Istanbul, Ephesus & Pamukkale Tour: 6 Days with 2 Domestic Flights

Meals: none | Night: Istanbul | Transfers included | Free time

When you land at Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport, our team waits at the exit gate holding a sign. You are driven to your city-centre hotel to check in, and the rest of the day is free to spend as you like.

Ideas for your free time:

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

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch | Night: Istanbul | Transfers included

After breakfast, your guide meets you at the hotel at 08:30 and takes you to Istanbul's historical peninsula.

• Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque: Built in only five years and finished in 537 AD, the vast interior shows the Byzantine Empire at the height of its confidence. Its pendentive dome, the largest of its type before the modern age, creates a floating sense of height that impresses even experienced travellers.
• Blue Mosque: The Sultan Ahmed Mosque was raised right across from Hagia Sophia to declare Ottoman supremacy in stone and tile, and more than twenty thousand hand-painted Iznik tiles cover its interior. After the Bosphorus itself, its skyline is the most recognisable sight in Istanbul.
• Hippodrome Square: For a thousand years this was the civic heart of Constantinople, hosting races, festivities and political theatre. Three ancient monuments that survive on its central strip show how the city gathered the spoils of an empire.
• Topkapi Palace: For four hundred years every major decision of the Ottoman Empire was taken inside these walls. Courtyards, treasury rooms and the famous harem paint an unusually full picture of imperial life.
• Grand Bazaar: Founded in 1461, it is among the oldest and biggest covered markets in the world, with more than four thousand shops grouped into streets named after their trades. Finishing here brings noise, colour and city life to a day full of monuments.

When the city route ends, around 17:00, you are driven back to the hotel.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch | Night: Kusadasi | Transfers included

• 04:00: pick-up at your Istanbul hotel and transfer to the airport (pick-up time and airport may change)
• 07:20: flight from Istanbul to Izmir (flight time may change)
• 08:30: landing at Izmir Airport, where our staff meet you (the arrival airport and time depend on availability)

You then drive to the Ephesus tour area.

• Ephesus Ancient City: Begin at the upper gate and walk downhill toward the old harbour, the route traders and pilgrims followed two thousand years ago. On the way you pass the Odeon, the State Agora and the Temple of Domitian before the busier lower part of the city. When you reach the Library of Celsus at the bottom, the whole city plan falls into place.
• House of Virgin Mary: Founded on biblical accounts that place Mary near Ephesus after the Crucifixion, this chapel on Bulbul Mountain draws both devout pilgrims and curious visitors who want to know why so many come. That mix of religious, historical and cultural interest gives the small courtyard an open, tolerant mood found at few holy sites in Turkey.
• Temple of Artemis: Seeing the Temple of Artemis means a short detour from the main site, and anyone keen on ancient history will find it well worth the time. The gap between what once stood here, one of the greatest buildings of antiquity, and what is left today makes you think. A good guide turns that gap into a lesson on how fragile even the boldest human projects can be.

After the tour you are transferred to your hotel in Kusadasi or Selcuk.

Night in Kusadasi.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch | Night: Istanbul | Transfers included

At 07:30 you are picked up at your hotel for the drive to Pamukkale, a scenic trip of about 2.5 hours with one comfort stop.

• Pamukkale: One of Turkey's most surprising landscapes sits in Denizli province: Pamukkale, a hillside of dazzling white. For thousands of years, thermal water full of calcium carbonate has run down the slope, forming smooth travertine terraces and shallow pools. UNESCO listed the site in 1988 together with the Greco-Roman city that once flourished here.
• White Calcium Terraces: In photos the travertine looks pure white, but up close you notice ridges, ripples and mineral patterns left by millennia of running water. Underfoot it changes from smooth to slightly rough depending on how recently water flowed over each part. These details remind you that this is geology at work, not something people built.
• Hierapolis Ancient City: A walk through the city covers about two kilometres, from the northern necropolis to the southern gate, with the theatre and main temple area roughly halfway. The distance sounds easy, but the open hillside has no shade in summer, so wear comfortable shoes and bring water. Take your time: almost every fallen column has carved details worth a closer look.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: Here you can swim at a pleasant 36 degrees Celsius among ancient Roman columns, a rare combination. A strong earthquake toppled the columns into the pool centuries ago, and conservationists have kept them where they fell as part of the site's story. If this optional extra appeals to you, bring money for the on-site entry fee, which the tour does not cover.

• Around 16:30: transfer to Denizli Airport after the tour (pick-up time and airport may change)
• 21:00: evening flight from Denizli to Istanbul (flight time may change)
• 22:15: landing in Istanbul, where our team meets you at the airport exit (the arrival airport and time depend on availability)

A transfer takes you to your Istanbul hotel.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast | Night: Istanbul | Transfers included

Spend a relaxed morning in Istanbul at your own pace. At 13:30 you are picked up from the hotel and taken to the pier for the Bosphorus cruise.

• Bosphorus Cruise: Seen from the water, Istanbul shows why a city set exactly where Europe meets Asia became one of history's most contested prizes. The boat slides past Ottoman palaces, wooden mansions on the shore and medieval fortresses.
• Waterfront landmarks: On board you see Dolmabahce Palace, the Ortakoy Mosque with the suspension bridge behind it, Rumeli Fortress and the wooded hills of the Bosphorus villages, a wide view of the city that street-level touring cannot give.

The cruise ends around 17:00 and you are driven back to your hotel.

Night in Istanbul.

Note: The Day 5 cruise always runs as a shared group cruise, even if you book a private tour option; a private yacht can be arranged for an extra fee. With the group option, hotel pick-up and drop-off, guiding and the cruise are all shared. With a private option the boat is still shared, but pick-up, drop-off and guiding are private.

Meals: Breakfast | Transfers included

After breakfast, check out of the hotel. You are then driven to Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport in time for your flight (pick-up time and airport may change).

The final airport transfer marks the end of your 6 Days Istanbul, Pamukkale, and Ephesus Tour.