Turkey: Istanbul, the Aegean, the Lycian Coast and Cappadocia

1. Day 1: Arrive in Istanbul

   Istanbul airport to your hotel in Sultanahmet

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Istanbul
   Day 1 details

   We meet you at Istanbul Airport (IST) or Sabiha Gökçen (SAW), whatever time you land, and drive you to your hotel in Sultanahmet, the old city on the peninsula between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara. The ride from IST takes about an hour in normal traffic, so land by mid-afternoon if you want to rest before the evening. The group meets at about 6 pm with your See Sight Tours guide, who stays with you for all fourteen days. We walk the few minutes to the Hippodrome, where the chariot track of Byzantine Constantinople ran, as the lamps come on and the domes of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque light up across the park. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner nearby, go through the route from the Dardanelles to Cappadocia, and note any dietary needs for the lunches ahead.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Istanbul Airport (IST) or Sabiha Gökçen (SAW)
   • Evening walk to the Hippodrome with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the group meets at about 6 pm

2. Day 2: Sultanahmet: palace, cistern, church and mosque

   On foot in old Istanbul

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Istanbul
   Day 2 details

   We start at the gates of Topkapı Palace when they open, before the tour groups fill the courtyards. For nearly four centuries the Ottoman sultans ruled from here, and your ticket includes the Harem as well as the treasury and the terraces above the Bosphorus. Next is the Basilica Cistern, a 6th-century underground reservoir held up by 336 columns, two of them resting on carved Medusa heads. Lunch is your choice in Sultanahmet; your guide points out a few honest places. In the early afternoon we go into Hagia Sophia, finished in 537 for the emperor Justinian, through the upper-gallery entrance and ticket that foreign visitors now use. The Blue Mosque, built between 1609 and 1616 and lined with Iznik tiles, comes last, timed between prayers. By mid-afternoon you are free: rest at the hotel, try a Turkish bath, or walk down to the Marmara shore.

   Included

   • Topkapı Palace entry at opening, with the Harem
   • Basilica Cistern entry
   • Hagia Sophia upper-gallery entry for foreign visitors
   • Blue Mosque visit between prayer times

   Optional experiences

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

   Free time: Lunch on your own; mid-afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 4 hours on foot with cobbles and stairs. Topkapı is closed on Tuesdays, so this day never falls on one. Dress for mosques: shoulders and knees covered, a scarf for women.

3. Day 3: Bazaars, Süleymaniye and the Bosphorus

   Grand Bazaar to Süleymaniye and Eminönü on foot, then a Bosphorus boat

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Istanbul
   Day 3 details

   Your guide walks you into the Grand Bazaar soon after it opens, while the shopkeepers are still setting out lamps and carpets. With about sixty covered streets it is easy to get lost, so we show you how it is laid out and then leave you time to browse; we have no shops we take you to and earn no commissions. Up the hill, the Süleymaniye Mosque, built by the architect Sinan for Süleyman the Magnificent in the 1550s, has a garden terrace looking over the Golden Horn. We walk down through the old market lanes to the Spice Bazaar beside the New Mosque, and lunch is yours around Eminönü. In the mid-afternoon a boat for our group leaves the Eminönü waterfront for two hours up the Bosphorus, past Dolmabahçe Palace, Ortaköy and the Rumeli Hisarı fortress, under the bridges between Europe and Asia. The evening is free; your guide suggests places in Karaköy or Kadıköy.

   Included

   • Guided walk through the Grand Bazaar
   • Süleymaniye Mosque and its terrace
   • The Spice Bazaar
   • Two-hour Bosphorus cruise on a boat for our group

   Optional experiences

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

   Free time: Time to browse the bazaars; lunch and evening on your own

   Activity: The Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays, so this day never falls on one.

   

4. Day 4: Gallipoli and across the Dardanelles

   Istanbul to the Gallipoli peninsula, then the ferry from Eceabat to Çanakkale

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Çanakkale
   Day 4 details

   This is one of three longer road days, and the only way to see Gallipoli properly without an extra night. We leave Istanbul at 8 am and drive about four hours west on the motorway through Thrace, with a coffee stop halfway, to the Gallipoli peninsula. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Eceabat before the battlefields. In the 1915 campaign Allied forces, many of them Australian and New Zealand troops, landed here and fought the Ottoman army for eight months. With your guide we visit Anzac Cove and the Ari Burnu cemetery, the Lone Pine memorial, the Turkish 57th Regiment memorial and Chunuk Bair, where the New Zealand memorial and a statue of Mustafa Kemal, later Atatürk, look over both shores. In the late afternoon the car ferry carries us across the Dardanelles to Çanakkale in about 25 minutes. The evening is free on the waterfront, where the wooden horse from the 2004 film Troy stands by the promenade.

   Included

   • Drive from Istanbul with a coffee stop
   • Sit-down lunch in Eceabat
   • Gallipoli battlefields with your guide: Anzac Cove, Ari Burnu, Lone Pine, the 57th Regiment memorial and Chunuk Bair
   • Car ferry from Eceabat to Çanakkale

   Easier option: Stay with the vehicle at the hillside memorials; the cemeteries are short level walks from the road.

   Free time: Evening free on the Çanakkale waterfront

   Activity: About four and a half hours on the road, split by a coffee stop, lunch and three hours on the peninsula.

   

5. Day 5: Troy at opening, then down the Aegean

   Çanakkale to Troy, then Ayvalık and Selçuk

   • Drive about 5.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Selçuk
   Day 5 details

   This is the longest road day of the trip, so it starts gently. Troy is half an hour south of Çanakkale, and we are there when it opens. Listed by UNESCO in 1998, the mound holds at least nine cities built one on top of another over some four thousand years, and your guide shows you how to read them: the sloping walls of Troy VI, the stone ramp of Troy II and the trench Heinrich Schliemann cut through the hill in the 1870s. The Troy Museum by the entrance, opened in 2018, is included and worth an hour. Then we drive about two and a half hours south around the Gulf of Edremit, with Mount Ida inland and the island of Lesbos across the water, to Ayvalık for a sit-down lunch of olive-oil dishes and fish. The last stretch, about two and a half hours on the motorway past Izmir with a coffee stop, reaches Selçuk, home for two nights, at about 5.30 pm. There is no rail or air shortcut on this coast, and a night halfway would cost a night in Selçuk or Cappadocia.

   Included

   • Troy archaeological site at opening, with your guide
   • Troy Museum entry
   • Sit-down lunch in Ayvalık

   Free time: Evening free in Selçuk

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Troy on uneven paths with some steps. About five and a half hours on the road in three parts: half an hour to Troy, about two and a half hours to lunch in Ayvalık, and about two and a half hours to Selçuk.

6. Day 6: Ephesus at opening and Şirince

   Ephesus, Selçuk and Şirince

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Selçuk
   Day 6 details

   We are at the upper gate of Ephesus when it opens, about 8 am, before the cruise-ship coaches arrive from Kuşadası in mid-morning. Listed by UNESCO in 2015, the city runs downhill from here, so the walk is easy on the legs: along Curetes Street past the Odeon and the Temple of Hadrian to the Library of Celsus, whose two-storey facade from the early 2nd century AD catches the morning sun. The Terrace Houses, Roman homes with mosaics and painted walls under a protective roof, are included, and so is the Great Theatre, which held about 25,000 people. After a sit-down lunch at a family-run restaurant in Selçuk, the Ephesus Museum shows the statues of Artemis found in the city. The afternoon is free to rest through the heat. Late in the day we drive about 8 km into the hills to Şirince, a village of stone houses known for its fruit wines, for a walk and a tasting before dinner on your own.

   Included

   • Ephesus entry at opening, with your guide
   • Terrace Houses entry
   • Sit-down lunch in Selçuk
   • Ephesus Museum entry
   • Late-afternoon walk and wine tasting in Şirince

   Easier option: The route through Ephesus is downhill; skip the Terrace Houses stairs and wait in the shade by the Library of Celsus.

   Free time: Afternoon free; dinner on your own

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot over uneven marble paving; bring a hat, there is little shade.

   

7. Day 7: St John's basilica, then Pamukkale at sunset

   Selçuk to Pamukkale up the Meander valley

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Pamukkale
   Day 7 details

   After breakfast we walk up Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk to the Basilica of St John, built by Justinian over the saint's traditional tomb, below the walls of the Byzantine fortress. On the way out of town we stop at the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, where a single rebuilt column stands in the marsh. Then it is about two and a quarter hours east up the Meander valley to Pamukkale. After check-in and a rest through the heat of the day, we go up to Hierapolis in the late afternoon, when the day-trip coaches have left. Your guide takes you through the Roman spa city, listed with the travertines by UNESCO in 1988: the theatre, the long necropolis and the colonnaded street. We end on the white terraces, barefoot in the warm shallow pools, as the sun goes down over the plain. Dinner is on your own.

   Included

   • Basilica of St John entry
   • Temple of Artemis site
   • Hierapolis and the Pamukkale travertines in the late afternoon, with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • A swim in the Antique Pool among fallen Roman columns (extra, paid at the pool)

   Easier option: Watch the sunset from the top of the terraces without walking down.

   More active option: Walk barefoot down the travertine path to the village at dusk, about 1 km.

   Free time: Early afternoon free; dinner on your own

   Activity: Shoes come off on the travertines; the calcite is ridged and can be slippery.

   

8. Day 8: Xanthos and the Lycian coast

   Pamukkale via Acıpayam and Gölhisar to Xanthos, then Kalkan and Kaş

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kaş
   Day 8 details

   The last of the three long road days, about four and a half hours in all, takes us from the inland plateau down to the Mediterranean, and it is broken in the middle by Xanthos and lunch. We leave Pamukkale at 8 am and drive south through Acıpayam and Gölhisar, over pine forest and farmland, joining the coast road near Fethiye without going into the town. In the Xanthos valley we stop at Xanthos, the old capital of Lycia, listed by UNESCO with nearby Letoon in 1988: a Roman theatre, pillar tombs raised on tall stone shafts and an acropolis above the river. Lunch is a sit-down meal nearby. The last 45 minutes follow the coast road past Kalkan and the cove of Kaputaş, where the road is cut into the cliff above clear blue water. We reach Kaş, a small harbour town of white houses and bougainvillea, by late afternoon and stay two nights. Your guide walks you to the Hellenistic theatre at the edge of town for sunset over the Greek island of Kastellorizo, Meis in Turkish, just offshore.

   Included

   • Xanthos with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch near Xanthos
   • Photo stop above Kaputaş
   • Sunset walk to the theatre in Kaş

   Free time: Evening free in Kaş

   Activity: About four and a half hours and 290 km on the road, split by Xanthos and lunch.

   

9. Day 9: A boat day to Kekova

   Kaş harbour to Kekova and Kaleköy (Simena) by boat, and back

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kaş
   Day 9 details

   No driving today. A boat for our group leaves Kaş harbour in the morning and heads east along the coast towards Kekova, a protected area of islands and quiet bays. Along the north shore of Kekova Island, the foundations, stairways and walls of an ancient town lie half in the water, toppled by earthquakes in antiquity; swimming over the ruins is not allowed, so the boat drifts past slowly while your guide explains what you are seeing. At Kaleköy, the old Simena, you can climb to a small castle above Lycian sarcophagi, one of them standing in the shallows, for the view across the bay. Lunch is cooked on board. The boat stops in two or three bays for swimming in water clear to the bottom, then cruises back along the coast to reach Kaş in the late afternoon. The evening is free: the harbour has fish restaurants and the old lanes have small shops and bars.

   Included

   • Full-day boat for our group to Kekova
   • The sunken ruins along Kekova Island, seen from the deck
   • Simena castle at Kaleköy
   • Lunch cooked on board
   • Swim stops in two or three bays

   Easier option: Stay on deck in the shade at Kaleköy instead of the climb to the castle.

   More active option: Swim at every stop and snorkel the rocky shores, away from the protected ruins.

   Free time: Evening free in Kaş

   Activity: The climb at Kaleköy is about 15 minutes on uneven steps. If the sea is too rough to sail, we spend the day on foot around Kaş instead: the Lycian rock tombs, the theatre and the old harbour.

10. Day 10: Myra and the coast road to Antalya

    Kaş to Demre (Myra), then the coast road to Antalya

    • Drive about 3 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Antalya
    Day 10 details

    We follow the coast east this morning. The first stop, about 45 minutes from Kaş, is Demre, the ancient Myra, where Lycian tombs are cut into the cliff face like house fronts above a Roman theatre. In town, the Church of St Nicholas stands where Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra behind the Santa Claus story, served and was buried. After a sit-down lunch in Demre we continue about two hours along the coast road, past Finike and through the pine-covered mountains above Kemer, to Antalya. We stay in or beside Kaleiçi, the walled old town. In the late afternoon your guide walks you through its lanes of restored Ottoman houses, through Hadrian's Gate, built for the emperor's visit in AD 130, past the fluted Yivli Minaret and down to the old harbour below the cliffs. The evening is free by the sea.

    Included

    • Myra rock tombs and theatre
    • Church of St Nicholas, Demre
    • Sit-down lunch in Demre
    • Guided walk in Kaleiçi: Hadrian's Gate, the Yivli Minaret and the old harbour

    Free time: Evening free in Kaleiçi

    

11. Day 11: Antalya Museum, then fly to Cappadocia

    Antalya to Kayseri or Nevşehir by air, then Göreme

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Göreme
    Day 11 details

    The morning starts at the Antalya Museum, where the halls of marble gods and emperors excavated at nearby Perge, and the Weary Herakles, whose two halves were reunited here in 2011, are the ones not to miss. Then we drive about half an hour to Antalya Airport for a flight of a little over an hour to Kayseri or Nevşehir, which replaces a drive of about 500 km and six and a half hours across the Taurus Mountains via Konya. We book a direct flight where one runs on your date; if none does, we connect in Istanbul, which makes this a longer travel day, and we tell you before you book. From the airport it is about an hour to Göreme or Uçhisar and your cave hotel, home for three nights, with rooms cut into the soft volcanic tuff. We arrive in the afternoon with time to settle in. At sunset we drive up to a viewpoint above Göreme for a first look over the fairy chimneys towards the volcanic cone of Mount Erciyes. Dinner is on your own.

    Included

    • Antalya Museum entry
    • Flight from Antalya to Kayseri or Nevşehir
    • Transfer to your cave hotel
    • Sunset viewpoint above Göreme

    Free time: Dinner on your own in Göreme

12. Day 12: Balloons, Derinkuyu and Pigeon Valley

    Göreme to Derinkuyu and back, then Uçhisar to Göreme on foot

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Göreme
    Day 12 details

    If you have booked the optional balloon flight, the operator collects you about an hour before sunrise; you watch the envelopes fill in the half dark and fly for about an hour as the sun lights the valleys. Balloons fly only when the aviation authority allows it that morning, so if today is cancelled you try again tomorrow. If you are not flying, sleep in, or join your guide at a viewpoint above Göreme to watch them rise. Mid-morning we drive about 40 minutes south to Derinkuyu, an underground city cut into the tuff on several levels, with air shafts, stables, chapels and rolling stone doors, where people sheltered from raids. The early afternoon is free. At about 4 pm we climb Uçhisar Castle, the highest rock in the area, then walk about 4 km down Pigeon Valley to Göreme, past dovecotes cut into the cliffs. In the evening we drive to a village for dinner cooked by a local family in their home.

    Included

    • Derinkuyu Underground City entry
    • Uçhisar Castle entry
    • Guided walk down Pigeon Valley to Göreme
    • Dinner with a local family in a village

    Optional experiences

    • Sunrise hot air balloon flight of about an hour with a licensed operator (extra, price shown at booking; day 13 is the spare morning)

    Easier option: Drive from Uçhisar to the Pigeon Valley viewpoint instead of the walk.

    Free time: Early afternoon free

    Activity: Derinkuyu has low, narrow passages and steep steps; skip it if you dislike tight spaces. Pigeon Valley is about 4 km, mostly downhill on dirt paths.

    

13. Day 13: Rock churches, Avanos and the Red Valley

    Göreme Open Air Museum, Paşabağ and Avanos, then the Rose and Red valleys

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Göreme
    Day 13 details

    We are at the Göreme Open Air Museum when it opens, about 8 am, before the coaches. Monks cut these churches and refectories into the rock between the 10th and 12th centuries, and the Dark Church, included, keeps its frescoes bright because so little light gets in. If your balloon flight moved to this morning, you join us here a little later. Next is Paşabağ, the Monks Valley, where fairy chimneys wear dark basalt caps and a hermit's cell is cut high in one of them. Lunch is in Avanos on the Kızılırmak, Turkey's longest river, followed by an hour at a potter's wheel with the river's red clay: a lesson, not a sales stop. The afternoon is free at the hotel. Late in the day we walk the Rose and Red valleys, about two hours past small rock-cut churches, to the Kızılçukur ridge as the rock turns pink at sunset, and finish with a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Spare balloon morning if day 12 was cancelled
    • Göreme Open Air Museum entry at opening, with the Dark Church
    • Paşabağ (Monks Valley)
    • Lunch in Avanos and a hands-on pottery lesson
    • Guided sunset walk in the Rose and Red valleys
    • Farewell dinner

    Easier option: Drive round to the Kızılçukur viewpoint for sunset instead of the walk.

    More active option: Carry on past the ridge to Çavuşin, about 6 km in all.

    Free time: Afternoon free

    Activity: The valley walk is about 2 hours on dirt paths with some short climbs.

    

14. Day 14: Fly to Istanbul and home

    Göreme to Kayseri or Nevşehir airport, then fly to Istanbul Airport

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    After a last breakfast on the hotel terrace, often with balloons drifting over the valleys, we drive to Kayseri or Nevşehir airport, about an hour, and fly back to Istanbul, a little over an hour in the air. Your guide travels with you and sees you through arrivals at Istanbul Airport (IST) around midday, where the trip ends. Book your flight home from IST after about 4 pm; we confirm the domestic flight time with your final itinerary, and if it changes we tell you before you book anything onward. If you would like to stay on in Istanbul, we can book extra nights in the city and a transfer from the airport at cost. If you land at Sabiha Gökçen instead because of the flight schedule on your date, we drive you across the city to IST, about an hour and a half.

    Included

    • Transfer to Kayseri or Nevşehir airport
    • Flight to Istanbul with your guide

    Optional experiences

    • Extra nights in Istanbul with an airport transfer (extra, price shown at booking)

    Activity: Book a flight home from Istanbul Airport (IST) leaving after about 4 pm.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn are mild on the coast and cool on the Cappadocian plateau at about 1,100 m, where balloon mornings are cold. Summer is very hot at Ephesus and Pamukkale, so we visit early and late. Balloon flights are cancelled on some mornings for wind. The Kekova boat runs from about April to October and depends on the sea; the water is cool for swimming before June.

• Istanbul3 nights
• Çanakkale1 night
• Selçuk2 nights
• Pamukkale1 night
• Kaş2 nights
• Antalya1 night
• Göreme3 nights