hey cool,
last night I did some research and found out that most restaurants in Istanbul tourist places are very expensive but you gotta go in restaurants where you see a lot of locals plus they have food stalls on street corners which serve very tasty meals but very inexpensive around 3-10 Turkish Liras so it's not entirely bad. Turks are very much like our Pakistani people who like to rip off foreigners. They like Pakistanis though. I'm really excited to go and I'll write about my experience when I come back! :)
Istanbul/Turkey is expensive and infact very expensive for Pakistani travelers who have earned in Pak rupees and spend in YTL :) . You can save some money by making use of public transport (tram/ferries/metro) and can eat in inexpensive resturants but cannot do much about hotel stay, entrance fees to museums/palaces etc.
Having said this, I must say that it is money well spent. A must see for any tourist interseted in archeology/history.
I was reading an article a few days ago that mentioned Egypt and Turkey is seeing a boom in tourism, so i can see sense that its getting expensive there with it having more mouths to cater for. Its a popular destination for folks during the summer months.
Been to Istanbul once. One of most beautiful cities set on hills along Bosphorus. Hotels seem expensive due to weak Pakistani currency. Food is cheaper especially Doner Kebabs, etc (very very tasty) around Istiklal square and Sultanahmet.
hey coolmunda 2000 go to Egypt! been there 5 times and it is amazing! it is very inexpensive because the Egyptian pound is 5 to the american dollar...beautiful sites, amazing people, food...just the best place ive ever been.
We're looking at booking either Turkey or Morocco for 2009 and will be booking on half board basis as it usually works out better (esp those last minute deals). Full board holidays at the last-ish minute are sometimes a bargain too.
Turks love their muslim brothers and sisters and make little kids feel right at home which is great.
I'd love to go Marrakesh...it looks ace.
Egypt-whatever you do avoid Sharm Al Sheikh unless you are looking for a proper touristy holiday just win sun...Egypt has some of the worlds best historical buildings etc so for a historian at heart its ace.