10-Day Western Turkey Tour: Gallipoli, Troy, Ephesus & Antalya

We meet you at Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW) or Istanbul Airport (IST), whichever your flight uses, and drive you to the hotel for check-in. The transfers are part of the package.

You spend the night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

08:30 – Pick-up for the Old City tour.

Hippodrome: the center of ceremonies and sport in Byzantine Constantinople. Its obelisks and open square help you picture how the imperial city was laid out before the Ottomans arrived.

Blue Mosque: one of the most elegant Ottoman mosques in Istanbul, known for its six minarets and blue Iznik tiles. Inside you see the classical Ottoman style on a grand scale.

Hagia Sophia: a single building where Byzantine engineering, imperial ritual, Ottoman mosque design and the modern history of Istanbul all meet.

Topkapi Palace and Harem: for centuries the sultans ruled and lived here. The visit includes the Harem, where life at court, the family rooms and the order of the palace become much easier to understand.

Grand Bazaar: one of the oldest covered markets on earth. Its lanes are full of jewellery, textiles, carpets, ceramics and traditional workshops that keep the city's trading spirit going.

Note: the Old City program is done on foot. The vehicle is only used to collect you from the hotel and bring you back.

17:00 – End of the tour and transfer back to your hotel.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

06:30 – Departure from Istanbul to Gallipoli. The pick-up time can change. The drive takes about 5 hours, with one stop for a break. When you arrive, lunch comes first, and then the guided tour starts.

Brighton Beach: part of the wider area of the ANZAC landings and your first view of the battlefield from the coast. The open shore makes the geography clear before you visit the cemeteries and ridges.

Beach Cemetery: one of the most personal places on the peninsula, looking out over the shore where the campaign began for thousands of soldiers. In this quiet spot the human cost feels very close.

ANZAC Cove: the narrow landing beach at the center of how Australia and New Zealand remember Gallipoli. Standing here, you see how the land shaped the fighting from the very first hours.

Ari Burnu: the northern end of the landing zone, where cliffs, ridges and sea come together in a tight space. It shows how little level ground the soldiers found when they landed.

Lone Pine: known for some of the hardest hand-to-hand fighting of the campaign. Its cemetery and memorial carry deep emotion.

Johnston's Jolly: here the opposing trenches survive so close together that the harsh reality of trench warfare is easy to see. Few places show more clearly how narrow the front line became.

Shrapnel Valley: a risky path inland from the beaches, open to fire from the hills around it. The name says a lot about what the soldiers faced as they moved through the gullies.

The Nek: a slim ridge remembered for a tragic attack with heavy losses. Seeing how small it is makes the scale of the loss even harder to take in.

Turkish Memorial: a tribute to the Ottoman soldiers who defended the peninsula. It completes the story and shows Gallipoli as a place of memory for both sides.

Chunuk Bair: one of the main heights of the campaign, which for a short time carried desperate strategic hopes. Its memorials speak strongly of sacrifice and its results.

17:30 – End of the tour and transfer to your hotel.

Night in Canakkale.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

After breakfast you are collected for the Troy tour.

Troy ruins: a city built again and again over thousands of years, layer on layer. Your guide links these archaeological layers with the legend of the Trojan War.

Trojan Horse: the replica gives the legend a clear image before the walk through the site, and it is one of the best-known photo spots here.

Ancient walls: the walls of Troy show why the city was thought of as a strong fortress. Their size explains both its defence and its status in the Bronze Age world.

Lunch break: after Troy you stop for lunch before heading south to Pergamon. The break divides the two big sites and gives you time to rest on the road.

Pergamon Acropolis: high above the modern town, it keeps alive the memory of a powerful Hellenistic kingdom. The theater, the temple areas and the terraces with wide views show how the kings used buildings and landscape together to display their power.

Red Basilica area: it began as a huge Roman temple complex and was later used by Christians. Built in brick on a massive scale, it makes Pergamon feel unlike the marble cities of the Aegean.

20:00 – Evening transfer to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

09:00 – Start of the day's visits: the House of Virgin Mary, Ephesus Ancient City and the Temple of Artemis.

House of Virgin Mary: a peaceful shrine among the trees on a hill above Ephesus, visited for its spiritual tradition and quiet setting.

Ephesus Ancient City: among the best-preserved classical cities of the eastern Mediterranean. You walk its marble streets, including Curetes Street, and see the Library of Celsus, the Great Theater, the agora areas, fountains and temples, and you get a feel for daily life in a large Roman city.

Temple of Artemis: once one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Only traces are left, but the visit completes the sacred landscape that made Ephesus famous far beyond its walls.

16:00 – End of the tour and transfer back to your hotel.

Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

07:30 – After breakfast and check-out, departure for Pamukkale.

Hierapolis: a Roman spa town built above the hot springs. Its theater, streets, necropolis, gates and the remains of its baths show how healing water shaped the life of the city.

Pamukkale Travertines: white mineral terraces created by warm, calcium-rich water running down the slope. The walk alongside them gives you the most famous natural view of the day.

Cleopatra Antique Pool area: you see the pool during the visit, with its warm spring water and ancient columns lying inside it. Swimming is optional and paid on site.

At around 15:30 the tour ends, and you are taken to Denizli Bus Station.

16:30 – Bus from Denizli to Antalya. The bus time can change.

20:00 – Arrival and transfer to your hotel in Antalya. The arrival time can change.

Night in Antalya.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

09:00 – Pick-up at your hotel for the Antalya tour.

Upper Duden: the green, inland side of the Duden waterfalls, where shady paths follow the water through a park before it reaches the coast.

Lower Duden: here the waterfall plunges from the cliffs straight into the Mediterranean. It is one of the most striking sights in Antalya and shows how close the city lies to the sea.

Kaleici: the old town of Antalya, with narrow lanes, Ottoman houses, small shops and restored stone streets that lead down to the harbor.

Hadrian Gate: a Roman triumphal gate built for a visit by Emperor Hadrian. With its arches and towers, it is one of the finest ways into the old city.

Hidirlik Tower: set near the cliffs and the old harbor, it ties together Roman-era defence, sea views and the many layers of Antalya's past.

Antalya Harbor: the old port below Kaleici, surrounded today by boats, cliffs, cafes and the city walls.

Panoramic boat trip: from the water you see Antalya's cliffs and harbor at sea level, a fitting end to the walking tour.

17:00 – End of the tour and transfer back to your hotel.

Night in Antalya.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

After breakfast you have free time in Antalya until the transfer to the airport.

15:00 – Flight from Antalya to Istanbul. The flight time and airport can change with the season, the airline schedule and operational availability.

16:20 – Landing in Istanbul and transfer to your hotel.

Ideas for free time in Istanbul:

• A ferry ride on the Bosphorus
• The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar
• The streets of Galata and Karakoy

Night in Istanbul.

Breakfast is included, and the day is yours. You could go shopping, visit museums, explore Balat or Ortakoy, or book an optional evening experience.

More ideas:

• Istiklal Avenue and Taksim
• A Turkish bath (hamam)
• Sunset from Galata Tower

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

Depending on your international flight, we take you to Istanbul Airport (IST) or Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW). Your 10-day Turkey tour finishes with this transfer.