Turkey & Israel Combo Tour: 16 Days via Petra, Jerusalem & Galilee

At Istanbul Airport a driver is waiting to bring you to the hotel. Today has no programme; tomorrow at 09:30 AM your guide will come to meet you. Night in Istanbul.

At 09:30 AM your guide collects you for a full-day walking tour through the heart of Ottoman and Byzantine Istanbul.

Highlights of the day:

• Topkapi Palace (optional): the lavish home of the Ottoman sultans, with richly detailed architecture, fine artifacts and wide views over the Istanbul skyline.
• Blue Mosque: step inside to see the famous blue tiles and feel the calm of this architectural masterpiece.
• Hippodrome: once the centre of Byzantine entertainment and chariot racing, where ancient obelisks and monuments recall the great past of the city.
• Hagia Sophia (optional): a UNESCO World Heritage Site with vast domes, striking mosaics and a rare mix of Byzantine and Islamic influences.
• Grand Bazaar: among the oldest and largest covered markets on earth, a maze of lanes lined with colourful stalls full of Turkish goods.

When the tour ends, you transfer to the airport and fly to Cappadocia. Overnight in Cappadocia.

The day starts around 05:00 AM with an optional hot air balloon flight at sunrise. After a champagne toast on landing, you are driven back to the hotel, and roughly an hour later, around 09:30 AM, the tour begins.

The tour usually runs from around 09:00 until 16:00 at the latest.

Highlights of the day:

• Göreme Esentepe panorama: the day opens at the Esentepe viewpoint between Uçhisar and Göreme, with wide views of fairy chimneys, the Cappadocian valleys and the small town of Esentepe.
• Zelve Open-Air Museum: once home to a monastic community and a centre of Christian learning, Zelve is full of old monasteries, churches and chapels with frescoes that have survived in good condition.
• Paşabağ (Monks Valley): famous for fairy chimneys topped with three heads, this valley, also called “Pasha's Vineyard”, has some of the strangest rock shapes in Cappadocia.
• Devrent Valley: a short drive away, small pointed chimneys create a scene that looks like the surface of the moon, and many rocks resemble animals or mythical creatures.
• Avanos pottery workshop: potters have worked in Avanos since 3000 BC, using clay from the Red River. In a traditional workshop you watch local artisans at work.
• Love Valley: the last stop, where millions of years of erosion have carved cones, pinnacles and fairy chimneys as tall as 40 meters. It is one of the most unusual places for photos in the region.

Return to your cave hotel for the night, with breakfast included.

After leaving the hotel, you set off to explore some of the quieter corners of Cappadocia.

The tour usually runs from around 09:00 until 16:00 at the latest.

Highlights of the day:

• Meskendir Valley (4.4 km trek): the day starts with a 4.4 km walk through this valley near Ortahisar. Inside the Meskendir Church you can see bold red geometric patterns and a large cross carved into the chapel ceiling, with fine scenery all around.
• Rose Valley: tucked away behind Ürgüp, this quiet valley is known for its unusual rocks and churches cut into the stone. Paths link small villages through vineyards and gardens, and you may meet friendly locals offering fresh grapes, apples or apricots.
• Red Valley: much like Rose Valley, with striking rocks and old cave churches, and trails that branch out like a spider's web between remote villages and fields.
• Çavuşin Valley: Çavuşin Village is one of Cappadocia's oldest settlements, a maze of cave houses cut into the rock. Here too is the Church of John the Baptist, which dates from the 5th century and is the largest cave church in the region.
• Underground City: early Christians built 36 underground cities in Cappadocia to escape persecution. You visit the largest and best known of them, eight levels deep, and walk through parts of it to see old wineries, kitchens and living spaces.
• Pigeon Valley: just outside Göreme, the valley is named after the pigeon houses carved into its cliffs over the centuries; local farmers once used the droppings to fertilise their fields. Today it is a great place for wide views and photos.
• Uçhisar Castle panorama: the final stop is the town of Uçhisar, the highest point in Cappadocia. Its rock castle once served as a fortress, and from the top you can see across the whole region to Erciyes Mountain in the distance.

After the tour, transfer to the airport for your flight to Izmir, then continue by road to Kusadasi for the night.

Pick-up from your hotel is at 10:00 AM. A 20-minute drive brings you to the Magnesia Gate of the ancient city of Ephesus. Once the tour is over, you are taken back to your hotel in Kusadasi.

Today's highlights:

• The landmark Library of Celsus and the Grand Theater.
• The ruins of the Temple of Artemis, counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
• The Terrace Houses (optional), Hercules Gate, the Temple of Hadrian, the stone-carving of the goddess Nike, the Fountain of Trajan and the Snake Cult of Asklepios, which together show how people lived day to day in ancient Ephesus.

Overnight in Kusadasi.

Transfer to Izmir Airport and fly to Amman.

On arrival, a transfer takes you to a hotel in the city centre. The rest of the afternoon and evening is yours to rest or walk around on your own.

Overnight in Amman.

Drive first to Jerash, where a local guide joins you on site for one hour to show you the forum, the colonnaded Roman street, the Nymphaeum and the Temple of Artemis.

Next comes Ajloun and its great 12th-century Islamic castle. Salah al-Din, the Islamic leader, had it built around 1184/85.

Back in Amman, visit the Citadel, with the remains of the Umayyad Palace and the Hercules Temple, and the Archaeological Museum.

In the downtown area, see the Roman Theatre from the 2nd century and the traditional souks, then take a stroll through Jabal Amman.

Overnight in Amman.

Today you travel from Amman to Petra, stopping at Mt Nebo, Madaba and Kerak on the way.

Mt Nebo looks out over the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea and parts of the Holy Land.

In Madaba, which Jordanians call the “City of Mosaic”, you see a famous 6th-century mosaic map showing Jerusalem and the Holy Land inside St. George's Church, plus more mosaics in the Archaeological Park.

The road then follows the old caravan route, with a short photo stop at Wadi Al Mujib, a wide valley with impressive geological formations.

At Kerak, explore what remains of the Crusader castle, walk its underground passages and take in the view.

Then drive on to your hotel in Petra.

Your local Petra guide leads you into the rose-red city.

Walk through the narrow canyon known as the Siq to reach the Treasury, then carry on along the Street of Facades to the Royal Tombs and Pharaoh's Castle.

The guided part covers the first 2.5 hours and can be extended to 5 hours if you like. After your guide says goodbye, the rest of the day is free to keep exploring Petra on your own. If you are fit and like a challenge, you can climb the 800 stairs up to the Monastery El Deir.

Walk back the same way to the entrance gate, where your driver waits to take you to the hotel.

Overnight in Petra.

Leave Petra for the 1.5-hour drive to Wadi Rum, one of the great landscapes of Jordan.

Your Bedouin guide meets you on arrival and the camel ride begins, the traditional way to travel through the desert. On the way you see rock inscriptions and stop at Lawrence's Spring, named after Lawrence of Arabia.

Lunch is taken with Bedouin tea in the shade of a mountain. Afterwards you climb into the open back of a 4x4 and ride across the desert, past huge cliffs and rock and sand formations in many colours. You also see the 80-meter-high Burdah rock bridge and the smaller Um Frouth, both shaped over centuries by wind and erosion.

If you wish, you can climb Um Frouth in about 15 minutes for wide views of the area. The day ends at the camp with dinner and a night under what will hopefully be a sky full of stars.

Overnight in Wadi Rum (private tent with ensuite bathroom).

After breakfast at the camp, a 4-hour drive takes you down to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth.

Check in at the hotel, then spend the rest of the day floating and relaxing in the salty water.

Overnight at the Dead Sea.

You are driven to the border, where you say goodbye to your driver and cross from Jordan into Israel. A transfer driver waits on the Israeli side to take you to your hotel in Jerusalem.

The rest of the afternoon and evening is free to start getting to know the area. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Start on the Mount of Olives with a panoramic view over the city.

Continue to Mount Zion for King David's Tomb, the Room of the Last Supper and the Dormition Abbey.

Enter the Old City and walk through the Armenian and Jewish quarters to the restored Cardo, the old Roman road. See the Jewish Wailing Wall, known as the Kotel, and then move on to the Christian quarter.

Follow the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Next, travel to Bethlehem, cross Manger Square and visit the Church of the Nativity and Shepherds' Field.

The tour finishes back at the hotel, and the evening is free. Overnight in Jerusalem.

The day begins with a drive along the coastal road and through the countryside of the lower Galilee to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up.

Visit the Basilica of the Annunciation and the Church of St. Joseph, then continue via Kana to Tiberias, a lively resort town on the Sea of Galilee.

Follow the shore of Lake Kineret to Capernaum and see the ruins of the ancient synagogue where Jesus taught.

At Tabgha, visit the Church of the Multiplication of the Fish and Loaves, known for its lovely mosaic floor.

The last stop is Yardenit, the well-known baptismal site where the Jordan River leaves the Sea of Galilee and flows on to the Dead Sea.

Overnight in Tel Aviv.

This full-day tour starts in Caesarea, the ancient Roman capital and port, with a walk around the theatre, the archaeological ruins and the excavations.

In Haifa, stop for a scenic view of the city, the port and the Bahai Gardens and Shrine.

At Rosh Hanikra, a cable car carries you down to the underwater grottoes, a remarkable natural formation.

Finish in Acre, whose Old City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walk through the market, past the mosque and down to the old port, then visit the underground Crusader City and crypt to learn about their history and culture.

Overnight in Tel Aviv.

Depending on your flight time, you are transferred from the hotel to Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion) Airport.

Optional extras

• Hot air balloon flight in Cappadocia (Göreme): $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