Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale & Ephesus Tour: 7 Days with Flights

Our airport team welcomes you when you land in Istanbul. The arrival airport and time depend on availability. You are then driven to your hotel in the city center. Transfers included.

The rest of the day is free. A few ideas:

• A ferry trip on the Bosphorus
• The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar
• A stroll through Galata and Karakoy

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

08:30 – Pick-up at your hotel and drive to Sultanahmet for the morning tour.

Blue Mosque: the first stop, with six minarets, a wide courtyard and hand-painted Iznik tiles that bathe the prayer hall in soft blue light. It is still a working mosque, so you see Ottoman architecture as part of daily life in Istanbul, not only as history.

Hippodrome of Constantinople: the open-air stage of the Byzantine city. Chariot races, ceremonies and political events all took place here. The Egyptian Obelisk and the Serpent Column still stand in the square and show how many empires left their mark on Istanbul.

Hagia Sophia Mosque: built in 537 AD as the biggest cathedral of its age, later turned into a mosque, and today the most visited monument in Istanbul. Inside, Byzantine structure, Ottoman calligraphy and Roman engineering come together in a single building.

Grand Bazaar (free time): the guided part of the morning ends here. The bazaar has been trading since 1461 and has more than 4,000 shops along 61 streets, a good place to swap monuments for the busy life of the market at your own pace.

12:30 – The guided tour finishes at the Grand Bazaar, and the afternoon is free.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: lunch. Transfers included.

04:00 – Hotel pick-up and transfer to the airport. The pick-up time and airport can change.

06:40 – Flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia. The flight time can change.

08:00 – Landing in Cappadocia and transfer to the tour area. The arrival airport and time depend on availability.

Devrent Valley (Pink Valley): the fairy chimneys of Pasabag are tall and dramatic; the rocks here are lower, broader and far more varied. That is what makes Devrent special. No two columns are alike, and the longer you look, the more you see.

Pasabag Open Air Museum: in one of the cave chapels you can enter, faint fragments of fresco are still visible. They are paler than the famous paintings of Goreme Open Air Museum, but worth a close look, because here they sit inside a fairy chimney instead of a carved cliff.

Avanos Pottery Workshop: trying the potter's wheel is easier than it looks. The instructor guides your hands through centering the clay and pulling it up, and most visitors make a recognisable shape within five minutes. What seems impossible at first usually falls into place quickly.

Goreme Panoramic View: a natural halfway point in the Red Tour, between the northern valleys and the museum sites. The short stop up high helps you get your bearings before the second half of the day.

Zelve Open Air Museum: in autumn the low sun brings out the texture of the carved stone and gives depth to photos of the facades. In spring the valley floor is greener and the colours softer. Both seasons give better pictures than the flat midday light of high summer.

Uchisar Castle (exterior view): the highest natural rock formation in Cappadocia, about sixty meters above the plateau and visible from almost anywhere in the region. Centuries of carving have filled its face with hundreds of windows and passages on every level, so it looks as much built as natural.

17:00 – After the tour you transfer to your hotel in Cappadocia.

Night in Cappadocia.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

Please note: direct flights from Cappadocia to Izmir do not run every day. If there is none on your date, you fly via Istanbul.

Optional early-morning add-ons (can be added during booking at the best available price):

• Hot air balloon flight at sunrise, our most booked activity
• Balloon watching tour to the best viewpoints for sunrise photos

09:30 – Pick-up at your hotel after breakfast and check-out, then drive to the South Cappadocia tour area.

Red Valley: walking the trail from north to south, you slowly drop down to the valley floor and then climb back to the rim at the far end. On the way you pass several large natural arches and cliffs whose lower parts erosion has hollowed out into overhanging shelves.

Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley): narrower and more intimate than the wide canyons elsewhere in Cappadocia, this valley is best seen on foot. Everything is on a human scale: carved churches, cave homes and dovecotes are close enough to touch from the path.

Cavusin Village: the Church of Saint John the Baptist is cut into the highest point of the cliff you can reach above the village. It dates from the 5th century and holds some of the oldest rock-cut architecture left in Cappadocia. A short climb through the abandoned upper village, past carved houses and storerooms, takes you there.

Pigeon Valley: the trail is at its best in the morning, when the sun comes in from the east and lights up the carved cliffs on the western side. Later, as the light fills the whole canyon, the shadows around the pigeon-house openings fade and the rock looks flatter.

Underground City: a winery carved into the underground city shows that people made and kept wine below ground. They pressed grapes in carved troughs and let the juice ferment in carved vessels. This had a practical side, but it also let the community keep an important part of its social and religious life during long periods in hiding.

16:00 – After the tour, transfer to Cappadocia airport. The pick-up time and airport can change.

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

23:45 – Landing in Izmir and transfer to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk. The arrival airport and time depend on availability.

Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

08:00 – Pick-up at your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk and drive to Pamukkale.

Pamukkale: in one afternoon you walk barefoot over warm white stone, look down into turquoise pools and up at ancient ruins. The travertine terraces in the province of Denizli grew over thousands of years as calcium carbonate settled from overflowing hot springs. UNESCO has listed the whole hillside, together with the ancient city above it, as a World Heritage Site.

White Calcium Terraces: the rules say shoes off before you step onto the travertine, and that turns out to be a very good rule. The warm, smooth stone under your feet feels like nothing else. The terraces shine brightest in the morning light, which is also the best time for photos.

Hierapolis Ancient City: people still lived here in Byzantine times. A large basilica near the center marks the moment when Christianity took the place of the old pagan temples. You can see the change in the buildings: Roman marble was reused in Byzantine work, and the old baths were turned into a Christian space. For a site of its size, Hierapolis holds an unusual number of historical layers.

Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: the pool floor is scattered with pieces of Roman columns that fell in during an earthquake in the 7th century. The water is 36 degrees Celsius, rich in minerals and clear enough to see the old stonework below you. Entry is not part of the tour and is paid at the pool, so bring cash or a card if you want to swim.

16:00 – After the Pamukkale visit you return to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

08:30 – Pick-up at your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk and drive to the Ephesus area.

Ephesus Ancient City: Hadrian's Temple stands on Curetes Street. It is small next to the Great Theatre or the Library, yet its carved arch and fine friezes make it one of the most graceful buildings in the city. The faces of Medusa and Tyche above the doorway are still in very good shape after many centuries, and your guide explains what each figure means.

House of Virgin Mary: many visitors say they leave with a sense of calm that lasts the rest of the day. It may be the mountain setting, the forest air, the holy history or just the slower pace after the crowded ruins. Either way, this is why most Ephesus tours include it: it rounds off the day like nothing else.

Temple of Artemis: the temple was destroyed and rebuilt three times before it was finally ruined in 401 AD, and its fame reached every corner of the ancient world. Writers counted it among the Seven Wonders for its huge size and rich decoration: 127 columns, each 18 meters tall, around a shrine to the goddess of the hunt. Today a single column marks the spot.

17:00 – After the tour, transfer to Izmir Airport. The pick-up time can change.

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

20:30 – Landing in Istanbul and transfer to your hotel. The arrival airport and time depend on availability.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

We take you to Istanbul Airport in time for your international flight. The pick-up time and airport can change. This last transfer brings your 7-day Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Ephesus tour to a close.