Two-Week Turkey Round Trip from the Netherlands, Ending in Antalya

A two-week round trip through Turkey from the Netherlands works best as a 15-day loop: Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus, Pamukkale and the Antalya coast, flying into Istanbul and home from Antalya. Our private 15-day Best of Turkey package, which ends at Antalya airport, starts from $3,980 per person. Shared-departure 15-day tours that end in Istanbul start from $1,880 per person. Both include hotels, domestic flights and guided days; your flights from Schiphol, Eindhoven or Rotterdam are booked separately.

If two weeks is too long, our page on the Istanbul and Cappadocia round trip from the Netherlands covers 6 to 10 days. If you want to compare every two-week route we run, see 2 weeks in Turkey. This page follows one route in detail, explains why it ends on the coast, and shows how to stretch it to three weeks.

The 15-day route, day by day

This is the order our private 15-day package follows. It puts the sightseeing in the first ten days and leaves the last four on the Mediterranean, so the trip ends with beach days rather than an early flight after a busy tour.

The package includes 14 nights in a mid-range hotel from our list with breakfast, lunch on each tour day, every domestic flight and airport transfer, entry tickets for the sights on the programme and a licensed English-speaking guide. The balloon flight is optional and paid separately.

The Old City and Bosphorus days are covered in depth on our Istanbul destination guide, and the valleys on our Cappadocia guide. A Dutch-speaking guide is arranged on request, subject to availability; ask when you send your dates.

Why end in Antalya: the open-jaw ticket

Flying back to Istanbul at the end of a round trip costs you most of a day and an extra domestic flight. From the Netherlands there is a better option. Antalya has direct flights to several Dutch airports, so you can fly into Istanbul and home from the coast.

• Into Istanbul. Turkish Airlines and KLM fly from Amsterdam to Istanbul Airport (IST) on the European side. Pegasus and AJet fly to Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) on the Asian side. The flight takes roughly three and a half hours.
• Home from Antalya. According to the airport's route listings, Pegasus flies Antalya to Amsterdam, and Corendon, Transavia and TUI fly to Amsterdam in season. Corendon and TUI also serve Rotterdam/The Hague, SunExpress and TUI serve Eindhoven, and TUI serves Groningen. Corendon and Pegasus fly to Maastricht/Aachen in season.
• Seasonal means summer. Most of these routes run in the summer timetable. In winter, the return may need a connection in Istanbul, and then a route that ends in Istanbul is the simpler choice.

Book the return leg after you fix the tour dates, so day 15 matches a day your airline actually flies. A multi-city ticket keeps both legs on one booking, which helps if a flight is changed. Our Antalya destination guide covers the coast in more detail.

Private package or group departure

The route above is private: your own guide on the touring days and hotel pickups. The same two weeks can also be done on a shared departure, which costs less but sticks to a fixed programme. The table compares our four 15-day options.

Three things decide which one suits you:

1. Pace. If you want time to swim, walk or simply sit, note that the lowest-priced option builds in the most free days; the private one gives you the most control over each day.
2. The coast. If the sea matters, look at the Blue Cruise version, which swaps three hotel nights for a cabin on a wooden gulet along the Lycian coast. Our Blue Cruise tours page lists other sailings.
3. Where you fly home. Only the private route ends in Antalya. The group tours return to Istanbul on the last evening.

The three-week option

With 21 days you can keep the whole 15-day route and add the slower parts of Turkey that two weeks leaves out. Three ways to use the extra week:

• The west coast by road. Our 19-day Grand Turkey tour starts from $3,210 per person. It adds Gallipoli and Troy, a four-day Blue Cruise from Fethiye and more time around Antalya, ending in Istanbul.
• The east. Our 17-day Great Discovery of Turkey, from $5,319 per person, adds the southeast, including Göbeklitepe, to the classic regions.
• A beach week on your own. Take the private 15-day route and stay on in Antalya for a few nights, then fly home. This is the most relaxed version and the easiest to fit around Dutch school holidays.

Our 3 weeks in Turkey itinerary sets out a full 21-day plan, day by day.

School holidays 2027 and the best months

Most Dutch families travel in the school holidays, which the government sets by region. The advised dates for 2027 are:

Schools may deviate from these advised dates, and the meivakantie can be extended with a second week (1 to 9 May 2027), so check your school's calendar.

What that means for a two-week round trip:

• Meivakantie is one of the best moments for the full route. Two weeks only fit if your school adds the second week, or if you take extra days.
• Zomervakantie fits easily, but July and August are the hottest months at Pamukkale and Ephesus, where there is little shade. Start tours early, carry water, and keep the afternoons for the pool. The coast days at the end of the route are welcome in this season.
• Without school-age children, late April to June and September to October are the most comfortable months for a mix of sightseeing and beach.

Our best time to visit Turkey guide gives the region-by-region picture.

Documents, time and money

The short version for Dutch citizens:

• ID card or passport. The Netherlands is on Türkiye's list of countries whose citizens may enter with a national identity card. No visa is needed for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. The Dutch government's travel advice says the document should be valid for at least 150 days on arrival. Check children's documents too.
• Time. Turkey stays on UTC+3 all year: one hour ahead of the Netherlands in summer and two hours in winter.
• Money. The currency is the Turkish lira. Cards work widely; at a cash machine, choose to be charged in lira rather than euros.
• Phone. Turkey is outside EU roaming, so a local SIM or an eSIM is usually cheaper than your Dutch bundle.

Travellers with another nationality should check their own rules in our Turkey visa requirements update.

What two weeks costs on top of the package

The package price covers the expensive, hard-to-arrange parts: hotels, domestic flights, transfers, guides and entry tickets on the programme. Budget separately for:

• Return flights to Istanbul and from Antalya, which depend on dates and season.
• The balloon flight in Cappadocia, if you want one. Our standard sunrise balloon flight starts from $199 per person. Flights go only when the civil aviation authority allows them, so plan a second morning in case wind cancels the first. Our balloon price update explains the categories.
• Dinners on most evenings, and drinks.
• Pamukkale's Antique Pool, which is not included on the group tours.
• Tips for guides and drivers, and personal spending.

The private package includes lunch on tour days and one dinner with a show; the group tours include fewer meals, as listed on each tour page. Our Turkey trip cost guide has typical daily spending.

Tours that cover this

• Best of Turkey tour package, 15 days: private, ends at Antalya airport, from $3,980 per person.
• 15-day Turkey tour from Istanbul: group departure with three Cappadocia days, from $2,298 per person.
• 15-day Turkey tour package with Blue Cruise: three nights on a gulet, from $2,482 per person.
• 19-day Grand Turkey tour: the three-week option, from $3,210 per person.

Frequently Asked Questions