Istanbul & Cappadocia Tour Package: 6 Days with Flights & Cruise

Overnight: Istanbul. Transfers are included. Free time today.

On arrival at Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport, our representative is waiting with a sign bearing your name and drives you to the hotel. You have the remainder of the day to yourself.

Some ways to spend it: ride a ferry on the Bosphorus, visit the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar, or walk around Karakoy and Galata.

Guests who are in Istanbul already begin their tour services the following day. Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast. Overnight: Istanbul. Transfers included. Free time.

08:30 – Transfer from your hotel to Sultanahmet to start the Old City route, a day among Istanbul's best-known imperial monuments and one of its most famous market areas.

Hagia Sophia – No building sums up Istanbul's many layers better. Over fifteen centuries it has been an imperial basilica, a mosque, a museum and a mosque once more. Inside, the huge dome and the mix of Byzantine and Ottoman art make the city's history feel tangible.

Blue Mosque – Across Sultanahmet Square from Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque holds its own with six perfectly balanced minarets and a cool, bright interior lined with Iznik tiles. It is still an active place of worship, yet it welcomes guided visitors without losing its sacred mood.

Ancient Hippodrome / Sultanahmet Square – This open square was once the centre of sport and politics in Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments such as the Egyptian Obelisk and the Serpentine Column still mark the line of the old imperial racetrack.

Grand Bazaar – Trading without a break since the fifteenth century, the Grand Bazaar now holds more than four thousand shops beneath vaulted stone halls. Moving from imperial monuments to a working market rounds out the day, so it is not only about archaeology.

Around 13:00 – The tour finishes at the Grand Bazaar, and the rest of the day is yours. Overnight in Istanbul.

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

• 03:45 – Hotel pick-up and transfer to the airport. Pick-up time and airport can change.
• 06:20 – Flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia. The schedule can change.
• 07:55 – Landing at Kayseri or Nevsehir Airport. Which airport, and the exact time, depend on availability.

From the airport you go straight to the touring area and begin your stay with the classic northern route and its best-known rock formations.

Devrent Valley (Imagination Valley) – Children love the game of spotting animals in the rocks here, and groups with young travellers often stay longer at Devrent than at any other Red Tour stop. Open ground, playful shapes and no rope barriers keep every age group interested.

Pasabag Open Air Museum – The path at Pasabag is well kept and clearly marked, so most visitors manage it with no trouble. Take care only on the uneven stone near the bases of the chimneys, where centuries of feet have polished the surface smooth and a little slippery.

Avanos Pottery Workshop – Pottery from Avanos is sold in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar and in craft shops all over Turkey, so buying at the source usually costs a fraction of what you would pay elsewhere. Knowing that makes the showroom visit more than a souvenir stop.

Goreme Panoramic View – This lookout sits above Goreme National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the view explains exactly what UNESCO recognised: a whole landscape carved by geology and shaped by people over two thousand years.

Zelve Open Air Museum – The cave clusters at Zelve have windows cut at four or five levels. They look planned, but they grew out of practical decisions about where to dig the next room, so what seems like order is really a record of choices made over centuries.

Uchisar Castle (exterior view) – The viewing stop below Uchisar Castle suits every fitness level and needs only a short walk from the car park. The paved terrace is big enough for a whole group to take photos together, which keeps things simple even when other groups are there.

17:00 – Transfer to your hotel in Cappadocia after the tour. Overnight in Cappadocia.

Meals: Breakfast and lunch. Overnight: Istanbul. Transfers included.

Optional early-morning add-ons

• Hot Air Balloon Flight – the top-rated Cappadocia experience, with the classic sunrise views, and our most booked activity.
• Balloon Watching Tour – a guaranteed spot at the best Cappadocia viewpoints for sunrise photos.

You can add either one at the best available price while booking.

09:30 – Pick-up from your Cappadocia hotel for the second guided route. Today is about valley scenery, traces of old villages and life underground, before you fly back to Istanbul in the evening.

Red Valley – The rock faces show natural horizontal bands, and each one marks a separate volcanic event, thousands of years apart. Geologists who visit Cappadocia often point to Red Valley as one of the clearest records of the region's volcanic past.

Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley) – At some points on the trail the canyon shrinks to just a few metres across, with walls rising on both sides and only a thin pale strip of sky above. These tight passages then open suddenly into wider spaces, a rhythm of squeeze and release that makes the walk feel like theatre.

Cavusin Village – You could explore Cavusin alone and enjoy it, but a good guide turns empty caves into a landscape you can read. Knowing which rooms were churches, which were homes and which joined shared spaces changes how you see every carved wall.

Pigeon Valley – Local farming families still use some of the dovecotes, and flocks of white and grey pigeons fly in and out of the cliff holes all day. Their constant movement brings life to a landscape that could otherwise feel purely geological.

Underground City – You enter through a low carved doorway and go down a first narrow staircase, and what follows comes as a real surprise. A single tunnel opens into a web of linked rooms, passages and vertical shafts that runs further and deeper than the small entrance suggests.

• 17:00 – Transfer to the airport after the tour.
• 20:30 – Flight from Cappadocia to Istanbul. The schedule can change.
• 21:45 – Landing in Istanbul; the airport and arrival time depend on availability.

Our team meets you after landing and drives you to your hotel. Overnight in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast. Overnight: Istanbul. Transfers included. Free time.

The morning is free in Istanbul until your pick-up for the afternoon cruise.

13:30 – Transfer from your hotel to the pier. Once on board, lunch is served while the boat sails between Europe and Asia.

Dolmabahce Palace – Its 600-metre waterfront was designed to be admired from the sea, so the Bosphorus is where the ceremonial facade shows best. The European-style splendour reflects the Ottoman court's cultural turn in the nineteenth century as clearly as anything could.

Ortakoy Mosque – Set right next to the first Bosphorus bridge, this mosque forms one of the most photographed pairings of Ottoman and modern Istanbul. Its modest size and careful position on the water make it one of the most graceful sights of the cruise.

Rumeli Fortress – Mehmed II built the fortress in 1452 as his last military step before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. Seen from the water, its towers make the strategic value of the narrows obvious.

Bosphorus waterfront mansions – The wooden yali houses along the shore recall an older, calmer way of life in Istanbul. They move the story of the cruise from imperial power to private elegance and give the strait a more personal, human side.

17:30 – Transfer back to your hotel at the end of the cruise. Overnight in Istanbul.

Note: On private tours the guide and transfers are private, but the Bosphorus cruise itself is shared with other guests. Ask us if you would prefer a private cruise.

Meals: Breakfast. Transfers included.

At a time that fits your flight, we drive you from your hotel to Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport, where the tour ends.