Best of Turkey Tour Package: 9 Days with 2 Flights & Overnight Bus

Night: Istanbul | Transfers included | Free time

You may arrive at either Sabiha Gokcen Airport or Istanbul Airport; in both cases someone from our team stands at the arrivals exit with your name on a sign. A driver then brings you to your hotel in central Istanbul for check-in.

After that you are free, which gives you time to settle in before the tours begin. Relax close to the hotel, wander through the area or rest after your journey. If you want to get out and about, you could try:

• A Bosphorus trip by ferry
• The Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar
• A walk through Karakoy and Galata

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast | Night: Istanbul | Transfers included | Free afternoon

At 08:30 you are collected from the hotel and driven to Sultanahmet for a guided morning in the Old City.

• Blue Mosque: The first stop sets the tone with six minarets, a wide inner courtyard and a prayer hall glowing blue from hand-painted Iznik tiles. Prayers are still held here every day, so it feels like part of living Istanbul, not a museum piece.
• Hippodrome of Constantinople: Chariot races, festivals and political upheavals all took place on this square, the heart of public life in Byzantine times. Two survivors of that era, the Egyptian Obelisk and the Serpent Column, still mark its many layers of history.
• Hagia Sophia Mosque: Completed in 537 AD as the biggest cathedral on earth and later turned into a mosque, it is Istanbul's most visited monument. Inside, Byzantine frescoes, Ottoman calligraphy and Roman engineering share one space.
• Grand Bazaar (free time): The guided part finishes in a market that has traded without a break since 1461, with more than 4,000 shops spread along 61 streets. It is the ideal place to swap monuments for the city's commercial buzz at your own pace.

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

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast | Night: Istanbul | Transfers included

The morning is slow and unplanned. At 13:30 you are picked up at your hotel and taken to the pier.

• Bosphorus Cruise: In one afternoon you sail the strait that separates Europe from Asia and see Istanbul's shores, palaces, bridges and fortresses from an angle no land tour can match. The waterway sums up the city's identity as the place where two continents have always met.
• Landmarks from the water: Dolmabahce Palace, Ciragan Palace, Beylerbeyi Palace, Rumeli Fortress and the first Bosphorus Bridge glide past, together with a long line of historic mansions on the shore. From the deck, the size and variety of this architecture usually catches visitors by surprise.

The cruise finishes at 17:00 and you are driven back to the hotel.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Lunch | Night: Cappadocia | Transfers included

• 04:00: pick-up at your Istanbul hotel for the airport transfer (pick-up time and airport may change)
• 07:00: flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia (flight time may change)
• 08:00: landing in Cappadocia (the arrival airport and time depend on availability)

From the airport you drive straight to the touring area in north Cappadocia.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley): The valley looks different at every hour, and groups who come in the afternoon see a completely different set of colours from morning visitors. Even by local standards, the way light changes its mood is unusual.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum: These fairy chimneys reached their height because caps of hard basalt shielded the soft volcanic tuff underneath from rain. Without those caps, the columns would have eroded to the valley floor centuries ago.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop: Adults and children both get hands-on at the wheel, and families often name this as a favourite part of the trip. The instructor has guided thousands of beginners and keeps the session patient, encouraging and fun.
• Goreme Panoramic View: Here your guide often takes the group photo of the day with the whole valley behind you. Ask for it before everyone scatters for their own pictures.
• Zelve Open Air Museum: Zelve has its own entrance fee, separate from the other museums in the region, which some visitors do not expect. Your Red Tour guide handles all tickets, so this is just background information.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view): For the Byzantine communities living here, the castle was above all a refuge where the whole population could shelter in times of danger. Tunnels cut through the rock let people move between levels unseen, and from outside you can still make out this dense web of passages.

At 17:00 you are taken to your hotel in Cappadocia.

Night in Cappadocia.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch | Night: overnight bus | Transfers included

Optional early-morning extras:

• Hot Air Balloon Flight: the most booked activity, rated the number one Cappadocia experience, with sunrise views over the valleys
• Balloon Watching Tour: sunrise photos from the best Cappadocia viewpoints, guaranteed

Either one can be added at the best available price when you book.

After checking out of the hotel, you are picked up at 09:30 and driven to the southern touring area.

• Red Valley: From the main viewpoint you can follow the whole canyon, running south toward Rose Valley and west toward the plateau above Goreme. Few single spots in Cappadocia show the scale of the terrain this clearly.
• Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley): Locals call it Gulludere, a name taken from the pink glow of its limestone cliffs in the late afternoon sun. Byzantine churches are cut into the walls at different heights, and some still hold faded frescoes painted by early Christian communities.
• Cavusin Village: Look through the open doorways and you will see carved shelves, niches and channels in the floors, signs of ordered home life inside what looks like plain rock from outside. Some rooms lead to further chambers deeper in the cliff, joined by narrow passages to shared corridors.
• Pigeon Valley: Over generations, locals and guides have given names to the larger rock shapes here. From the canyon floor the rim keeps changing profile as you walk, with overhangs and sharp ridges forming new silhouettes.
• Underground City: Some researchers think the scratches and carvings on the tunnel walls were direction markers that helped residents find their way in poor light. Others read them as ownership marks or notes left by the carvers, and their true meaning is still unknown.

At 17:00 the tour ends and you are taken to the Cappadocia bus station. The overnight bus to Pamukkale leaves at 20:00 (the time may change), and the ride lasts about 10 hours.

Night on the bus.

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

The bus reaches Denizli Bus Station between 05:30 and 06:00. A transfer takes you to a hotel in Pamukkale where you can freshen up, and the guided tour starts at 09:30.

• Pamukkale: The hillside rises like a giant's staircase, each broad step holding warm turquoise water. Thermal springs have been laying down calcium carbonate here for more than two thousand years, building the smooth white travertine layer by layer. This UNESCO World Heritage Site in Denizli pairs the natural terraces with the large ruins of Hierapolis just above them.
• White Calcium Terraces: The first steps onto the terraces are a surprise: the travertine is smooth and warm, each pool is at body temperature, and the view across the Denizli valley reaches for miles. Two thousand years of slow mineral build-up created them, and they still feel untouched by time.
• Hierapolis Ancient City: The Romans who came for the hot springs liked them enough to build a whole city on the hill. Founded in the 2nd century BC, Hierapolis grew into a major Greco-Roman spa, with streets and monuments spread above the terraces. A large part of it still stands, and a walk through it takes you back two millennia.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: No record proves that Cleopatra bathed here, but the water and the pool date from Roman times, and the marble columns on the bottom really did fall in an earthquake. You swim in 36-degree mineral water among pieces of a Roman building that have lain there since the 7th century. Swimming is an optional extra, not part of the tour price, and is paid on-site.

At 16:00 the Pamukkale tour ends and the transfer to Kusadasi/Selcuk begins.

Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

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

After breakfast and check-out, you are picked up at your Kusadasi/Selcuk hotel at 08:30 and driven to Ephesus.

• Ephesus Ancient City: Ephesus began as a Greek city before Rome reshaped it, and both periods show in the architecture once you know where to look. Your guide points out where Greek column styles gave way to Roman versions in different parts of the site. That mix makes Ephesus richer than a city built in a single era.
• House of Virgin Mary: The Vatican recognises this house in Selcuk as an official Catholic pilgrimage site, a status few disputed holy places share. The research behind that decision drew partly on the recorded visions of a German nun in the 19th century, and your guide can tell the story. Faith, history and landscape meet here in a rare way.
• Temple of Artemis: At four times the size of the Parthenon, the temple once dominated the land around Ephesus; picture 127 tall columns filling the field in front of you. Archaeologists have traced its foundation, and markers on site show its huge footprint across what is now a shallow, marshy hollow near Selcuk. A visit changes how you see the ambition of the ancient world.

At 17:00 you are transferred to Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport.

• 19:30: flight from Izmir to Istanbul (flight time may change)
• 20:45: landing in Istanbul (the arrival airport and time depend on availability)

A transfer then takes you to your Istanbul hotel.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast | Night: Istanbul | Free day

The whole day is free to spend in Istanbul as you like. A few suggestions:

• Istiklal Avenue and Taksim
• A Turkish bath (hamam)
• Sunset from Galata Tower

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast | Transfers included

Enjoy breakfast and check out of the hotel before 11:30. Our team then drives you to Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport, timed to match your international flight.

This last airport transfer closes your 9 Days Best of Turkey Tour Package. We hope the route has given you a true cross-section of Turkey, not just a quick list of famous names.