Caravan

After quitting smoking two years ago and saving the money he would have otherwise spent on cigarettes, a man living in the western province of İzmir has turned his 2004 model vehicle into a caravan.

Mehmet Ardil, a 38-year-old auto electrician, decided to quit smoking two packs of cigarettes a day when he became a father of twin boys.

With the cost of hotel accommodations going sky-high, more and more people are turning to hiring caravans, but a family of four has to spend at least 1,000 Turkish Liras per night in a caravan camping site in the new season.

Parking caravans on roads in the southern province of Antalya, which has been dealing with this problem for quite some time as caravans lining the beach and occupying the streets both project an ugly sight and cause traffic problems, will no longer be allowed, the municipality's transportation center has said.

The third Istanbul Caravan Festival will be organized in Kilyos on May 19, 20 and 21, bringing together caravan users and nature lovers under one roof.

A Turkish couple who bought a caravan with the money earned by selling their wedding jewelry is working during the summer but touring the country with their caravan in the winter.

According to a report by the daily Milliyet, it was the year 2018 when Büşra and Murat Yerlikaya decided to buy a trailer.

Glamping, also known as "vacationing in luxurious tents," is an important tourism alternative and Türkiye has established the legal base for it, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.

Feeling short of breath from the city life in Istanbul, a man has hit the roads for the last six years with a caravan he converted into a café so that he can both earn money and travel more.

But, Fatih Baran Akyüz has a motto; he "follows no route while traveling."

Turkey's largest festival for camping trailer enthusiasts will take place in Istanbul's district of Kilyos on the Black Sea coast this weekend.

"İstanbul Karavan Festivali" will bring together hundreds of trail owners, outdoor sports experts and nature lovers on an area of 40 hectares between May 13 and 15.

The camping sites in Istanbul, which offer an alternative vacation in tents with "fair prices," have become a new trend in the metropolis, with people flocking to the sites in the districts of Şile, Çatalca and Sarıyer.

"The occupancy rate of the camping sites in Istanbul has reached 80 percent for the Eid holiday next week," Demirören News Agency reported on April 29.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a 30 percent jump in caravan sales in Turkey in a year and some 5,000 caravans are currently on the road across the country, according to a travel author.

"Like everything, the pandemic changed our travel and vacation mentality, too," Melih Uslu, the writer of the book "Anatolia By Car," told daily Milliyet.