3 Weeks in Turkey: A 21-Day Route and Three Ways to Spend Week Three

Three weeks in Turkey is enough to see Istanbul, Gallipoli and Troy, Ephesus, Pamukkale, a stretch of the Turquoise Coast and Cappadocia without a single rushed day, with 20 nights split roughly as four in Istanbul, six on the Aegean side, six on the coast and four in Cappadocia. That is the route below. If the coast does not appeal, week three can go to the south-east (Göbeklitepe, Mount Nemrut, Şanlıurfa) or the Black Sea instead. Our 19-day Grand Turkey tour with a Blue Cruise and two flights follows a very similar line from $3,210 per person, and two extra days at either end turn it into a full three weeks.

The difference between two and three weeks is not more sights. It is fewer one-night stops, a real rest in the middle and the option to travel by road through the Aegean instead of flying over it. If you only have 14 or 15 days, see our 2-week Turkey tour page instead.

How 21 days divide up

Four nights in Cappadocia is deliberate. The balloons need permission from the civil aviation office each morning, and with three or four sunrises you give yourself a good chance of a flight.

The 21-day route, day by day

Drive times come from OpenStreetMap-based routing (OSRM) and do not include stops, so allow extra time. Days 5 and 6 are the longest on the road. Day 6 in particular, from Çanakkale via Troy and Pergamon to Selçuk, adds up to roughly 410 km and works best with an early start.

Week one: Istanbul and the Dardanelles

Give Istanbul four nights and plan around the weekly closures: Topkapı Palace closes on Tuesdays and Dolmabahçe Palace on Mondays. A typical split is one day for the old city (Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern and Topkapı), one for Dolmabahçe and the Bosphorus, and one for neighbourhoods such as Balat and Fener or the Asian side. Keep the fourth day free; after a long flight you will be glad of it. Our Istanbul 4-day itinerary goes into the city in detail.

On day 5, drive south-west to Çanakkale on the Dardanelles. The Gallipoli peninsula takes an afternoon with a guide who knows the campaign. The next morning, Troy is about half an hour from the town, and then the road runs down the Aegean past Pergamon to Selçuk. If you prefer not to drive, our Gallipoli tours from Istanbul page lists guided options.

Week two: the Aegean, Pamukkale and the start of the coast

Selçuk is the base for three nights. Day 7 is Ephesus: go at opening time to beat the cruise groups, and add the Terrace Houses, where the wall paintings and mosaics are under a roof. Day 8 is either the three ancient cities of Priene, Miletus and Didyma, or a slower day in the hill village of Şirince.

On day 9, drive inland to Pamukkale and spend the late afternoon on the travertines and Hierapolis. Stay the night in Pamukkale village and walk the terraces again early the next morning, before tour buses arrive.

From Pamukkale, the road drops south to Fethiye. This is where three weeks pays off: on a two-week trip, the coast is usually the first thing cut.

Week three: the Turquoise Coast, Antalya and Cappadocia

Days 11 to 14: the coast. Two ways to spend them:

• A gulet cruise. Several nights on a wooden gulet between Fethiye and the bays further east, swimming from the boat and sleeping on board. Our Blue Cruise tours list the options.
• Two land bases. Two nights in Fethiye for Ölüdeniz and the boat trips, then two in Kaş, a smaller harbour town with good swimming from the rocks.

Day 15: Kaş to Antalya. Stop at Myra, with its Lycian rock tombs and the Church of St Nicholas, and at Kekova for the sunken city. The private Demre, Myra and Kekova tour costs from $140 per person if you would rather do it as a guided day from Antalya.

Day 16: Antalya. Walk Kaleiçi, the walled old town above the harbour, and visit Aspendos, one of the best-preserved Roman theatres anywhere.

Days 17 to 20: Cappadocia. Fly from Antalya to Kayseri; route listings show direct flights with Pegasus and SunExpress. Then four nights in a cave hotel, with the balloon booked for your first morning so you have spare days if it is cancelled. Our Cappadocia destination guide and balloon ride guide explain how to plan it.

Day 21. Fly home via Istanbul. Kayseri also has direct flights to several European airports, mostly in summer, which can save a connection.

Two other ways to spend week three

Option B: the south-east. Replace the coast with Göbeklitepe, Şanlıurfa and Mount Nemrut. From Cappadocia, our 3-day Mount Nemrut, Göbeklitepe and Şanlıurfa tour costs from $1,543 per person. The distances are long (Göreme to Şanlıurfa is about 549 km by OSRM routing), which is why a guided tour with a driver who knows the roads makes sense here. Add a night in Gaziantep for the food. See our Göbeklitepe guide page.

Option C: the Black Sea. Fly from Istanbul to Trabzon for the green mountains, tea gardens and the cliffside Sumela Monastery. Our 2-day Trabzon tour from Istanbul with flights covers Sumela and Uzungöl from $640 per person, and the Black Sea Turkey tour page describes longer routes. The Black Sea is greenest and easiest to travel from late spring to early autumn.

Pacing three weeks so you enjoy all of it

• Build in a rest day every five or six days. On this route they fall on day 4 in Istanbul, day 8 in Selçuk if you choose Şirince, day 13 or 14 on the coast and day 20 in Cappadocia.
• Fly the long legs, drive the short ones. The flight from Antalya to Kayseri replaces the longest drive on the map. Apart from days 5 and 6, every road leg on this route is under four hours of driving by the OSRM estimate.
• Pack once. In three weeks you cross from a big city to the coast to the cold plateau. Bring layers and a warm jacket for Cappadocia mornings, even in summer.
• Do your laundry in Selçuk and Fethiye. Most hotels and guesthouses offer it.
• Book the balloon and the gulet first. They are the two items with limited capacity on popular dates.

What three weeks costs with our tours

Our longest packages give you a guide price for the whole trip. Check each tour page for what is included, such as flights, hotels, entrance fees and meals.

• 19-day Grand Turkey tour with Blue Cruise and two flights: from $3,210 per person.
• 17-day Turkey tour with Nemrut, Göbeklitepe, Cappadocia and the Aegean: from $5,319 per person.
• All of Turkey, 16 days from Istanbul to Göbeklitepe with a gulet cruise: from $7,380 per person.
• Best of Turkey, 15 days with four domestic flights: from $1,880 per person.

Add a few nights in Istanbul before or after any of them and you have three weeks. For a breakdown of daily costs, see our Turkey trip cost guide.

Tours that cover this

• Grand Turkey tour, 19 days with Blue Cruise and 2 flights: from $3,210 per person. The closest match to the route above.
• 17-day great discovery of Turkey: from $5,319 per person. Adds the south-east.
• 3-day Mount Nemrut, Göbeklitepe and Şanlıurfa tour from Cappadocia: from $1,543 per person. For Option B.
• 2-day Trabzon tour from Istanbul with flights: from $640 per person. For Option C.

To change the order or the pace, our tailor-made Turkey tour page explains how we build a private route.

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