5-Day Turkey Package from Istanbul: Ephesus, Pamukkale & Cappadocia

Meals: lunch. Transfers: included. Overnight: Kusadasi.

04:00 – Pick-up at your Istanbul hotel and drive to the airport.

06:45 – Flight from Istanbul to Izmir. The flight time can change.

08:00 – Landing at Izmir Airport. The landing airport and time may differ depending on availability. From there we drive you to Selcuk, where the Ephesus day tour begins.

• Ephesus Ancient City – in the second century, Roman emperors tried to outdo each other in Ephesus, and the results are everywhere: in the ornate front of the Temple of Hadrian, in the dedications carved on the Library of Celsus and in the extra seating added to the Great Theatre. This imperial sponsorship is why so much survived. The buildings were made to impress and made to last.
• House of Virgin Mary – the stop also means a great deal to Muslim visitors. Mary, called Meryem Ana in Turkish, is honoured in Islam too, and Turkish pilgrims often visit the chapel next to Christian travellers. This shared respect between two world religions makes it one of the most open sacred places in Turkey, and signs outside the chapel recognise both traditions.
• Temple of Artemis – of the seven classical wonders, only the Pyramids of Giza still stand; the Temple of Artemis is one of those that vanished. Near Selcuk you stand on the actual spot of this lost monument, marked by a single column. If you were raised on stories of the Seven Wonders, being there has a weight no photograph can carry.

16:30 – After the tour we drive you to your hotel in Kusadasi.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Overnight: Kusadasi.

08:00 – After breakfast we leave Kusadasi for the Pamukkale route.

• Pamukkale – a place that rewards a slow visit. Warm spring water runs over broad white ledges and collects in shallow pools that shine turquoise against the chalk-white rock. Set in the Denizli province of Turkey, this UNESCO site combines one of the most striking natural formations anywhere with some of the best-kept ruins anywhere in the area.
• White Calcium Terraces – time on the terraces runs at its own speed. You wade from one pool to the next, each a little different in depth and mineral feel. Two millennia of thermal activity formed every ledge under your feet, and the warm water around your ankles carries the same minerals that first turned this hillside white.
• Hierapolis Ancient City – at its height it may have had up to 100,000 residents, a big city for its time. The hot springs drove an economy of healing visits, textile making and trade along the main Anatolian roads. Most of the ruins you see above Pamukkale come from the Roman imperial age, although the city carried on under Byzantine rule for several centuries after the fall of Rome.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool – it lies inside the ruins of Hierapolis and links you directly to the old bathing culture of Pamukkale. You can see the pool area without paying extra; a swim is optional and paid on site.

16:00 – After the Pamukkale tour we drive back to Kusadasi.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers: included. Free time. Overnight: Cappadocia.

After breakfast we take you to the airport for a connecting flight from Izmir to Cappadocia via Istanbul. The flight time can change.

You land at Kayseri or Nevsehir Airport; the landing airport and time may differ depending on availability. We then take you to your hotel in Cappadocia.

The rest of the day is free. Simply unwind, or book something optional for the evening, like a Turkish night or a horseback ride.

Ideas for the afternoon: watching sunset from a viewpoint over Goreme, visiting Uchisar castle, or an optional Turkish night show.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers: included. Overnight: Cappadocia.

Optional early-morning add-ons:

• Hot Air Balloon Flight – rated the number one Cappadocia experience, with sunrise views over the valleys; our most booked activity.
• Balloon Watching Tour – sunrise photos from the top viewpoints in Cappadocia, with the best spots guaranteed.

You can add either one when you book, at the best prices available.

10:00 – Pick-up at your hotel in Cappadocia for your first full day of sightseeing.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley) – in the early afternoon the valley can feel hot and open, so bring a hat and water; your guide will remind you more than once. There is no shade here, but the walk is short and easy with a little preparation.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum – only a short drive from Avanos, the next stop on the Red Tour, and the change from natural wonder to craft town is one of the most pleasing contrasts of the day. Both stops are key to understanding what makes Cappadocia special.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop – many workshops in Avanos have a resident master whose own pieces are kept apart from the regular production. If your guide can arrange it, ask to see the master's work: it usually shows a level of skill the standard pieces do not fully reveal.
• Goreme Panoramic View – on the Red Tour this works as a geography lesson. From up here your guide can point out each valley, each major rock formation and each town below, giving you a three-dimensional map before you head back down into the landscape.
• Zelve Open Air Museum – its cave chapels hold fragments of frescoes that survived partly because Zelve gets fewer visitors than other museum sites nearby. The paintings are faint and need a close look, but spotting them yourself while exploring the site freely is very rewarding.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view) – photographers have captured it from all sides and through all seasons, and no other landmark shows up as often in travel coverage of Cappadocia. Knowing it from pictures takes nothing away from seeing it in person; most people feel recognition and wonder at the same moment.

17:00 – We drive you back to your hotel.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers: included.

09:00 – Check out of your hotel and drive to the tour area.

• Red Valley – the geology here goes back about three million years, when volcanic eruptions buried central Anatolia under thick layers of ash. Erosion then wore through those layers at different speeds depending on how hard they were, leaving the tall, lone pillars that now shape the skyline of the valley.
• Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley) – the trail runs over several low ridges with short climbs, and each one reveals the canyon from a new viewpoint, along with more carved cliff faces. The path is laid out to reveal the valley bit by bit, with the main landmarks appearing around bends instead of all in one open view.
• Cavusin Village – the name appears in Byzantine records among several settlements mentioned by name in the Goreme valley of Cappadocia, proof of an importance greater than what you see today. By comparing these written sources with the surviving rock-cut buildings, researchers have pieced together how the cliff communities of Cappadocia were organised.
• Pigeon Valley – its canyon path links two famous landmarks: the massive rock fortress of Uchisar Castle, seen from the western end, and the cone-shaped fairy chimneys of Goreme rising in the east. Walking the whole valley takes about an hour and gives you a view of Cappadocia that no road tour can match.
• Underground City – the underground cities of Cappadocia were joined to nearby settlements by tunnels that ran for several kilometres below ground, so communities could stay in touch and move between sites without being seen from above. These tunnels were kept narrow on purpose so that large groups could not pass quickly, slowing down any enemy who found a way in.

17:00 – After the tour we take you to the airport.

19:30 – Flight from Cappadocia to Istanbul. The flight time can change.

20:50 – Landing in Istanbul; the landing airport and time may differ depending on availability. We then drive you to your Istanbul hotel, and the tour ends here.