Turkey, Israel & Greece Tour Package: 31 Days Private with Flights

On arrival at Istanbul Airport, look for our representative holding a sign with your name. A private van then drives you to the hotel. Once you have checked in, the day is yours. Night in Istanbul.

The guide collects you from the hotel lobby or from the cruise port. Stops on today's walk:

• Topkapi Palace Museum, seeing its main highlights
• Sultanahmet Square, the old Hippodrome
• Hagia Sophia
• The Blue Mosque
• The Grand Bazaar

When the tour finishes, the guide walks you back to the hotel.

*Should one of the mosques be closed to visitors, you see the Basilica Cistern in its place.

Meeting point is again your hotel lobby or the cruise port. Today's programme:

• The Spice Market
• Bosphorus Cruise: a public ferry carries you between the European and Asian sides. From the deck you see Galata Tower, then Dolmabahce Palace and Beylerbeyi Palace, plus Rumeli Fortress, old Ottoman mansions, the Bosphorus Bridge and mosques at the water's edge.
• A visit to Dolmabahce Palace
• Taksim Square
• Cicek Passage
• A stroll along Istiklal Street

*Prefer a private yacht for the cruise? Just tell us.

Your guide brings you back to the hotel at the end.

The guide meets you at the hotel lobby or the cruise port. On the route:

• The Suleymaniye Mosque
• The Fener quarter
• The Balat quarter
• St. Stephen Church
• Pierre Loti Hill, plus a cable car ride
• Chora Church (Kariye Mosque)

After the walk your guide takes you back to the hotel. That evening there is a one-hour Whirling Dervish ceremony, which opens a window onto Sufi practice. Night in Istanbul.

At 8:00 am a private guide and van collect you for Troy, the city of Helen and the Trojan Horse in legend. Sights today:

• The Trojan Horse
• The Troy Museum
• Altars once used for sacrifice
• City walls dating back 3,700 years
• Houses from the Troy I period
• The Bouleuterion, or Senate Building
• The Odeon, a concert hall
• Ruins of the cities built one on top of another, Troy I through Troy IX
• The ancient city of Pergamon
• The Altar of Zeus
• The Acropolis of Pergamon

The van then drives you on to your Kusadasi hotel. Night in Kusadasi.

The guide is at your hotel at 11:00 am. Today's two stops:

• Sirince, a village that keeps its Ottoman-era character
• Smyrna, an ancient town known from the Bible

You are driven back to the hotel afterwards. Night in Kusadasi.

After pick-up at the hotel, your guide gives you the background to Ephesus, then you walk through the ruins. On the list:

• The Great Theater
• The Celsus Library
• The Temple of Hadrian
• Harbor Street
• The Terrace Houses
• The House of the Virgin Mary
• The Isa Bey Mosque

Afterwards you head back to the hotel. Night in Kusadasi.

Your private guide and driver come for you at 9:00 am and head to Pamukkale, known for natural calcium pools shaped by thermal water. The local guide explains the places you pass on the road. Sights on the tour:

• The calcium pools themselves
• The Necropolis
• The Roman Baths
• The Domitian Gate
• The Latrina
• Frontinus Street
• The Agora
• The Byzantium Gate
• The Triton Fountain
• The Cathedral
• The Temple of Apollo
• The Plutonium, described from outside while excavation work continues
• The Theater
• Hierapolis

(Optional, at extra cost) When time permits, you may swim in the Cleopatra Pool.

Then a drive of roughly 4 hours brings you to Antalya. Night in Antalya.

Pick-up by your private guide and driver is at 10:00 am. The day covers:

• Perge: a Pamphylian city on St. Paul's route in ancient times, stadium included.
• Aspendos Theatre: ranked among the most complete Roman theatres anywhere.
• The Manavgat Waterfalls
• Side, with its attractive streets

The driver brings you back to the hotel at the end. Night in Antalya.

Guide and driver collect you at 10:00 am. Today's sights:

• Demre: where the Lycian rock tombs of Myra stand.
• Church of St. Nicholas: the saint behind the Santa Claus story.
• Boat trip to Kekova Island: for a look at its well-known sunken city.

*Pack a swimsuit; there is time to go in the water.

You are then driven back to your hotel. Night in Antalya.

Departure is at 9:00 am with your private guide and driver. You travel to Cappadocia, stopping in Konya, a city with a strong spiritual tradition.

En route there is a break at the Sultanhan Caravanserai, among the biggest and most significant caravanserais of Central Anatolia. The drive from Antalya is long, but your guide fills it with stories about the places you pass.

Konya visits:

• The Mevlana Museum
• Karatay Madrasa, now the Tile and Stone Art Museum
• Ince Minaret Madrasa, now the Wood Art Museum

You have lunch in Konya, then carry on to Cappadocia and check in at your hotel. Night in Cappadocia.

(Optional) At dawn a pick-up takes you to a one-hour hot air balloon flight above Cappadocia's valleys. A short celebration and the handing out of flight certificates follow, and you return to your hotel for breakfast.

Your private guide and driver meet you at 10:00 am. Stops:

• Uchisar Castle
• The Goreme Open Air Museum
• The town of Avanos
• Pasabag, the Valley of Monks
• Devrent Valley

The tour ends with a drop-off at the hotel. Night in Cappadocia.

Guide and driver meet you at the hotel at 10:00 am. Places visited:

• The underground city at Kaymakli
• Rose Valley, followed by Love Valley
• Pigeon Valley
• The castle at Ortahisar
• Mustafapasa, also called Sinasos

When the tour is over, a transfer takes you to the airport for the flight to Istanbul. Someone meets you on landing and drives you to your hotel. Night in Istanbul.

At 11:00 am your guide meets you at the hotel. Over four hours on foot you sample local Turkish food, and a public ferry carries you across to Kadikoy.

The guide sees you back to the hotel at the end. Night in Istanbul.

A transfer brings you from the hotel to Istanbul Airport, where you board an international flight to Tel Aviv.

In Tel Aviv our representative is waiting and drives you to the hotel. Night in Jerusalem.

The guide collects you at the hotel for the classic Jerusalem tour, covering places sacred to Christians and Jews. Your route:

• Mount of Olives: Gethsemane's garden and the Church of All Nations (Agony)
• Jerusalem's Old City
• The Dung Gate
• The Western Wall
• St. Anne's, the Crusader church
• Bethesda and its pools
• Walking the Stations of the Cross as far as the Holy Sepulchre church
• The Cardo from Byzantine times
• The Zion Gate
• Mount Zion
• King David's Tomb

A drive back to the hotel ends the day. Night in Jerusalem.

Pick-up is from the hotel with your guide. The day includes:

• Manger Square
• The Church of the Nativity together with its Grotto
• The Shepherds' Field
• The site of the Good Samaritan
• The Judean Desert
• Jericho's Canaanite walls
• The Sycamore Tree
• The Mount of Temptation

Afterwards you are driven back to the hotel. Night in Jerusalem.

Your guide picks you up at the hotel. On today's route:

• The Jordan Valley
• Masada's archaeological dig, with the synagogue, the bathhouse and the storerooms
• The Dead Sea: float on the water and coat yourself in mud full of minerals
• Qumran National Park

The day ends back at the hotel. Night in Jerusalem.

Your guide collects you from the hotel in the morning. The day's visits:

• Mount Precipice
• Church of the Annunciation
• Church of St. Joseph
• Sea of Galilee
• Cana and the Mount of Beatitudes
• A stop in Capernaum
• Tabgha, where a church marks the miracle of the loaves and fishes
• The town of Tiberias
• Yardenit on the Jordan River

Then you go back to the hotel and spend the night in Jerusalem.

Your guide collects you from the hotel. On the programme:

• Caesarea's ruins: the old harbour, the arena and the amphitheatre
• Acre, with the Knights' Hall, its secret tunnels and the Arab market
• Haifa Bay together with the Bahai Gardens
• Rosh Hanikra

You are then driven back. Night in Jerusalem.

You are driven from the hotel to Tel Aviv Airport for the international flight to Athens.

On landing our representative meets you and drives you to the hotel. Night in Athens.

Today is spent on Aegina, starting with a hotel pick-up by your guide. You see:

• The port of Piraeus
• Aegina island itself
• Agios Nikolaos Church
• The Saint Nectarios Monastery
• The Temple of Aphaia
• Paleochora village
• Agia Marina

Afterwards you return to the hotel. Night in Athens.

A day trip takes you from Athens to Hydra, beginning when your guide collects you at the hotel.

Once the tour is over you are driven back. Night in Athens.

After a pick-up at the hotel, you and your guide head out along the Athens Riviera to Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon. Along the way:

• The Athenian coast
• Cape Sounion
• The Temple of Poseidon

(Want to photograph the well-known sunset here? Tell us and we will plan a later departure.)

The day ends with the drive back to your hotel. Night in Athens.

Your guide meets you at the hotel and you set off for Poros. Stops include:

• Poros, called the island of Poseidon
• Its Archaeological Museum
• The Seashell Museum of Poros
• Zoodochos Pigi Monastery
• Agios Georgios Church
• The Clock Tower

You return to the hotel at the end of the day. Night in Athens.

A guide picks you up at the hotel for a day on Spetses. Highlights:

• Spetses island
• Dapia Square
• The Spetses Museum
• Anargyros Mansion
• A beach stop at Kaiki or Zogeria

In the end you are driven back to the hotel. Night in Athens.

After hotel pick-up, your guide joins you for a cruise to three islands: Agistri, Moni and Aegina. Included:

• Agistri island
• An optional bike ride from Megalochori to Chalikiada beach
• Moni island
• Aegina island
• The Temple of Apollo
• Aphaia's temple
• Zea Marina

A transfer returns you to the hotel. Night in Athens.

From the hotel your guide takes you on a day trip to Delphi. Along the way and on site:

• Delphi, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site
• Mount Parnassus
• Thebes
• Arachova town
• The Sacred Way and the Oracle of Delphi
• The Treasury of the Athenians
• The museum at Delphi, home of the Charioteer
• Athena Pronaia's sanctuary

You are driven back to the hotel afterwards. Night in Athens.

Today your guide leads you into the Peloponnese, starting from the hotel. On the route:

• The Corinth Canal
• Mycenae's Acropolis, with the Cyclopean Walls and the Lion Gate
• The palace and the royal tombs
• The cistern with its 99 steps
• Tombs of King Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus
• Nafplio, with the Palamidi Fortress
• Epidaurus

A drive back to the hotel closes the day. Night in Athens.

Your last touring day is on Agistri, with pick-up by your guide at the hotel. You see:

• Agistri island
• The village of Megalochori (Mylos)
• Zoodochos Pigi Church
• Aponisos
• Limenaria town
• The church of Agia Kiriaki
• The beach at Skala
• Magiza and Bariama

Afterwards a transfer brings you back. Night in Athens.

A transfer takes you from the hotel to Athens Airport, where your flight home departs.

Our services end here. Thank you for choosing to travel with us, and we hope to see you again on a future trip.