Istanbul, Ephesus, Pamukkale, Antalya & Cappadocia Tour – 9 Days

Base: Istanbul · Transfers included

You land at Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport, where our airport team is waiting for you. They drive you to your hotel in Istanbul.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast · Base: Istanbul · Transfers included · Free time

08:30 – Hotel pick-up for the morning walk through the Old City.

• Hagia Sophia: When it was completed in 537 AD, no cathedral in the world had a bigger dome. It later became a mosque and is now the Istanbul monument with the most layers of history. Byzantine mosaics, Ottoman calligraphy and huge feats of Roman engineering share the same walls, so the building cannot be pinned to one period.
• Blue Mosque: The Sultan Ahmed Mosque got its everyday name from more than 20,000 hand-painted blue Iznik tiles on its inner walls. No other mosque in Istanbul has six minarets. Because it is still an active place of prayer, a visit feels different from walking around an archaeological site.
• Hippodrome: For more than a millennium this was the social and political centre of Constantinople. Up to 100,000 spectators watched chariot races here, and Byzantine emperors were cheered or toppled on the same ground. The Egyptian Obelisk, the Serpent Column and Constantine's Column still stand on the central spine where they were set centuries ago.
• Grand Bazaar: Since 1461 this market has been the commercial heart of the city, and with 61 covered streets and more than 4,000 shops it is still one of the biggest covered markets anywhere. It ends the guided morning on a lively note and makes an easy setting for your free afternoon.

13:00 – The guided part finishes at the Grand Bazaar; the afternoon is free.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast · Base: Istanbul · Transfers included

13:30 – We collect you at the hotel and drive you to the pier, where you board the Bosphorus cruise.

Sail along the strait that separates Europe from Asia. From the deck you see Dolmabahce Palace, Ciragan Palace, Beylerbeyi Palace, Rumeli Hisari, the Bosphorus Bridge and the mansions along the shore.

17:30 – The cruise ends and you are taken back to your hotel.

Depending on availability, the cruise may also run in the morning.

Night in Istanbul.

Meals: Lunch · Transfers included

04:00 – Check out and meet your driver for an early pick-up (the time and the airport can change). Transfer to Istanbul Airport.

07:00 – Flight from Istanbul to Izmir (the flight time can change).

08:00 – Landing at Izmir Airport (the airport and the arrival time depend on availability). You drive to the Ephesus area and meet your guide.

• Ephesus Ancient City: Where Curetes Street meets the Marble Road, four of the city's key monuments come into view together: the Library of Celsus, the Brothel, the public fountain complex and the gateway to the Agora. Very few places in the ancient world show so much well-kept Roman architecture in one look. Your guide explains what each building meant historically and socially.
• House of Virgin Mary: On warm mornings the courtyard fills with people lighting candles, reading from small prayer books or sitting in the shade of the trees. The mood is respectful and unhurried, something bigger pilgrimage sites often struggle to keep. Here your guide steps aside and lets the place speak.
• Temple of Artemis: Ancient writers placed this temple above every other wonder for its sheer size combined with fine artistry; its carved column drums showed scenes from myth with a precision that amazed visitors. None of that carving survives intact at the site near Selcuk, but excavated fragments are on show in the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk town, so you can see what the columns looked like. Pairing the site with a museum visit completes the story.

16:00 – End of the Ephesus tour and transfer to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch · Base: Pamukkale · Transfers included

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

• Pamukkale: Hardly anyone leaves without photographing the hillside again and again. Warm mineral springs spill over broad white ledges and leave calcium carbonate behind, slowly building the travertine terraces of Denizli province. UNESCO listed this rare mix of nature and history in 1988, and the geology and the ancient city above it have drawn visitors ever since.
• White Calcium Terraces: The springs carry so many minerals that they can whiten rock within a few decades, and over thousands of years they have reshaped a whole hillside. The terraces form as water spills from one ledge to the next, cooling a little at every step down. Today, managed conservation zones rotate the flow between sections so the travertine stays white and healthy.
• Hierapolis Ancient City: Its theatre, cut straight into the slope above Pamukkale and looking out over the white terraces, is one of the most striking in Turkey. At its peak it held up to 15,000 people, and parts of the decorated stage building still stand. Add the colonnaded streets and temples, and this Greco-Roman city rewards several hours of proper exploring.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: Mineral water, sunken archaeology and a Roman imperial legend meet in this Hierapolis pool. Thanks to the Pamukkale springs the water stays at 36 degrees all year, and real Roman marble columns, dropped by an earthquake centuries ago, rest on the bottom. Entry is not part of the tour and is paid on site; it is an optional extra for anyone who wants to try the old bathing tradition.

16:00 – End of the Pamukkale tour and transfer to your hotel in Pamukkale.

Night in Pamukkale.

Meals: Breakfast · Base: Antalya · Transfers included

11:00 – Our driver collects you at your Pamukkale hotel and takes you to Pamukkale Bus Station.

12:00 – Intercity bus to Antalya, with planned rest breaks on the way (the bus time can change).

15:30 – Our team meets you at Antalya Bus Station (the arrival time can change) and drives you to your hotel in Antalya.

Night in Antalya.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch · Overnight bus · Transfers included

08:00 – Pick-up at your Antalya hotel for a full day at the classical sites around the city.

• Perge: This was among the richest cities of ancient Pamphylia. Its colonnaded main street, big stadium and bath complex could match anything in the Roman world at its height. It is especially rewarding if you want to see how Roman town planning worked in a provincial capital rather than in Rome itself.
• Aspendos: Built in the second century AD, this is the best-preserved Roman theatre in the world, and it still hosts shows during the Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival. Standing on the stage and looking up at a 15,000-seat cavea that has survived for almost two thousand years is one of the highlights of the whole trip.
• Side: A small ancient port on a narrow peninsula. The Temple of Apollo stands right at the water's edge, and the colonnaded main street runs through a Roman gate into the old town. With ruins, beaches and a working harbour side by side, the stop feels quite different from the purely archaeological morning.
• Kursunlu Waterfall: Inside a nature reserve on the Aksu River, the falls offer a natural pause in the day: shaded paths, a clear pool under the cascade and calm woodland around it. It rounds off the classical-sites day gently before the evening transfer.

Around 18:00 – At the end of the tour you are driven to Antalya Bus Station.

20:00 – Overnight intercity bus to Cappadocia (the bus time can change). The ride lasts about 9 hours, with only 1–2 short stops for your needs.

Night on the bus.

Base: Cappadocia · Free time

The bus reaches Cappadocia early in the morning, and the rest of the day is yours.

Some ideas: watch the sunset from a viewpoint above Goreme, visit Uchisar castle, or book a Turkish night show (optional).

Optional early-morning add-ons: a Hot Air Balloon Flight, rated the #1 Cappadocia experience for its sunrise views and our most booked activity, or a Balloon Watching Tour to the best sunrise photo viewpoints, with the best viewpoints guaranteed. You can add either one at the best available price while booking.

Night in Cappadocia.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch · Transfers included

10:00 – After breakfast you check out of the hotel and drive to the touring area.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley): There is no café, souvenir stall or toilet inside the valley, so it pays to be prepared. The tour vehicle stops at a facility nearby before or after the visit, and your guide tells you in advance.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum: As you walk through the site you pass chimneys with one cap and others with several heads, each hollowed out to a different degree by the monks who once lived in them. That variety in one place makes Pasabag far more interesting than photos suggest.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop: The typical red of Avanos pottery comes from iron oxide in the clay of the Kizilirmak. During firing it oxidises into the terracotta shades that have identified the town's work for centuries. Some workshops also make white-clay pieces for contrast, but red is what Avanos is famous for.
• Goreme Panoramic View: Sunset here is famously beautiful, yet Red Tour schedules usually stop in the morning or early afternoon. If you are staying in Goreme, it is easy and well worth coming back on your own in the evening.
• Zelve Open Air Museum: In the end Zelve is a story of people living side by side over time. Byzantine monks, medieval Christian communities, Muslim village families and Turkish residents of the twentieth century all shaped the same rock across fourteen centuries. Seeing that history in a single site is what keeps Zelve in your mind long after the day is over.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view): No rock formation of its kind in Cappadocia is taller. From the outside viewing terrace you understand why it ruled the skyline of the region for two thousand years. Even with modern buildings around it now, it remains the landmark everyone recognises first.

17:00 – End of the day tour and transfer to the airport.

20:40 – Flight from Cappadocia to Istanbul (the flight time can change).

21:50 – Landing at Istanbul Airport (the airport and the arrival time depend on availability).

The tour finishes at the airport when you land in Istanbul. Need a ride onward? We can book a transfer for an extra fee; just ask us.