9-Day Turkey Tour: Istanbul, Ephesus, Pamukkale & Cappadocia

Transfers are included. Free time.

Our team greets you at Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport and drives you to the hotel. The remainder of the day is free to settle in, rest and prepare for the sightseeing ahead.

Some ideas for the free hours: a Bosphorus ferry ride, shopping in the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar, or a walk through Galata and Karakoy.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included. Free afternoon.

Hotel pick-up is at 08:30 for the morning tour of the Old City.

• Hagia Sophia: built in 537 AD as the largest cathedral in the world and later turned into a mosque, it stands where Byzantine and Ottoman history meet, and its minarets still shape the skyline. Inside, look for the original marble floors, the Byzantine mosaics in the upper galleries and the Ottoman calligraphy medallions under the vast dome.
• Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque): the only mosque in Istanbul with six minarets, built between 1609 and 1616, it quickly became the main landmark on the Sultanahmet hill. More than 20,000 hand-painted Iznik tiles in over fifty shades of blue cover the prayer hall and gave the building its popular name.
• Hippodrome: for over a thousand years this was the main public square of Constantinople, used for chariot races, political ceremonies and festivals that shaped Byzantine civic life. Three ancient monuments, the Egyptian Obelisk, the Serpent Column from Delphi and the Constantine Column, still stand on the central spine where they were first set up.
• Grand Bazaar: one of the oldest and biggest covered markets in the world, with 61 streets, more than 4,000 shops and a trading culture whose character has held since 1461. After a morning of monuments, its covered lanes change the pace and show you the commercial side of Istanbul.

The guided program finishes at the Grand Bazaar at 12:30, and the afternoon is free. Night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

At 13:30 we pick you up at your hotel and drive you to the pier to board the boat. Depending on availability, the cruise may run in the morning instead.

The boat heads north along the strait that separates Europe from Asia. On the way you pass Dolmabahce Palace, Ciragan Palace, Beylerbeyi Palace, Rumeli Hisari, the first Bosphorus Bridge and a long row of historic waterside mansions.

The cruise ends at 17:00, followed by a transfer to your hotel. Night in Istanbul.

Meals: lunch. Transfers included.

At 04:00 you check out and are picked up early for the drive to Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport (the pick-up time and airport may change). The flight to Izmir departs at 07:00 and lands at Izmir Airport at 08:00. Flight times can change, and the arrival airport and time depend on availability. You then drive to the Ephesus site and meet your guide.

• Ephesus Ancient City: Ephesus sat on one of the key trade routes of the ancient world, linking Rome with the wealth of Asia Minor and lands further east. You can still sense that trade in the huge Agora, an open market where goods from across the empire were bought and sold. Picture merchants from Rome, Egypt and Persia doing business in the same square.
• House of Virgin Mary: water from the sacred spring runs from a row of small taps outside the chapel, so visitors can fill a bottle or rinse their hands. Many pilgrims drink it as an act of faith, and even people on their first pilgrimage often join the quiet queue at the taps. The setting seems to invite it.
• Temple of Artemis: six hundred years passed between the first temple and its final destruction, longer than many whole civilisations lasted. In that time it was rebuilt twice after fires and once after a flood, each version larger or finer than the one before. Near Selcuk, a single column in a quiet field now stands for all that ambition and persistence.

The tour ends at 16:00 with a transfer to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk. Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Meals: lunch. Transfers included.

At 08:00 we pick you up from your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk for the drive to Pamukkale.

• Pamukkale: few natural sites in Turkey make people stop and stare like this one. Bright white terraces step down a hillside in Denizli province, shaped over millennia by mineral-rich thermal springs. UNESCO lists the landscape as a World Heritage Site, and once you stand there the reason is obvious.
• White Calcium Terraces: seen from the valley road, the travertines look as if someone had poured white paint down the slope. Close up, each terrace is a broad, shallow pool edged with calcium carbonate built up over centuries of overflow. The water is warm, clear and full of the dissolved calcium that keeps the rock so white.
• Hierapolis Ancient City: its necropolis is the largest ancient cemetery in Anatolia, with hundreds of sarcophagi spread over the hillside as if time had simply stopped. Many stone coffins still carry inscriptions recording names, trades and family warnings not to disturb the graves. Walking through it beside the ruins of the city is a powerful experience.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: Pamukkale's springs keep the water at a steady 36 degrees, which makes it one of the more unusual places to swim in Turkey. The pool floor is covered with Roman marble pieces brought down by earthquakes centuries ago. This optional swim is not part of the tour price; entry is paid on site.

The Pamukkale tour finishes at 16:00 and you return to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk. Night in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included. Free time.

We pick you up from your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk and drive you to Izmir Airport for the flight to Cappadocia (flight time may change). Direct flights between Ephesus and Cappadocia do not run every day; when none is available, we use a connecting flight.

You land at Kayseri or Nevsehir Airport (the arrival airport and time depend on availability) and transfer to your hotel. The evening is free for exploring Cappadocia on your own.

Ideas for your free time: a sunset viewpoint above Goreme, Uchisar castle or an optional Turkish night show.

Night in Cappadocia.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

Optional early-morning add-ons, both bookable at the best available price when you reserve:

• Hot Air Balloon Flight: the top-rated Cappadocia experience and our most booked activity, with famous sunrise views.
• Balloon Watching Tour: a trip to the best viewpoints in Cappadocia for sunrise photos, with those viewpoints guaranteed.

At 09:30 we pick you up from your hotel and drive to the northern touring area.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley): locals named its rock shapes long before tourism arrived, and many of the animal names were handed down through generations of guides. Camel, dolphin and seal are now the standard names, but older guides sometimes mention ones that have dropped out of use.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum: it lies inside Goreme National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its blend of geology and human history is exactly what UNESCO pointed to when listing the area. Few places in Turkey pack so much natural and cultural heritage into such a small space.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop: a real Avanos workshop works on a commercial scale, with several potters at different wheels all day long. Joining one of their sessions, even briefly, shows pottery as a living trade rather than a hobby.
• Goreme Panoramic View: it is not very high above the valley floor, but it is high enough to change how you see the land. What felt close and enclosed inside the valleys becomes wide and easy to read from above.
• Zelve Open Air Museum: one of the most layered sites in Cappadocia, a cave village that was lived in until 1952, when residents were moved out for safety. Its carved passages were streets where families cooked, prayed and traded within living memory.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view): afternoon light warms the castle's western face and its carved openings in a way flat midday light cannot. Red Tour guides often plan this stop for mid-afternoon for exactly that reason, and your photos benefit.

At 17:00 you return to your hotel in Cappadocia. Night in Cappadocia.

Meals: breakfast and lunch. Transfers included.

At 09:30 you transfer to the southern touring area and meet your guide.

• Red Valley: its burnt orange, rust and gold tones look brightest under the clear blue skies that are common here from spring to autumn. On cloudy days the colours look flat, so sunny mornings are the best time for photos and walking.
• Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley): the trail follows a route that Byzantine monks used more than a thousand years ago between their cliff chapels and cave homes. Several of these churches are still open to visitors and give a direct look at the early Christian heritage of Cappadocia.
• Cavusin Village: Greek Orthodox Christians lived in this cliff settlement, keeping an active religious and cultural life alongside farming in the valley below. Carved churches in and around the old village keep painted decoration in the Byzantine style that flourished in Cappadocia from the 9th to the 12th century.
• Pigeon Valley: the deep canyon works like a wind tunnel, pushing air between its walls faster than on the open plateau above. This steady airflow is thought to be another reason it was chosen for dovecotes, since pigeons fly well in moving air.
• Underground City: more than 36 carved underground complexes have been found across the region, from small family refuges to cities for several thousand people. Together they form one of the densest groups of defensive underground architecture in the ancient world.

At 17:00 you transfer to Kayseri or Nevsehir Airport. The flight to Istanbul leaves at 19:30 and lands at Istanbul Airport at 20:50. Flight times can change, and the arrival airport and time depend on availability. A transfer then takes you to your hotel. Night in Istanbul.

Meals: breakfast. Transfers included.

Our driver comes to your hotel at a time set by your international flight and takes you to Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport. This is where your tour ends.