Istanbul & Cappadocia Tour Package: 8 Days with Domestic Flights

Transfers included. Meals not included. Free time.

On arrival in Istanbul, a member of our team is waiting at the airport exit to drive you to your central Istanbul hotel and check in. You have the remainder of the day to yourself. Some suggestions: take a Bosphorus ferry, browse the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar, or wander around Karakoy and Galata.

You spend the night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

At 08:30 you are picked up at your hotel and taken to Sultanahmet.

• Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque – Used for worship without a break for more than fourteen hundred years, Hagia Sophia repays those who look up, move through the interior and get close to the surviving mosaic panels. The dome, spanning thirty-one metres with sixth-century building methods, is worth understanding before you leave.
• Blue Mosque – Visit the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in the morning, when light through its 260 stained-glass windows brings out the blue Iznik tiles at their brightest. The courtyard and fountain outside were designed with as much care as the interior, so walk all the way round before entering.
• Hippodrome Square – Walking along the central line of the old Hippodrome puts you on ground used for 1,500 years of public life: chariot races, imperial ceremonies, uprisings and diplomatic receptions. The Egyptian Obelisk has stood here since 390 AD.
• Topkapi Palace – The palace grew piece by piece over four centuries as the needs of the Ottoman court expanded. Allow at least two hours; the Treasury, the Harem (separate ticket) and the Circumcision Pavilion with its remarkable tiled facade each deserve close attention.
• Grand Bazaar – The day ends in the market locals have used for five hundred and sixty years: a covered city within the city, arranged by trade and full of a busy, working noise that no attraction could imitate.

At 17:00 the tour ends and we take you back to your hotel for a free evening.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

The morning is slow and free before the afternoon departure. At 13:30 you are collected from your hotel and taken to the pier.

• Bosphorus Cruise – Leaving from the European side, the boat covers about fifteen kilometres of the strait, under the suspension bridges and past the woods of the upper Bosphorus, before turning back. It shows the city's geography in a way that touring at street level cannot.
• Dolmabahce Palace – From the water you see the full 600-metre facade, the longest palace waterfront in Europe, built in 1856 as the Ottoman answer to European grandeur. The shore gates and fountains are easy to make out from the deck.
• Ortakoy Mosque and Bridge – The Baroque mosque on the waterfront, with the first Bosphorus suspension bridge right behind it, is one of the most copied images of Istanbul, and the boat gives you the ideal angle.
• Rumeli Fortress – Mehmed II built it in four months in 1452 to control shipping ahead of his siege of Constantinople, and it still stands nearly intact. Seen from the water, its position at the narrowest point of the strait explains its purpose at once.

At 16:00, after the cruise, you transfer back to your hotel.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included. Free time.

At 10:00 you transfer to the Istanbul airport in line with your flight time (pickup time and airport may change). At 13:00 you fly to Cappadocia (flight time may change) and land at 14:35 (arrival airport and time depend on availability). A transfer takes you from the airport to your Cappadocia hotel.

After check-in the rest of the day is free. Ideas: a sunset viewpoint above Goreme, Uchisar castle, or a Turkish night show (optional).

Overnight in Cappadocia.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

Optional early-morning add-ons: a Hot Air Balloon Flight, our most booked activity and the top-rated Cappadocia experience, known for its sunrise views; or a Balloon Watching Tour to the best sunrise photo spots, with the best viewpoints guaranteed. Either one can be added at the best available price when booking.

At 09:30 you are picked up from your Cappadocia hotel and driven to the northern touring area.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley) – On calm weekday mornings the valley can feel like your own, with no crowds and only the wind moving among the rock columns. That stillness is rare in Cappadocia, and Devrent offers it more often than most Red Tour stops.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum – Visitors who expect only scenery often call Pasabag the best part of the Red Tour, because geology, faith and human skill have met here for more than fifteen centuries. Those layers set it apart from purely scenic stops.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop – In a traditional workshop the air smells of damp clay, and the shelves hold work at every stage: freshly thrown shapes, trimmed leather-hard pots, bisque pieces waiting for glaze and finished items for sale. Seeing the whole process in one room teaches a lot.
• Goreme Panoramic View – Below the viewpoint lies Goreme town, its white and ochre houses grouped among fairy chimneys on the valley floor. Seeing from above how the town and the old landscape fit together gives context that the streets alone cannot.
• Zelve Open Air Museum – No Red Tour stop shows daily life inside the rock formations as clearly as Zelve. Other museum sites in the region explain religious life; Zelve explains home life, which many visitors find the more human story.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view) – In Turkish, Uchisar means 'three fortresses', a reference to the three natural peaks of the rock rather than to built walls. Those three summits, each with its own view over the land around, made it a highly effective natural stronghold.

At 17:00 you return to your hotel.

Overnight in Cappadocia.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

At 09:30, after breakfast and check-out, you are picked up from your Cappadocia hotel and taken to the southern touring area.

• Red Valley – Sitting a little higher than the valley floor around Goreme, Red Valley looks out over the wider Cappadocia landscape. That extra height makes it a favourite for balloon watchers, since flights from Goreme often drift low over it.
• Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley) – At sunset the pale cliffs glow pink, peach and coral, deepening as the light drops below the rim. Evening visits fall outside most tour schedules, but those who stay on see colours that a morning visit cannot match.
• Cavusin Village – Cavusin sits on the road between Goreme and Avanos, and its height above the valley would have let early residents watch travellers approach from every side. That defensive edge probably helped decide the choice of this cliff for a settlement over a thousand years ago.
• Pigeon Valley – Lying between Uchisar and Goreme, in the middle of the busiest part of Cappadocia, the valley is a natural route between the two villages. Because of this, nearly every visitor sees it from some angle, even without stopping to walk it.
• Underground City – These cities were rediscovered and mapped mostly in the 20th century, although locals always knew of them and used the chambers they could reach for storage. Systematic excavation is still going on, and new sections open to the public as stability checks are completed.

At 17:00 you transfer to Nevsehir or Kayseri Airport (departure airport depends on availability). At 19:45 a late-evening flight takes you to Istanbul (flight time may change), arriving at 21:15 (arrival airport and time depend on availability). You then transfer back to your Istanbul hotel.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast.

After breakfast the day is free. Rest, explore on your own, shop, visit museums or just enjoy Istanbul in your own time.

For an evening plan, you can add a Bosphorus dinner cruise with dinner and a show when you book.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

Have breakfast at the hotel and check out in line with your departure schedule. A transfer takes you to the Istanbul airport to match your international flight time.

Your 8-day Istanbul and Cappadocia package finishes with this last airport transfer.