This 17 day tour, starts and ends in Istanbul, Turkey.
Day(s) : 17
Countries : Turkey
Start City : Istanbul
End City : Istanbul
Meals : 16 Breakfasts, 6 Dinners
Welcome to Istanbul! You will be transferred to your hotel and the remainder of the day is yours, free to explore.
Overnight : Istanbul
Category : 4 star
Hotel : Nidya Hotel Galataport
After breakfast, you enjoy a fully guided tour of the only city to span two continents, visiting the Blue Mosque, St Sophia Museum, Topkapi Palace (including Hagia Irene and the Harem) and the Hippodrome.
Cruise between two continents on the stretch of water that separates Europe from Asia in the afternoon with an optional 'Half day Bosphorus cruise'.
Overnight : Istanbul
Category : 4 star
Hotel : Nidya Hotel Galataport
One of the most emotionally touching places in Turkey, today we visit the WWI Battlefields of Gallipoli including Lone Pine and Chunuk Bair Memorials, ANZAC Cove, The Nek, Johnston's Jolly, original trenches and tunnels.
Overnight : Çanakkale
Category : Special Class
Hotel : MD Barbaros Hotel
Depart from Canakkale and head towards Troy, where we will explore the ancient city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the new, award-winning Troy Museum. We continue on to Assos, taking in the views from the Temple of Athena, overlooking the Aegean and the Greek island of Lesbos. At the ancient harbour, you will have free time to wander the charming streets, maybe grab yourself a meal at a harbourside seafood restaurant. From Assos we head south to Kusadasi.
Overnight : Kuşadası
Category : Boutique
Hotel : Ilayda Avantgarde Hotel
Absorb yourself in history today with a guided tour of Ephesus and a visit to the site of the Temple of Artemis. Feel the mystical atmosphere of the ancient city and theatre before continuing to the former Greek village of Sirince, famous for its fruit wines. Carpet weaving has long traditions in Turkey and at the carpet village we learn how the carpets are made by hand and what determines their value.
Overnight : Kuşadası
Category : Boutique
Hotel : Ilayda Avantgarde Hotel
This morning we will enjoy a display of locally handcrafted leather goods before heading to the magnificent white calcium terraces, known as Travertines, in Pamukkale where we also tour the ancient city of Hierapolis. Take a dip, amongst ancient columns, in the hot springs that were used in Roman times for their therapeutic powers.
Overnight : Pamukkale
Category : 4 star
Hotel : Adem Pira Hotel
After breakfast we head for the resort town of Antalya, stopping along the way to visit isit the Laodicea which was the chief city of the Lycus River Valley region. The full name of the city was Laodicea ad Lyceum (Laodicea on the Lycus). The city was originally known as Diospolis ("the City of Zeus"). The Greek deity considered to be the greatest of the Olympian gods. Then, we will head to resort town, Antalya. We will visit Antalya Arecheological Museum in the afternoon.
Overnight : Antalya
Category : Boutique
Hotel : RuinAdalia Hotel
Full day tour of the ancient ruins of Perge and Aspendos. In Aspendos, you can see the Roman Theatre built in the 2nd century and seating 15,000 people. Side is one of the best classical sites in Turkey with its Temple of Apollo and ancient ruins.
Overnight : Antalya
Category : Boutique
Hotel : RuinAdalia Hotel
Today we travel to Cappadocia, through the central part of the country, visiting Sultanhani Caravansary and the Mevlana museum in Konya along the way.
Overnight : Cappadocia
Category : Boutique Cave
Hotel : Gamirasu Hotel
Today we will visit Pigeon and Red Valley and then we visit Cavusin village and lastly Avanos town where we will learn about hand-made pottery
Overnight : Cappadocia
Category : Boutique Cave
Hotel : Gamirasu Hotel
Marvel at the lunar landscape of Cappadocia today as we visit the Goreme Valley Open Air Museum and the fairy chimneys, and explore the many levels of an underground city.
Overnight : Cappadocia
Category : Boutique Cave
Hotel : Gamirasu Hotel
Departure in the morning from Cappadocia, we head to Ankara for our direct flight to Van. On arrival to Van Airport, you will meet with your tour guide. Before we go to our hotel, we will explore the Citadel with its three thousand Urartian fortress of Van and witness the extraordinary sunset.
Overnight : Van
Category : Boutique
Hotel : Van Life Hotel
After breakfast, we will travel by ferry stopping at Akdamar Island to see a spectacular 10th century church built by an Armenian king, if there is time swim in Lake Van.
Then, we will drive back to city centre to visit the largest Urartu Museum in the World. Artifacts from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Urartian, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Seljuk, Turkish-Islamic, and Ottoman Periods are exhibited in chronological order taking our visitors on a unique historical journey.
After the museum visit Van Cat House. Van cats are relatively large, have a chalky white coat, sometimes with ruddy coloration on the head and hindquarters, and have blue, amber eyes or one eye of each colour. This variety has been referred to as "the swimming cat", and has been observed to swim in Lake Van.
Overnight : Van
Category : Boutique
Hotel : Van Life Hotel
Today we leave for Dogubayazit via Muradiye and the Bendimaahi Falls. In Dogubayazit, we visit the spectacular Ishak Pasha Palace, 1685 - 1784, which has a unique fusion of architecture from Seljuk, Ottoman, Georgian, and Armenian - Persian styles.
We continue our journey north, skirting around the western edge of Mt Ararat. Mt. Ararat is one of the great natural spectacles of the world,. The name Ararat derives from the Bible (Jeremiah 51:27) and is a transliteration of 'Urartu' the name foreigners gave to this region and its inhabitants in Biblical times.
Overnight : Kars
Category : Boutique
Hotel : Kars Beylerbeyi Palace
This morning we journey to the site of Ani, the former capital of the Armenian kingdom. In the mid 10th century, nothing in Europe could rival this capital of the Armenian kingdom in terms of either size or magnificence. The remains of the ruined city include several churches as well as the shell of the Cathedral of Ani, the citadel and a mosque. There are also some exciting remains of frescoes in the Church of St Gregory (Tigran Honentz) despite having been exposed to the elements for centuries.
Afternoon, we will visit 12 Aposotles Church and Kars Castle.
Overnight : Kars
Category : Boutique
Hotel : Kars Beylerbeyi Palace
Transfer to Kars Airport for your onward flight back to Istanbul. On arrival to Istanbul Airport, you will be transferred to your hotel.
Overnight : Istanbul
Category : 4 star
Hotel : Nidya Hotel Galataport
After breakfast our tour concludes and we say goodbye to our new friends and are transferred to the airport for your onward flight.
This is intended to give an idea of the type of accommodation that may be expected. The actual hotels used for any given tour may change due to many reasons such as group size, availability, time of year, hotel standard has dropped or simply we found a better hotel. We update the website immediately if and when any changes take place. If and when we do change hotels it will be to a hotel of equal or higher standard and will be at no extra cost.
Where more than one hotel is shown for a given an overnight stop this means that one of those hotels will be used.
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