Turkey Holidays from South Africa 2027: Istanbul to the Coast

With Get Turkey Tours, a Turkey holiday from South Africa can be four days in Istanbul, six days combining Istanbul and Cappadocia, or eight days finishing on the Antalya coast. Domestic flights, guides, entrance tickets and lunch on tour days come with every package; hotels and the flight from Johannesburg or Cape Town are priced separately. The four-day Istanbul package begins at $250 per person. Season, hotel and inclusions change that figure, so ask us for the current price. A visa is required for South Africans, though most of them simply apply for a fast e-Visa online.

Visa rules for South African passports

Ordinary South African passports do not get visa-free entry to Turkey. Turkey's foreign ministry lists two options (checked on mfa.gov.tr, 1 October 2026):

• e-Visa: valid for one month and a single entry, requested online at evisa.gov.tr. Almost every holiday traveller goes this way. Apply on the official site only; the fee appears when you pay, and middlemen who charge more give you nothing extra.
• Three-month multiple-entry visa: you get this one from a Turkish diplomatic mission. Handy if you will leave Turkey and come back, such as a combined Turkey and Greece holiday with two entries.

Holders of official passports may stay 30 days without a visa, but this does not cover the green ordinary passport. Carry a printout of your e-Visa or save it on your phone, as the airline may want to see it when you check in at Johannesburg or Cape Town. The rules can change, so look at evisa.gov.tr once more before you leave.

Flying from Johannesburg and Cape Town

Both cities have nonstop Turkish Airlines flights to Istanbul Airport:

Timetables shift with the seasons, so check the airline's website. Routes with one stop (Dubai, Doha or Addis Ababa) often cost less but add a change of plane. Turkey is only one hour ahead of South Africa, so jet lag is barely an issue, which is one of the nicest parts of this trip.

When you land, our driver is waiting at Istanbul Airport to take you to the hotel. All the packages below begin and finish at IST, so a simple return ticket is all you need.

The routes for a Turkey holiday from South Africa

Here are our main routes, priced without hotels. We quote in US dollars, so what you pay in rand follows the exchange rate on the payment date.

On each package page you choose a hotel per city, and its price for your dates is added. No package covers the international flight, dinners, tips or the Cappadocia balloon. You can browse every route on our multi-city packages across Turkey page.

Are flights from South Africa included?

No, and we prefer to be clear about it from the start. Lots of South Africans search for Turkey holiday packages "including flights". Every flight within Turkey is part of our packages (Istanbul to Cappadocia, Cappadocia to Izmir, Antalya back to Istanbul and similar), but the long-haul flight out of Johannesburg or Cape Town is not.

We do it this way on purpose. When you buy the Turkish Airlines return yourself, you can spend your own miles or catch a sale fare, and the flight stays independent if your plans shift. Bundled "flight-inclusive" deals fix your dates and hotel; before you take one, add up your own flight, our package and your chosen hotels, then compare the totals.

From the city to the sea: the Istanbul and Antalya package

What South Africans request most is a city paired with a beach. Here is how the eight-day Istanbul and Antalya package unfolds:

1. Day 1: land at Istanbul Airport and transfer privately to your hotel.
2. Day 2: guided Old City day: the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar and the Basilica Cistern.
3. Day 3: a free day, then a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus with Turkish shows.
4. Day 4: a private car and driver around Istanbul until evening, then a flight to Antalya.
5. Day 5: in Antalya, Hadrian's Gate, the Old Town (Kaleiçi) and the Düden Waterfalls.
6. Day 6: a full day on a boat to Suluada island, with stops to swim and lunch served on board.
7. Day 7: free time at the pool or on the beach.
8. Day 8: fly back to Istanbul and on home.

Without hotels it begins at $750 per person; season and hotel choice change the price, so ask us for the current figure. About "all inclusive": large resorts in Antalya, Belek and Side offer all-inclusive stays, but this package gives you breakfast every day and lunch on tour days. If a week at a resort is what you want, book extra nights on the package page or stay on after day 8.

You can add day trips around Antalya from our Antalya tours, for example Perge, Aspendos and Side with lunch, the boat trip to Suluada, or Kekova's sunken city by boat together with Myra.

The whole loop, or Istanbul plus Cappadocia

Can the beach wait? Then the six-day Istanbul and Cappadocia package makes the best first trip: two nights in Istanbul, three nights in Cappadocia, the Red Tour and the Green Tour with lunch on both, and the flights within Turkey. Choose eight days and you also get a free day, a day with a private car, a Turkish night show and a morning on an ATV. You will find both, along with stays in Cappadocia alone, in our Cappadocia packages.

Ten days or more opens up the private Turkey packages, taking in Istanbul and Cappadocia, then Kusadasi (for Ephesus) and Pamukkale. Expect three domestic flights and early mornings; couples and friends enjoy them, small children find them tiring.

A frank word about the balloon: the package price never includes it, you book it separately, and windy mornings ground the flights. Three nights in Cappadocia give you two or three attempts.

Istanbul alone: city breaks and "Istanbul specials"

Our four-day Istanbul package is the alternative to the "Istanbul specials" that South African travel agents promote. It covers the Old City and the Bosphorus on two guided days, with lunch and entrance tickets on each, plus airport transfers; the hotel is added on top. The six-day premium version brings a dinner cruise plus a day with a private car, and free days and the Princes' Islands come with the eight- and ten-day versions. Compare them all on our Istanbul packages page.

What the typical Istanbul special leaves out: eating in Sultanahmet and Taksim is no longer cheap, Grand Bazaar sellers open high on every price, and summer queues at Hagia Sophia and Topkapi are long. A guide cannot remove those problems, but saves you the hours it takes to figure them out.

When South Africans should travel

Seasons cut both ways for South Africans.

• June–July (South African winter school holidays): summer in Turkey. Hot, with Istanbul around 30°C and ideal beach conditions, but hotel prices and crowds hit their peak.
• December–January (South African summer holidays): winter in Turkey. Istanbul is cold and rainy, beaches are closed for swimming, and Cappadocia may see snow. Fine for sightseeing in the city and for balloon photos over snow; leave Antalya for another time.
• April–May and September–October: the best conditions for a trip that mixes city and coast. Antalya's sea is warm enough for swimming from roughly May to October.

With flexible dates, late September and October offer the best balance for a South African holiday in Turkey: a warm sea, hotel rates below July levels, and balloons going up on most mornings.

Booking with Get Turkey Tours

Get Turkey Tours is a TÜRSAB-licensed agency based in Istanbul (A-group, no. 139658) and has run tours since 2010. Bookings are made directly with us, and our guides speak English.

1. Pick a route from our multi-city routes, Istanbul trips or Cappadocia trips, or a day out from the Antalya day tours.
2. Choose your dates and a hotel in each city on the package page, or skip hotels altogether.
3. With Book Now, Pay Later you pay a deposit now and the remainder later.
4. Cancellation is free until 7 days before the start; from 7 days out it is non-refundable.

Bring US dollars or euros, because rand is difficult to change in Turkey. Guide and driver tips are not included, and we never charge them as a fee.

Frequently Asked Questions