10 tips to Avoid Harassment in Turkey

Turkey is beautiful and has so much to offer that I don’t want to tell people not to travel there because you will miss the magic of watching the hot air balloons in Cappadocia and the vibrance of the city of Istanbul and so many other wonderful things that the country has to offer.  But I found that Turkey was difficult to travel in a solo female traveler. Here are my suggestions for making traveling as a female solo traveller in Turkey bearable so you don’t have the same experience as me.

1. Go to Turkey on a Group Tour:  I love all kinds of travel including group tours and was originally going to take a group tour to Turkey but I couldn’t make the dates work.  I think this is the best option to fully enjoy Turkey if you can’t get a friend or partner to travel with you.  The men won’t hassle any of the tour groups since they know that the tour guides will shoo them away.  Plus you aren’t an easy target when you are with a group and they like to go for the easy targets.  So pick a reputable company and then you won’t have to worry about your safety as you travel throughout Turkey.  Also you are bound to find some people on the tour that you connect with so you can walk with them during your free time as well.
2. Take a Day tour or go on a Pub Crawl:  If you don’t want to be stuck to a tight schedule or can’t find an extended tour around Turkey that meets your needs then take some day tours.  You can learn about the history of Turkey, do something adventurous, etc.  There are a million tours out there and you are sure to be able to find one that meets your needs. I went on a Pub Crawl in Istanbul on my third night in the city.  We had a lot of fun and I could have easily made plans with several of the people on the Pub Crawl to explore the city if I wasn’t leaving the next day.  I wouldn’t have dared drink in Istanbul on my own for fear of constant harassment but it was a great way to enjoy the amazing nightlife that Istanbul has to offer.
3. Take a free walking tour:  By now you probably know how much I love a free walking tour.  So if you can’t afford to take a week-long tour or even a day tour then go for the free option.  This will give you a couple of hours of peace from harassment.  Plus you might meet other people on the tour that you can continue walking around with afterwards.  My second day in Istanbul, I was lucky enough to run into three Americans that I had met in the airport in Cappadocia on the free walking tour.   I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city with them.  Immediately I noticed that we weren’t harassed like I was walking alone even when I was just walking alongside the other girl and the two guys were ahead of us.
4. Use the message boards online to find a travel buddy:  Facebook has a ton of groups for female travelers.  Some of the ones I have joined include Girls LOVE Travel, Girls vs Globe, and BMTM Solo Female Traveler Connect.  Women will post the dates they are traveling to a country and see if anyone else is traveling there at the same time.  That way you can find a travel buddy to walk around and explore Turkey with.  It is a great way to meet like-minded individuals and find someone to explore Turkey or any other country that you visit.
5. Go to a Hostel to meet people:  To be honest, I have stayed in a few hostels during my trip and haven’t loved it.  I have felt a little old to be sharing the bathrooms with random strangers and like my privacy but hostels are a great way to meet people.  Most hostels have a hostel bar and that is a great way to meet traveller.  Head to the bar, have a drink, and see who you meet.  If you meet someone you connect with then ask if they would want to tour the city together.  Again when you are walking with someone else then you are less likely to get hassled.
6. Tell them you are late to meet your boyfriend and need to run:  Okay so all of my suggestions so far have involved making friends while traveling solo but if you really want to explore the city yourself, fake a boyfriend or friend.  I told one guy that asked me out that I needed to hurry to meet my boyfriend back at my hotel and it worked like a charm.  Of course, there was no one waiting for me back at the hotel but he had no way of knowing that.  So if a friendly conversation turns a little too friendly and you want to leave, make up someone.  I would suggest saying boyfriend or husband because if they think it is a girlfriend then they may want to take both of you out.
7. Keep your head down and don’t make eye contact:  As I wander around a new city, I like to look around and take in the sights and sounds of a city.  But if you dare make eye contact or look in a guy’s direction here then it is taken as an open invitation to talk.  If I kept my head down, I would still have guys approach me from out of nowhere but I did notice the number would dwindle significantly.
8. Completely ignore any and all comments:  As soon as you respond in any way, they feel you have engaged and interested in speaking to them.  My upbringing tells me it is rude to completely ignore people but it worked far better than when I said “No thank you” or other polite brush offs.  This isn’t fullproof because some will keep talking to you anyways but they tended to give up faster if you didn’t respond at all.  So resist the temptation to engage them!
9. Turn the corner:  My free walking tour guide told us that inside the Grand Bazaar many men will follow you as you leave the store not wanting to give up on a potential sale.  The trick to get them to go away is to keep walking and turn the corner.  Once you turn the corner, they will leave you alone.  She didn’t explain why but maybe they don’t want to walk that far from their business?
10. Dress conservatively:  Women in Turkey dress conservatively so follow their lead and dress the same.  They tend to have their shoulders and knees covered and wear looser fit clothes.  So keep your tank tops at home.  I would also suggest bringing a couple of scarfs to cover your hair as needed.  You can also use it to wrap around neck so you don’t show any cleavage.  If you are scantily clothed, then men make take it as a signal that you are easy.  That is the last thing you want to signal!

Hopefully my 10 tips help you minimize the harassment as a solo female traveller in Turkey or any other country that you visit.  Did I miss anything?  What other suggestions do my fellow female travelers have??