Is there anyone who knows how to find a travel partner for a roadtrip in the Van province? I would love to visit Van city in October or November. But as the border area is full of desolate villages and ghost towns, I would like to see those as well but it may be too difficult with public transport. I was therefor considering seeking another person wanting to do the trip who owns a driver license. We could then rent a car and tour around for a long weekend... Which is the best way to find a suitable person?

You would have to find a person that lives over there, if you only want to go for a long weekend. Driving all the way from Istanbul will take you two days already. Driving there isn't much fun either, as there are Jandarma check points everywhere in that area (don't forget your passport). Many villages, as well as mountains, are also closed, as a foreigner you cannot enter them.

Anyway why do you want to go there? Van is really crap and so are the villages around. The Diyarbakir-Urfa-Gaziantep-Antakya area is much nicer.

A local person would be fine, or taking a whole week off and driving from Istanbul. But what is the best way to go to find a travel partner? Where could I put an announce for reliable people to react?

Maybe Van University has an online notice board?

couchsurfing and hospitalityclub websites have forums where you can find people travelling, looking for hosts and/or travel partners - you could put up a notice there and see what comes of it!

i've been to urfa and antep and both are really lovely and easy to see in a long weekend - no car needed, just air tickets and airport shuttle bus

i'd recommend either of those for a long weekend - you could even cram in both, or another place like harran or nemrut

I thought of Hospitality Club but the server seems to be down. I am a member there though. I haven't been at Coachsurfing yet, is it any good?

i prefer the friendlier user interface of couchsurfing - i'd even say it's better for hosts/guests and the crowd is more active, but the HC forums are still very helpful for travellers

what are your preferred travel dates, by the way?

[quote user="starfish" post="100833"]i prefer the friendlier user interface of couchsurfing - i'd even say it's better for hosts/guests and the crowd is more active, but the HC forums are still very helpful for travellers

what are your preferred travel dates, by the way?[/quote]

Which of the two has most members, HC or Coachsurfing? I am a member of HC but the server seems to be down on frequent times

Prefered travel date: halfway October

according to the interweb, CS has 300,000 and HC 320,000
no real difference, but i'm a member of both and 95% of the requests i've received come from CS
either way, the forums can be helpful for general travel info and finding travel partners!