All-Inclusive Turkey Tour Packages: What Is and Is Not Included

No Turkey tour package is all-inclusive in the way a beach resort is, and ours are no exception. What our packages do include is the hard part of the trip: hotels with breakfast, the flights within Turkey, airport and tour transfers, licensed guides and the entry tickets in the itinerary. Two of our tours go further, with full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner every day). One includes return flights from the US. What almost always stays outside the price is your international flight, most dinners, drinks, tips, insurance and optional activities such as a hot air balloon flight. The package closest to "everything paid" for a first trip is our Istanbul and Cappadocia tour package, 10 days, from $2,499 per person. It covers two domestic flights, lunch on touring days, a dinner cruise, a Turkish Night dinner, a hammam and every entry ticket.

Below, you will find what each package line really covers, which meals are included where, and what you should expect to pay on top. If you are comparing quotes from several companies, the checklist at the end of the page will help.

What "all-inclusive" means for a tour

At a resort, all-inclusive means you never pay for food or drink. On a touring holiday the term is looser, and companies use it in different ways. Before you compare prices, check how a package handles these five things:

1. Meals. Breakfast only, breakfast and lunch on touring days, or full board with dinner as well.
2. Flights. Flights within Turkey, international flights, or both.
3. Entry tickets. All of them, only those "in the itinerary", or only some.
4. Activities. Whether things like a Bosphorus cruise, hammam or Turkish Night Show are paid for or listed as optional.
5. Tips and drinks. Rarely included anywhere, but worth checking.

Two packages that both say "all-inclusive" can differ by hundreds of dollars on these lines alone. That is why we publish a full inclusions and exclusions list on every tour page, and why this page quotes those lists rather than a slogan.

What almost every package includes

Across our multi-day packages, these items appear on the inclusion list again and again:

• Hotel nights with breakfast. On our private packages, a mid-range hotel from our list, booked with your approval. You can switch to another hotel and pay only the difference. Group packages name the hotel level in the itinerary.
• Flights within Turkey, where the route needs them. On group routes, the ticket includes 15 kg of checked baggage and 8 kg in the cabin.
• Airport transfers, and hotel pickup and drop-off on tour days.
• A licensed, English-speaking guide on the guided days. On private routes, some days are with your own guide and car.
• Entry tickets for the sites in the itinerary. On several private packages that means every museum and attraction on the route.
• Local taxes and service charges.
• Contact with our team by phone and WhatsApp while you travel.

That covers the costs that are hardest to arrange yourself: domestic flights, getting from airports to hotels, and the order and timing of the sights.

Meals: breakfast, lunch and the dinner question

Meals are where the word "inclusive" is most often stretched. This table shows what six of our packages include, taken directly from their inclusion lists.

The two full-board tours are the only ones where you will not pay for a meal. Both are faith-focused routes through Istanbul, Ephesus and Pamukkale with 4-star or equivalent hotels. They suit church groups and travellers on the Seven Churches of Revelation tour route.

Our Istanbul package carries "all-inclusive" in its name. Its list still excludes dinners, apart from the Bosphorus dinner cruise, and it marks the spa as optional. We say this plainly so that you are not surprised: in Istanbul, most people want to choose their own restaurants in the evening anyway.

Flights: domestic yes, international almost never

Flights within Turkey are included on every package whose route needs them. That includes Istanbul to Cappadocia, Cappadocia to Izmir for Ephesus, and Izmir or Antalya back to Istanbul. These are the flights that are fiddly to book yourself, because they have to match tour times.

International flights are not included, with one exception. Our New Year Istanbul and Cappadocia tour from the USA, from $1,800 per person for 8 days, includes return international flights from selected US airports. Its list still excludes the balloon flight, the ATV safari, the Turkish Night Show, meals not marked as included, travel insurance, tips, and single supplements or room upgrades.

For everyone else, the flight to Istanbul is a separate purchase. That works in your favour: you can use your own airline, miles and dates. If you are coming from North America, our Turkey trip cost from the USA and Turkey trip cost from Canada pages show how the flight and the land package add up.

Activities: included, optional or extra

Some packages put the classic experiences into the price. Others leave them as add-ons. On our private Istanbul and Cappadocia 10-day package, the inclusion list covers:

• In Istanbul: a private airport meet-and-greet, the Old City tour, a private car tour of the city, a food tour, a Bosphorus cruise and a Bosphorus dinner cruise with shows.
• The hammam: a Turkish hammam and spa session.
• In Cappadocia: the Red and Green Tours, a horseback ride, and dinner at a Turkish Night show.
• Lunch when touring, and entry tickets for the sights.

Its exclusions are short: the balloon flight, personal expenses, drinks during meals and optional photoshoot sessions.

Compare that with a budget group package, which may include the guided sightseeing days but list the Bosphorus cruise, the Turkish Night Show and the hammam as optional. Neither approach is wrong. The question is whether you would buy those extras anyway. If you would, the package that includes them is often the better deal.

What is always extra

However inclusive the package, budget for these items. They appear on our exclusion lists, or are simply never part of a tour price:

The balloon is the largest of these. Current price ranges are in our Cappadocia hot air balloon price update. No operator can promise that a flight will go ahead, so plan two or three nights in Cappadocia if it matters to you. For what else Cappadocia costs, see the Cappadocia tour prices page.

How to get as close as possible to all-inclusive

1. Choose a full-board route if you want every meal covered. Our Christian Heritage and Seven Churches tours are the only ones with dinner every night.
2. Pick a private package with the activities built in. The Istanbul and Cappadocia 10-day and Grand Turkey routes include the cruise, hammam and Turkish Night dinner.
3. Decide on the balloon before you travel. If you want to fly, ask us to book it with the package, so the cost is known in advance.
4. Set a daily budget for dinners and drinks. It is the one line nearly every traveller pays.
5. Ask for a tailor-made quote if you want dinners added on a route that does not include them. Our tailor-made Turkey tour page explains how. Cancellation terms for each booking are set out on our cancellation policy page.

For Istanbul-only stays, our Istanbul tour package cost page covers what Istanbul-only packages cost. The Istanbul tour packages with hotel page covers city stays with accommodation.

Tours that cover this

• Istanbul and Cappadocia Tour Package: 10 Days, Flights and Cave Hotel: from $2,499 per person.
• Istanbul Tour Package All-Inclusive: 10 Days with Cruises and Islands: from $1,750 per person.
• Christian Heritage Tour of Turkey: 10 Days with Full Board: from $3,625 per person.
• Turkey Tour Package 10 Days: Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus and Flights: from $2,800 per person.

Browse every multi-day option on our multi-day trips page or start from the Türkiye destination guide.

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