Turkey & Greece Tour 12 Days: Istanbul, Cappadocia, Athens & Islands

We collect you at Istanbul Airport and take you to your hotel. The day is free, with no activities planned. You meet your guide the next day at 09:00 AM.

At 09:30 am our guide picks you up for a full-day walking tour of Istanbul's Ottoman and Byzantine heart. Overnight in Istanbul.

Highlights of the day

• Topkapi Palace (optional): Explore the lavish palace where the Ottoman sultans lived, with its detailed architecture, precious objects and wide views of the Istanbul skyline.
• Blue Mosque: Step inside this architectural masterpiece, covered in its famous blue tiles, and enjoy its calm atmosphere.
• Hippodrome: Once the centre of Byzantine entertainment and chariot racing, it still has ancient obelisks and monuments that recall the city's great past.
• Hagia Sophia (optional): This UNESCO World Heritage Site impresses with its domes, its mosaics and its unusual blend of Byzantine and Islamic influences.
• Grand Bazaar (optional): One of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, a maze of lanes lined with colourful stalls selling all kinds of Turkish goods.

Pick-up from your Istanbul hotel is at 04:00 AM for the drive to the airport and your 06:55 AM flight to Cappadocia. Our guide meets you on arrival and takes you to Goreme, where the adventure starts. At approximately 09:00 AM the first day of touring begins among the fairy chimneys and rock churches that give Cappadocia its unique look.

Prefer a later flight? We chose the early flight so you can see Cappadocia in real depth. If you do not mind missing some stops on the itinerary, we can book you on a later flight instead, for example at 10:00 AM, 11:30 AM or in the afternoon. Just tell us in the booking form and we will arrange it.

The tour usually starts around 09:00 and finishes by 16:00 at the latest.

Highlights of the day

• Göreme Esentepe panoramic view: The day opens at the Esentepe viewpoint between Uçhisar and Göreme, with fairy chimneys and the small town of Esentepe spread out below.
• Zelve Open-Air Museum: Once a monastic community and a centre of Christian learning, Zelve is full of old monasteries, churches and chapels whose frescoes have survived in good condition.
• Pasabag (Monks Valley): Paşabağ, also known as Pasha's Vineyard, is famous for its three-headed fairy chimneys, among the most striking rock shapes in Cappadocia.
• Devrent Valley: A short drive away, Devrent looks almost like the surface of the moon. Its small, pointed chimneys invite you to pick out animals and mythical creatures in the rock.
• Avanos pottery workshop: Avanos has been a pottery town since 3000 BC, and its potters still shape clay from the Red River. At a traditional workshop you watch the craft up close.
• Love Valley: The last stop is a valley of cones, pinnacles and fairy chimneys carved by millions of years of erosion, some as tall as 40 meters, and one of the most photogenic corners of the region.

In the evening you return to your cave hotel for the night, with breakfast included.

This morning there is an optional hot air balloon flight, which you can book if you wish before departure. If you skip it, breakfast is followed by a drive to the airport to fly to Athens.

Overnight in Athens.

After breakfast, at the time agreed, a panoramic tour of the Neoclassical centre of Athens begins.

Highlights of the day

• Neoclassical Athens: See the Parliament, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the University, the Library and the National Academy, the Ilion Palace, the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Gate, the Panathenaic Stadium and many more monuments and sites worth seeing.
• Acropolis and Acropolis Museum: Next comes the sacred rock itself, the Acropolis, followed by the Acropolis Museum. Entrance to both is included, and the licensed English-speaking tour guide with you explains their history and background in full.
• Evening walking tour: In the evening, an included guided walk takes you through some of the capital's prettiest districts: Anafiotika, Thissio, Monastiraki and Plaka.

In the morning, your assistant arranges a private ride to the port of Piraeus. From there a ferry takes you to Mykonos, an island famous for its views, at just the right time of day to sit on deck in the sun and look out over the deep blue Aegean.

The island's name means 'heap of stones' or 'rocky place', and it comes from the hero Mykonos, son of King Anius of Delos. On arrival, an English-speaking representative meets you, takes you to your hotel and shows you around the island.

The rest of the day is free. Enjoy the relaxed island pace, wander the pretty lanes by day and, at night, join the island's famous party scene.

Overnight in Mykonos.

After a Greek-style breakfast, our representative collects you at the agreed time in one of our private vehicles and drives you to the port.

Next stop is Santorini. As the ferry comes in, look up at Fira, the capital, with its white houses on the clifftops facing the volcano. An English-speaking representative meets you at the port, takes you to your hotel and gives you a short introduction to the island's sights.

The rest of the day is yours to explore the narrow streets and take in this remarkable place.

The whole day is free to explore Santorini at your own pace, the island some believe to be the lost continent of Atlantis.

The Venetian Giacomo Barozzi named the island after a chapel dedicated to Saint Eirini. His descendants held it until 1576, when it became part of the Duchy of Naxos, and it stayed that way until the Turkish conquest by Piyale Pasha.

Overnight in Santorini.

At the agreed time our staff take you to Athinios, the new port of Santorini, where you board the ferry to Crete, the largest island in Greece. You arrive at the port of Heraklion.

Heraklion, whose name means 'the glory of the goddess Hera', is the capital of Crete and one of the liveliest and most interesting cities in the Mediterranean. It was the leading city of the Minoan civilization, the home of King Minos and the fierce Minotaur, and it is where you find the Palace of Knossos, the oldest palace complex in Europe.

We meet you at the port on arrival and transfer you to your hotel.

After a hearty breakfast, the day is free to explore this remarkable city.

We recommend a relaxed walk around the charming historic centre and, of course, a visit to the Palace of Knossos, home of the legendary King Minos and the fierce Minotaur.

At the agreed time our staff transfer you to Heraklion airport for your flight back to Athens. Overnight in Athens.

We take you to Athens airport, where our services end.

Optional extras

• Hot air balloon flight in Cappadocia (Goreme): $310
• One extra night at an Istanbul hotel, before or after the tour: $65
• Two extra nights at an Istanbul hotel, before or after the tour: $125