Greece and Turkey: Athens to Istanbul by Road, and Cappadocia

1. Day 1: Arrive in Athens

   Athens International Airport to your hotel in central Athens

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Athens
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Athens International Airport (ATH), about 35 km east of the centre, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive in. Plan to land by about 3 pm so you are settled before the evening briefing; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Our hotels in Athens are central, within walking distance of Plaka and the foot of the Acropolis, so if you arrive early you can walk out on your own to the Ancient Agora or simply sit with a coffee under the hill. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the two weeks ahead: the pace, the one long border day, what to wear in monasteries and mosques, and how the luggage moves. Then we walk to a local taverna for a welcome dinner of Greek small plates and grills.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Athens International Airport (ATH)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in Athens

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: The Acropolis at opening, a free afternoon

   Athens: the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum and Plaka

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Athens
   Day 2 details

   We are at the Acropolis gate for the first timed entry slot at 8 am, before the cruise groups and the heat. Climb through the Propylaia to the Parthenon, finished in the 430s BC, and walk round to the Erechtheion and its porch of caryatids, with the whole city spread out to the sea below. Coming down, the Theatre of Dionysos sits on the south slope. Then we cross the road to the Acropolis Museum, where the original caryatids and the Parthenon frieze are shown in a glass gallery lined up with the temple itself. Lunch is yours in Plaka or Anafiotika, the island-style lanes on the hill, and the afternoon is free: the National Archaeological Museum, the Ancient Agora, a nap through the heat, or a walk up Lycabettus Hill for sunset. Dinner tonight is your choice; your guide has a list.

   Included

   • The Acropolis with your guide at the first timed slot: the Propylaia, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion
   • The Acropolis Museum with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • National Archaeological Museum (entry on you)

   Easier option: Skip the museum and rest at the hotel; the Acropolis walk itself is about 1.5 km with steep marble steps.

   More active option: Walk up Lycabettus Hill for sunset, about 30 minutes uphill from Kolonaki.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot on the Acropolis on polished marble and uneven rock. Shoes with grip and a hat matter.

   

3. Day 3: Up to Delphi

   Athens to Delphi by road, through Boeotia and past Arachova

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Delphi
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast we drive about two and a half hours north west, through the plains of Boeotia and up past Arachova into the mountains, to Delphi, on the slope of Mount Parnassus above a sea of olive trees running down to the Gulf of Corinth. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the village with that view. Most coach groups do Delphi as a day trip from Athens and are there from late morning to early afternoon, so we go into the site in the late afternoon, once they have left. The Sacred Way zigzags up past the treasuries of the city states to the Temple of Apollo, where the oracle spoke, and on to the theatre and the stadium at the top. The UNESCO listed site closes in the early evening in summer and earlier in winter, so the hour is set by season. The evening is free in the village.

   Included

   • Drive from Athens to Delphi with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Delphi village
   • The archaeological site of Delphi in the late afternoon: the Sacred Way, the Temple of Apollo, the theatre and the stadium

   Easier option: Walk only as far as the Temple of Apollo and wait at the theatre seats, skipping the steep last climb to the stadium.

   More active option: Carry on to the stadium, the highest point of the site, about 15 minutes more of steep path.

   Free time: Evening free in Delphi village

   Activity: The site climbs about 100 m on stone paths with little shade; we go in late in the day for cooler air and fewer people. Closing time is confirmed by season.

   

4. Day 4: Delphi Museum, then north to Meteora

   Delphi to Kalambaka by road, via Lamia

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kalambaka
   Day 4 details

   We are at the Delphi Archaeological Museum when it opens, ahead of the day trippers, to see the bronze Charioteer, cast around 470 BC, the Sphinx of the Naxians and the finds from the sanctuary you walked yesterday. Then we head north, about three and a half hours of driving: down through the mountains to Lamia, across the plain of Thessaly with its cotton and wheat fields, and on to Kalambaka, the town below the rock towers of Meteora. We break the drive with a sit-down lunch at a taverna on the way, so nobody eats in the van. As we come into Kalambaka the pillars rise straight out of the plain, some 300 m high. After checking in we drive up to a viewpoint for sunset over the monasteries, then the evening is free in Kalambaka or the village of Kastraki, under the rocks.

   Included

   • The Delphi Archaeological Museum at opening with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch on the drive north
   • Sunset viewpoint over the Meteora rocks

   Free time: Evening free in Kalambaka

   Activity: The museum visit is about 1.5 hours; the rest of the day is a drive broken by lunch and short stops.

5. Day 5: The monasteries of Meteora

   Kalambaka and Kastraki, up to the Meteora monasteries

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Kalambaka
   Day 5 details

   Meteora, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988, is a cluster of sandstone pillars where monks built monasteries from the 14th century on, once reached by ladders and nets. Six are still lived in and open to visitors. We start early, at opening, at the Great Meteoron, the largest and highest, then walk the short stretch to Varlaam, with its frescoed church and the old winch tower, before the tour buses arrive mid-morning. Each monastery closes one day a week (the Great Meteoron on Tuesday, Varlaam on Friday, Roussanou on Wednesday), so departure dates are set to keep all three open today. After a break we visit Roussanou, home to a community of nuns, on its narrow pillar reached by a bridge. Lunch is yours in Kastraki. The afternoon is free: rest at the hotel or walk one of the old monk paths between the rocks with your guide.

   Included

   • The Great Meteoron and Varlaam monasteries at opening with your guide
   • Roussanou nunnery
   • Monastery entry fees

   Easier option: Visit two monasteries instead of three; the van takes you to each gate and the steps are the only climb.

   More active option: In the afternoon, walk the old footpath from Kastraki up through the rocks to the Holy Trinity monastery, about 2 hours with a steady climb.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Kalambaka

   Activity: Each monastery has 150 to 300 steps cut in the rock. Women are asked to wear a skirt below the knee and men long trousers, shoulders covered; wraps are usually lent at the door.

   

6. Day 6: The royal tombs of Aigai, then Thessaloniki

   Kalambaka to Vergina (Aigai), then Thessaloniki

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Thessaloniki
   Day 6 details

   We leave Meteora after breakfast and drive about two hours north over the Pindus foothills on the Egnatia motorway to Vergina, the site of Aigai (the museum closes on Tuesdays in winter, so departure dates keep this day off a Tuesday), the first capital of the Macedonian kings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. The museum here is built inside the great burial mound itself: in the half-dark you walk past the facades of the royal tombs and the gold larnax thought to have held the bones of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. After a sit-down lunch in the village, it is about an hour on to Thessaloniki, Greece's second city, where we stay two nights. Your guide takes you on a short walk along the waterfront promenade to the White Tower as the evening light comes across the Thermaic Gulf, and dinner is yours in the city.

   Included

   • The Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aigai at Vergina with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Vergina
   • Evening walk on the Thessaloniki waterfront to the White Tower

   Free time: Evening free in Thessaloniki

   Activity: An easy day on foot: about an hour inside the tomb museum and a flat waterfront walk.

7. Day 7: Thessaloniki on foot and a meze dinner

   Thessaloniki: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman city, then Ladadika

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Thessaloniki
   Day 7 details

   Thessaloniki is a city you walk through layer by layer. We start at the Arch of Galerius and the Rotunda, a Roman building of around AD 300 that has been a church and a mosque, and walk to the Church of Saint Demetrios, the city's patron, among the early Christian and Byzantine monuments listed by UNESCO. From there we climb into Ano Poli, the upper town of wooden-balconied houses, to the old Byzantine walls and the view over the rooftops to the bay. Back down, the Modiano and Kapani markets are the place for lunch on your own: koulouri, bougatsa, olives, fish. The afternoon is free for the Archaeological Museum, a little shopping, or a rest. In the evening we sit down together to a meze dinner in Ladadika, the old warehouse quarter by the port.

   Included

   • Guided walk: the Arch of Galerius, the Rotunda, the Church of Saint Demetrios, Ano Poli and the Byzantine walls
   • Meze dinner in Ladadika

   Optional experiences

   • Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (entry on you)

   Easier option: Take a taxi with your guide up to Ano Poli and walk down rather than up.

   More active option: Walk on from the walls to the Heptapyrgion fortress at the top of the old town.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Thessaloniki

   Activity: About 5 km on foot, with a steep climb to Ano Poli.

   

8. Day 8: Philippi, Kavala and the road to Alexandroupoli

   Thessaloniki to Philippi and Kavala, then Alexandroupoli

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Alexandroupoli
   Day 8 details

   Today and tomorrow are the one pair of long road days on the trip, and we split the road from Thessaloniki to Istanbul in two so neither is a marathon. We drive about two hours east on the Egnatia motorway to Philippi, about 150 km, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016: the Roman forum, the theatre and the great basilicas of a city where Saint Paul preached, under a hill crowned by Byzantine walls. A few minutes on, Kavala sits on a headland above its harbour, with its Ottoman aqueduct and the old Panagia quarter climbing to a castle. Lunch is a sit-down seafood meal by the harbour. Then it is about 150 km and under two hours more on the motorway to Alexandroupoli, the last Greek city before the border, a relaxed port town on the Thracian Sea. The evening is free on the seafront by the old lighthouse. What softens it: two drives of under two hours each, two sites and a long lunch between them.

   Included

   • The archaeological site of Philippi with your guide
   • Walk through the old Panagia quarter of Kavala
   • Sit-down lunch by Kavala harbour

   Easier option: Stay at the forum level at Philippi and skip the climb up the theatre slope.

   More active option: Climb to Kavala castle for the view over the harbour and the island of Thasos.

   Free time: Evening free in Alexandroupoli

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Philippi and in Kavala; the rest is road, broken into two drives of about two hours each.

   

9. Day 9: Across the border to Istanbul

   Alexandroupoli to the Kipoi and İpsala border crossing, then Istanbul

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Istanbul
   Day 9 details

   This is the second of the one pair of long road days, and the border makes it the longer. Alexandroupoli to central Istanbul is about 265 km and about three and a half hours of driving, plus the border, which can take from half an hour to two hours depending on traffic and the day. We leave after an early breakfast and reach the Kipoi crossing on the Evros river in about 40 minutes. You stay with your guide through the Greek exit and Turkish entry checks at the windows; have your passport ready. There is a vehicle and driver in Greece and in Turkey; whether one vehicle crosses the border is confirmed with your final itinerary. What softens the day: a sit-down lunch of Tekirdağ köfte on the Marmara coast, a stretch stop, and a free evening with nothing planned. We reach Istanbul in the late afternoon.

   Included

   • Drive with your guide from Alexandroupoli to Istanbul via the Kipoi and İpsala crossing
   • Help with the Greek exit and Turkish entry formalities
   • Sit-down lunch in Tekirdağ

   Free time: Evening free in Istanbul

   Activity: The second long day in a row: about 3.5 hours of driving plus the border wait, with a lunch stop and a stretch stop. Turkey keeps the same clock as Greece in summer and is one hour ahead in winter.

10. Day 10: Sultanahmet at opening

    Istanbul: Sultanahmet, the Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar

    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Istanbul
    Day 10 details

    We walk out early into Sultanahmet, the old heart of Constantinople and part of the UNESCO listed historic areas of Istanbul. First Hagia Sophia, built under Justinian in the 530s, a church for nine centuries, then a mosque, a museum and now a mosque again; visitors enter the upper galleries by a separate paid route and the visit pauses at prayer times, so we go at opening. Across the square, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Blue Mosque, with its six minarets and painted tiles, and the Hippodrome, where the chariot races ran, with its Egyptian obelisk. Below ground, the Basilica Cistern, a 6th-century reservoir of 336 columns, is cool and quiet. After lunch on your own we walk through the vaulted lanes of the Grand Bazaar with your guide, with no commission shops and no carpet demonstrations. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free.

    Included

    • Hagia Sophia at opening, with the gallery entry
    • The Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome
    • The Basilica Cistern
    • Guided walk through the Grand Bazaar (no shopping stops)

    Optional experiences

    • A Turkish bath (hamam), price shown at booking

    Easier option: Rest at the hotel after the Cistern and skip the bazaar walk.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: Mosques ask everyone to cover shoulders and knees and women to cover their hair; carry a light scarf. About 5 km on foot.

    

11. Day 11: Topkapı Palace and the Bosphorus by ferry

    Istanbul: Topkapı, Eminönü and a ferry up the Bosphorus

    • By ferry
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Istanbul
    Day 11 details

    We are at Topkapı Palace when it opens, the home of the Ottoman sultans for nearly 400 years, to walk its courtyards, kiosks and treasury, and the Harem, before the queues build. Then we walk down to Eminönü, past the Spice Bazaar with its sacks of pepper, sumac and Turkish delight, for a fish sandwich or a plate of kebab by the water (lunch is yours). In the afternoon we take a public ferry up the Bosphorus, the strait between Europe and Asia, past the Dolmabahçe Palace, the wooden waterfront mansions, the Rumeli fortress and the bridges, and come back by the same boat or by road. The evening is free, and the Süleymaniye Mosque on its hill is a short walk from the bazaar if you want the view over the Golden Horn at dusk.

    Included

    • Topkapı Palace and the Harem at opening with your guide
    • Walk through the Spice Bazaar and Eminönü
    • Public ferry up the Bosphorus and back

    Optional experiences

    • A whirling dervish ceremony in the evening, price shown at booking

    Easier option: Sit out the palace's far courtyards in the café and join the group at the ferry.

    Free time: Evening free

    Activity: Topkapı closes on Tuesdays, so departure dates are set to avoid it; about 6 km on foot.

    

12. Day 12: Fly to Cappadocia

    Istanbul to Kayseri or Nevşehir by flight, then Göreme

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Göreme
    Day 12 details

    We fly from Istanbul to Cappadocia this morning, from whichever of Istanbul's two airports (IST or SAW) has the better flight, a flight of about an hour and twenty minutes to Kayseri or Nevşehir, instead of the long bus ride many tours use. Seats are booked for you as part of the trip. From the airport it is under an hour by road to Göreme, a village of houses built into and around the soft volcanic rock. After lunch on your own we visit the Göreme Open Air Museum, a valley of rock-cut churches and monasteries painted with frescoes from the 10th to the 12th centuries, part of the Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, listed by UNESCO in 1985. Late in the afternoon your guide walks you into the Rose or Red Valley as the tuff turns pink in the low sun. Tonight you sleep in a cave hotel, booked as standard on this trip.

    Included

    • Flight from Istanbul to Kayseri or Nevşehir with checked luggage
    • Göreme Open Air Museum with your guide
    • Sunset walk in the Rose or Red Valley
    • Cave hotel nights in Cappadocia

    Easier option: Watch sunset from the valley rim viewpoint, reached by van, instead of walking in.

    Activity: The sunset walk is about 3 km on dusty, uneven paths with short climbs.

    

13. Day 13: Balloons, an underground city and a valley walk

    Cappadocia: Kaymaklı or Derinkuyu, Uçhisar and Paşabağ

    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Göreme
    Day 13 details

    If you have booked the balloon flight, you are collected before dawn and fly over the valleys at sunrise, weather permitting; if not, your guide takes you to a viewpoint to watch the launch, which is half the spectacle. The civil aviation authority decides each morning whether balloons may fly, so tomorrow is the backup morning, though a flight is not guaranteed on either. After breakfast we go down into the underground city of Kaymaklı or Derinkuyu, carved several levels deep with stables, chapels and rolling stone doors. Lunch is at a family-run restaurant, with dishes such as testi kebab, slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot. In the afternoon we see the rock castle of Uçhisar and the fairy chimneys of Paşabağ, then the late afternoon is free. We meet for a farewell dinner.

    Included

    • Sunrise balloon launch from a viewpoint (if you are not flying)
    • Kaymaklı or Derinkuyu underground city with your guide
    • Lunch at a family-run restaurant
    • Uçhisar castle and Paşabağ
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • Hot air balloon flight at sunrise, about CAD 300 to 450, price confirmed before you book; nobody is asked to buy it on the trip

    Easier option: Skip the underground city: the passages are low and narrow. Wait in the village café with a tea.

    More active option: Walk from Göreme to Uçhisar through Pigeon Valley, about 4 km with a climb at the end, instead of the drive.

    Free time: Late afternoon free

    Activity: The underground city has low ceilings, steep steps and tight passages; not suitable if you dislike enclosed spaces.

    

14. Day 14: Leave from Cappadocia

    Göreme to Kayseri or Nevşehir airport

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    This morning is the balloon backup: if your flight was cancelled yesterday for weather, the operator rebooks you for today when they can. Otherwise, sleep in, or walk up to a viewpoint above Göreme for the last light on the chimneys. After breakfast we drive you to Kayseri airport, about an hour away, or Nevşehir airport, about 40 minutes, for a domestic flight back to Istanbul (IST or SAW, so check which one your flight home leaves from), where most international flights connect. Your guide sees the group to the airport and checks your onward flights before saying goodbye. Book a Cappadocia to Istanbul flight leaving after about 11 am, and leave at least three hours in Istanbul before an international departure; we can add the domestic flight for you or extra nights in Istanbul on request.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Kayseri or Nevşehir airport

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Book your flight from Cappadocia after about 11 am, and connect in Istanbul with at least three hours to spare.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn are the sweet spot. July and August pass 35 C in Athens and on the Thessaly plain, so we start early and rest at midday; winter brings shorter site hours and snow in Cappadocia, where balloons cancel more often. Balloon flights depend on the wind every morning and are not guaranteed on either of our two Cappadocia mornings.

• Athens2 nights
• Delphi1 night
• Kalambaka2 nights
• Thessaloniki2 nights
• Alexandroupoli1 night
• Istanbul3 nights
• Göreme2 nights