Travelling between Istanbul and Serbia I met a German guy who’d cycled out to Turkey and was heading back to Berlin by train.
We agree flying to a city leaves you without a real sense of how that place fits into the country geographically and culturally.
After passing through regions of landscape on the train you have a clear sense of place by the time you arrive. He says cycling into a country is even better, like seeing a flower open up before you.
There’s a nice article here on the troublesome decision of to fly or not to fly.
Here, you will find some reasons not to bother.