wu as they need to meet each arrival and arrange transport to the airport for the return flights. When we arrived at the airport for our return flight, we were not accompanied into the terminal to show us where to check-in etc. All other holiday companies provide this.

A very comprehensive tour with a lot of different experiences. Istanbul was busy with many tourists visiting the main sites. The tour of Gallipoli was very well laid out and the information boards and the words of our guide brought it all to life.
The historical sites of Ephesus and Hieropolis were very good and well preserved. The highlight was Capadocia and the hot air balloon ride from which you got a fantastic view of the landscape. Pamukkale was also a great place to visit although very busy.
Be prepared for long coach journeys and sometimes having lunch and dinner quite close together without checking into your hotel until later.
A very good but exhausting holiday.

I enjoyed the holiday, it was very interesting, but our luggage was delayed and we had to go to the airport to collect it. Our guide was not helpful or interested in our predicament. What we know now about Turkish Airlines and Istanbul Airport I think Wendy Wu should not have booked connecting flights with so little time in between.
Our guide was very knowledgeable but not very forthcoming with information.

Very good itinerary but we didn't have enough time at some of the sights, especially those in Istanbul. The hotel in Istanbul was in a good location but otherwise was not up to the usual standard of Wendy Wu.

The holiday was a bit less "polished" than previous Wendy Wu trips we have been on.

The food was repetitive and variable in quality. All hotels had a buffet service except the Kalehan Hotel where the food was excellent, it would have been nice to eat in the hotel the second night rather than going out and having a substandard meal that was served too quickly, 28 minutes from beginning to end.
Maybe with lunch and dinner it might be an idea to know what type of food is to be served, we often got the same meal twice in one day.

The hotels were good except the Oran in Istanbul. As a welcoming hotel for the first few nights the bar area was never open for people to get to know each other. Rooms were tired looking and there was no sound proofing, it was very noisy from other residents.

We would have preferred more time at Gallipoli. The waterfall (Manavgat) was not worth the trip. The guide (Ibraham)was good and knowledgeable. The driver(Ali) was great.

The tipping arrangements seemed confused. On previous trips the guide handed envelopes to the local guides and driver from the £90 euros we had paid but this didn't appear to happen and there was an additional collection from the group for both the driver and the guide..

The Magnesia trip was very informative with an extremely knowledgeable local guide.

The flight from Ankara to Istanbul seemed an unnecessary complication, with a lot of time spent at the airport in Ankara followed by a bus journey of over two hours to get back to the hotel in Istanbul.

All in all we had a great trip, we loved the places we went to and finding out more about this historical country. The balloon ride in Cappadocia was a real highlight of the trip.

This feed back form could be a little more detailed.

Hotel in Istanbul left a lot to be desired not in my opinion Wendy Wu Standard, access for coach impossible so cases have to be carried to hotel as porterage not included.