Twin Centre – Turkey, Istanbul and North Cyprus

For those among us who’ve have ‘gone travelling’, the concept of taking in multiple destinations over the course of one trip is nothing new.  Without it the point of travelling would be baseless.  Indeed, the traveller would scoff at the mere thought of restricting themselves to dual destinations.  I have no definitive idea, but I imagine a sojourn of two or three months in travelling terms might typically yield anything upwards of 20 ‘centres’.  But the point of the twin or multi centre holiday is not to emulate the liberation or adventure of going travelling (when you’re dealing in days and weeks, who has time to gamble with rats and cockroaches?) but to merely add a second dimension to your temporal budget.  Looked at it this way, the twin centre holiday isn’t as extravagant or frivolous as it might at first seem.For starters, the twin centre holiday depends on establishing either a geographical or logistical common ground, and often both.  This is to say, if it is to make any financial sense – giving up a chunk of time and blowing out that second annual trip abroad so many of us have become accustomed to – then the countries that one “twins” have to have something that obviously binds them: normally a physical proximity, but it could also come down to a shared airline or tour operator who can put together a package that works.

How to choose your twin centre stay

Having said all that, to match like for like almost defeats the whole object; after all, twin holidays ask that you give up the best part of the day to make the transfer – time that could be spent lying on the beach, strolling around town or, at the very least, stuck in the hotel bar.  The “twins” need their own distinct personalities to make it worth your while.  The whole idea is to include countries one genuinely finds appealing – killing two birds with the proverbial singular stone – not tack another country on to your holiday for the sake of doing so; that would be extravagant and frivolous.

One particular combination that has been proving popular lately is the pairing of Turkey and North Cyprus.  You can see why: geographically they’re little more than 100km apart, and they share the same language, currency and climate.  So if you’re partial to the weather in one you’re bound to like it in the other – same with the food, more or less – and you won’t have to suffer the hassle of doubling up on your currency.  Ostensibly, they might seem almost too close and too similar, but they can actually fulfil two very separate roles.

Firstly, there’s the small matter of Istanbul and North Cyprus holidays, as Istanbul a city not just markedly different to the rest of Europe but completely at odds with most of Turkey too.  In fact, if you like culture on a grand scale and plenty of things to see and do – maybe with a bit of night-life thrown in for good measure – then there’s not going to be any conflict of interest whatsoever, because Northern Cyprus just can’t compete on this level.  If, on the other hand, you’re all about sitting in the sun, preferably on a sandy beach with a deep-blue sea spread out in front of you, then you might have to plan a little more carefully.
Still, Turkey has this all covered – and more.  It’s got almost everything, in fact.  It has the modern, sprawling metropolis, family-orientated coastal resorts, it’s got the beach and bar thing going on, and it has ancient ruins – proper ruins too, dating back to pre-Roman times.  It even offers an impressive side-line in eccentricity: Cappadocia Fairy Chimneys, for example, or ancient monasteries built into the side of steep cliffs.

So where does North Cyprus fit into all this?  Why not just split your time between, say, Istanbul and North Cyprus or Oludeniz?  The first reason that comes to mind is because that’s what everybody else is doing.  Most tourists don’t give North Cyprus a second thought.  Most people assume it’s just the northern half of Cyprus, without realising that the people who live there, and their Turkish cousins, recognise it as a separate country entirely.  This is why you don’t have to worry about an ever-strengthening Euro – or a continually weakening Pound – and can just stock up on Turkish Lira instead, which exchanges more favourably.

More importantly, though, there’s still something of the ‘untouched’ about North Cyprus, which can’t be said about Turkey any more.  And it’s more manageable: there are beaches to rival those in Turkey, and mountains inland just as picturesque; the harbour towns have character, and there’s a degree of night-life if you want it (although not of the kind you’d expect to find in some of Turkey’s more bloated resorts) – and you can have it all because everything is within easy driving distance of each other.

North Cyprus, then, can be seen as either a state of recovery or of preparation.  Whatever the geographic and climatic similarities, the tourist will find a very different ambience in Northern Cyprus than they will in Turkey.  And this is what the twin holiday is all about.  It’s not about slumming it so you can turn a country or a continent inside out.  Nor is it about constantly being on the move, stopping for a night here or a day there – that’s what pleasure cruises are for.  It’s about economy: economy of time and economy of money, and of off-setting one experience against the other to create a holiday that serves a dual purpose.  And maybe you’ll end up somewhere that you’d only previously given cursory consideration, and it might actually end up being the favourite half of your holiday.

Want to book a twin centre holiday? Direct Traveller allows travellers to experience two cultures with a stop off in another destination alongside your main choice of destination. Whether you fancy seeing the South of Cyprus or having the contrast of a city break in Istanbul, or the luxury of Oman then the choice is completely yours. Contact us today on 0844 414 1686 or email: sales@directtraveller.com.