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Treasures of Turkey

15 Day Turkey Tour to Istanbul & Antalya | Operated by InsightVacations

  • 15 Days

  • 1 Country

    Turkey
  • 16 Cities

    Istanbul, Bursa, Cumalikizik, Gordion, Ankara, Cappadocia, Konya, Antalya, Pamukkale, Geyre, Kusadasi, Ephesus, Pergamon, Troy, Çanakkale, Gallipoli
  • 24 Meals

    9 Dinner with Wines, 14 Breakfasts, 1 Lunch
  • Pace: Active

    Faster paces with mix of 1–2-night stays in each location. Typically features 4+ miles of walking on some days and may involve steep hills and uneven surfaces, such as cobblestones.

Trip Itinerary

Day 1: Welcome to Istanbul

Welcome to Turkey. You’ll start in vibrant Istanbul, where a representative will pick you up from the airport and transfer you to your hotel.  Relax and settle in before joining your Travel Director and getting to know your fellow travelers over a delicious Welcome Dinner.

Hotel: Grand Wyndham Levent
Included Meals: Dinner with Wine
Authentic Dining: Istanbul Welcome Dinner Enjoy getting to know your fellow travelers as you savor a delicious Welcome Dinner in a local restaurant.
Notes
Day 2: Bosphorus Cruise and Bursa

In the morning embark on a cruise along Bosphorus Strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways. Leisurely cruise past the quaint fishing villages that line its shores. Travel towards the old city and see the beautiful Ottoman palaces and fortresses, on the waterfront. Later, leave Istanbul for Bursa. A large city in northwest Turkey, it was the first major capital of the Ottoman Empire. Here we visit the Green Mosque, the Grand Mosque and the Mausoleum complex. There will be time in the afternoon to explore the city’s bazaars, silk markets and historic monuments. This evening, venture to a local restaurant for a tasty meal.

Hotel: Mövenpick Bursa Hotel and Thermal Spa
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: Istanbul Bosphorus Cruise Enjoy a relaxing cruise on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, where you'll pass Ottoman palaces, old mansions and fortresses.
Top Rated Highlights: Bursa Orientation On your orientation with your Travel Director visit the town’s mosques, bazaars and famous Silk Market.
Notes
Day 3: Cumalikizik and Gordion

Begin your day of culture in the charming village of Cumalikizik, with its traditional wooden houses and very narrow cobblestone streets. Later you’ll head to Gordion, which was once the capital city of ancient Phrygia, as you make your way to Turkey’s modern capital, Ankara. Enjoy a relaxed evening at your hotel, the Hilton SA. Perhaps take a dip in its indoor pool or unwind in its jacuzzi or hammam. 

Hotel: Ankara HiltonSA
Included Meals: Breakfast
Top Rated Highlights: Visit Cumalikizik Village Visit the over 700 year-old village to get glimpse into what Ottoman villages away from the capital looked like.
Notes
Day 4: Sophisticated Ankara

A day for history enthusiasts, explore Turkey’s bustling cultural capital, Ankara. Sightseeing includes a visit to the Hittite Museum and Anitkabir, the Mausoleum of Atatürk, Turkey's greatest modern leader and the first President of the Republic of Turkey. Later, head to Avanos in Cappadocia. Famed for its unique geological formation, Cappadocia is a scenic delight with golden hills and panoramic views. 

Hotel: DoubleTree by Hilton Avanos
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: Visit the Mausoleum of Ataturk in Ankara Discover the mysterious Hittite civilization and visit the mausoleum of Atatürk.
Top Rated Highlights: Ankara Orientation On your orientation with your Travel Director of the capital of modern Turkey discover its Roman and Byzantine heritage, visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Mausoleum of Atatürk.
Notes
Day 5: The Underground Cities of Cappadocia Experience

With its striking golden, volcanic landscapes, underground city and otherworldly buildings, Cappadocia could never be called ordinary. At every turn you’ll be delighted with yet another geographical or architectural surprise.

Today you’ll travel to the striking town of Göreme. Explore its rock-hewn churches decorated with ancient wall paintings. Join a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience at the Uçhisar Kadineli Restaurant and get a taste of Anatolia’s regional flavors. This establishment provides employment for the women of the village and supports their financial freedom.

Next, continue on to the Pasabag Valley and visit the underground city of Özkonak where you’ll have time to explore its tunnels and holes with your Travel Director.

Later, join a Cappadocian local who has lived in the city for decades and take a tour of their cave house. Explore this unique way of living, learning about local traditions and family life. This evening you’ll witness a performance of Whirling Dervishes before dining at a local restaurant.

Hotel: DoubleTree by Hilton Avanos
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: Goreme City Tour With your Local Expert, explore the underground cities, rock-cut churches, fairy-tale chimneys and the Pasabag Valley.
Make Travel Matter: Savor a Homemade Meal at Uchisar Kadineli Restaurant Enjoy the unique flavors of Anatolia at Uchisar Kadineli Restaurant, where every dish is homemade with love. This remarkable establishment provides employment for more than 65 women from the village. The restaurant is owned by women and focuses on empowering women through employment. Some employed as administrators, some as teachers, some as cooks and some as waiters. Here they are taught how to sow clothes by using modern technology, how to knit, how to cook, how to make various kinds of artifacts, and how to merchandise their products and convert it to money for their families. Uchisar Kadineli Restaurant advances UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality.
Insight Experiences: Cappadocia Cave House Visit Join a Cappadocian local, who has lived in the city for decades and take a tour of their cave house to learn more about their unique way of life.
Authentic Dining: Sema Performance and Cappadocia Restaurant Dinner Watch a spectacular Sema performance of Whirling Dervishes and discover the flavors of Cappadocia as you indulge in a regional dinner of colorful dishes. 
Top Rated Highlights: Visit the Underground City of Ozkonak Visit the narrow passages and interconnecting rooms of this Stone Age underground city dug out from the hills and built to block invaders and defend against attacks.
Notes
Day 6: Konya

Start your day by learning more about traditional pottery making in Avanos. It’s then time to take a journey along the famous Silk Road to visit a 13th century caravanserai, a historic roadside inn where travelers would rest and recover after a day’s journey, most notably along the iconic road itself. Later, you’ll head to Turkey’s most religious city, Konya, the old capital of the Anatolian Seljuk Empire. Once here, visit the Mevlana Museum, with its beautiful fluted turquoise dome, and see the Karatay Medrese and Ince Minaret.

Hotel: Novotel Konya Hotel.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: Avanos Pottery Making Lesson Learn about the ancient art of pottery making in Avanos.
Top Rated Highlights: Seljuk Caravanserai Visit Visit a well preserved Seljuk Caravanserai.
Top Rated Highlights: Konya Mevlana Tekke Museum Visit Accompanied by your Local Expert, visit the beautiful Mevlana Tekke museum for an insight into the mystic Whirling Dervishes. See the Karatay Medrese and Ince Minaret.
Notes
Day 7: Through the Taurus Mountains

You day begins with a scenic drive down the Taurus Mountains to Aspendos, an ancient city in Antalya. Known for having the best-preserved Roman theater anywhere in the world, learn more as you explore it with your fellow travelers. Continue to your hotel for the next two nights and enjoy time to relax.

Hotel: Akra Barut
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: Aspendos Roman Theater Visit Visit the world's best preserved Roman Theater in Aspendos.
Notes
Day 8: Antalya's Old Town Start your day with a visit to Antalya's pretty Old Town, with its souvenir markets and sweeping sea views. The rest of the day is free to relax and enjoy the leisure facilities at your hotel. Alternatively, explore Antalya at your own pace. Ask your Travel Director for recommendations on places to explore in the city, take a stroll around the harbor or perhaps take a boat trip off the coast.
Hotel: Akra Barut
Included Meals: Breakfast
Top Rated Highlights: Visit Antalya Old Town Visit the historic Old Town and wander through its charming narrow streets, discovering souvenir markets and sweeping sea views.
Notes
Day 9: The Pools of Pamukkale Cross the soaring Taurus Mountains to see the remains of the ancient city of Hierapolis, a Roman spa city founded around 190 B.C. Next to the ruins, you can see the gleaming white travertine terraces of Pamukkale. Famous for its mineral-rich thermal waters and chalk-white limestone terraces, explore the area with your Travel Director. Later, head back to your hotel, the esteemed Doğa Thermal Health & Spa. Take full advantage of its indoor and outdoor thermal pools, steam room and its Turkish bath complex.
Hotel: Doğa Thermal Health & Spa
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: See the Travertine Pools at Pamukkale See the cascading Cotton Castle of milky white travertine pools and the ancient ruin of Hierapolis.
Notes
Day 10: Kusadasi

Start your morning with a trip to the Temple of Aphrodite, dedicated to the goddess of love, beauty and fertility, in Geyre. Based in the ruins of the ancient city of Aphrodisias, it was the focal point of the city in its heyday. You’ll see the towering, fourteen columns of the temple that have been re-erected. Arrive into the coastal resort of Kusadasi for an evening at leisure.

Hotel: Charisma De Luxe Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast
Top Rated Highlights: Korinthia Temple of Aphrodite Visit Visit the open-air museum Aphrodisias dedicated to goddess Aphrodite, see the ancient city and statues that have survived preserving most of their originality.
Notes
Day 11: Ancient Ephesus

Discover one of the world's finest archaeological sites, Ephesus. Walk through the colonnaded Arcadian Way, see the Library of Celsus and the huge Amphitheater, before visiting the House of the Virgin Mary, situated above the Ephesus ruins and the Ephesus Archaeological Museum.

Hotel: Charisma De Luxe Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: Ephesus City Tour Discover one of the world's finest ancient sites. Led by your Local Expert, walk the Arcadian Way, see the Library of Celsus and Amphitheater and visit the House of the Virgin Mary.
Notes
Day 12: Pergamon, Troy and Çanakkale.

Begin your day of legends with a trip to Pergamon. Once a powerful ancient Greek city, you’ll find the Asklepion temple here. A famous shrine and healing center, it was built in honor of Asklepios, the god of medicine. Next, head to Homer’s city of Troy, the focal point of the Trojan war and the backdrop to one of history’s most famous love stories, that of Paris and Helen of Troy, the face that launched 1000 ships. A replica of the mighty Trojan Horse, which helped the Greeks capture the city in 1200 B.C., can be found beside the city’s walls. After some time exploring, continue your journey to Çanakkale, a gateway to the Gallipoli WWI battlefields.

Hotel: DoubleTree by Hilton Canakkale
Included Meals: Breakfast
Top Rated Highlights: Visit the Asklepion of Pergamon Visit Asklepion, the first hospital and spa center in the world for physical and mental health and see its well-preserved and impressive Roman columns.
Top Rated Highlights: Visit the Trojan Horse in Troy Visit this ancient sight fabled to have been destroyed over love and view the huge reconstructed Trojan Horse.
Top Rated Highlights: Troy Orientation On your orientation with your Travel Director hear about the nearly 4000 year-old settlement, see the wooden Trojan Horse and hear about myths and legends connected to this archaeological site.
Notes
Day 13: Gallipoli and ANZAC Cove

This morning, cross the Dardanelles Strait by ferry to the Gallipoli Peninsula. Located in the southern part of East Thrace, it was here that, for nine months during the Great War, Anzac troops fought, in an attempt to gain control of the Dardanelles Strait. Learn more about these events as you visit Anzac Cove and pay your respects at the Lone Pine Cemetery. Later, return to Istanbul where you’ll spend the next two nights.

Hotel: Grand Wyndham Levent
Included Meals: Breakfast
Top Rated Highlights: Visit Anzac Cove in Gallipoli Pay your respects at Anzac Cove and Lone Pine Cemetery.
Notes
Day 14: Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire

Today you’ll take in the sites of Istanbul. In the morning, visit the historic Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome, where Roman chariot races were held, before exploring Hagia Sophia. Built in A.D. 537, it has recently turned from a museum into a mosque and is famous for its domed roof. Visit the Topkapi Palace, perched above the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, the primary inlet of the waterway. Enjoy the excitement of bargaining in the bustling Grand Bazaar. In the evening, join your fellow travelers and toast to your trip over a Celebration Dinner at a local restaurant.

Hotel: Grand Wyndham Levent
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Top Rated Highlights: Istanbul City Tour Visit the Blue Mosque and explore Hagia Sophia. With your Local Expert, gain an insight into the lives of the Ottoman Sultans during a private tour of the fabulous Topkapi Palace. Then you are given a complete guide on how to haggle in the Grand Bazaar.
Authentic Dining: Istanbul Celebration Dinner Toast the culmination of your tour with a lively Celebration Dinner at a popular local restaurant.
Notes
Day 15: Farewell Istanbul

It’s time to say goodbye to your new friends, as your trip comes to an end. A transfer will take you to the airport for your onward flights, or for those extending their stay in Istanbul, speak to your Travel Director for tips and tricks on where to head.

Included Meals: Breakfast
Notes
This itinerary is for reference only. Upon booking with GET, guests will receive tour documents which will list all confirmed hotels and itineraries based upon the guest's departure date.

Price Includes

Dining Summary
  • - 9 Dinner with Wines (DW)
  • - 14 Breakfasts (B)
  • - 1 Lunch (L)
Authentic Dining
  • Enjoy getting to know your fellow travelers as you savor a delicious Welcome Dinner in a local restaurant.
  • Watch a spectacular Sema performance of Whirling Dervishes and discover the flavors of Cappadocia as you indulge in a regional dinner of colorful dishes. 
  • Toast the culmination of your tour with a lively Celebration Dinner at a popular local restaurant.
Top Rated Highlights
  • Enjoy a relaxing cruise on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, where you'll pass Ottoman palaces, old mansions and fortresses.
  • On your orientation with your Travel Director visit the town’s mosques, bazaars and famous Silk Market.
  • Visit the over 700 year-old village to get glimpse into what Ottoman villages away from the capital looked like.
  • Discover the mysterious Hittite civilization and visit the mausoleum of Atatürk.
  • On your orientation with your Travel Director of the capital of modern Turkey discover its Roman and Byzantine heritage, visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Mausoleum of Atatürk.
  • With your Local Expert, explore the underground cities, rock-cut churches, fairy-tale chimneys and the Pasabag Valley.
  • Visit the narrow passages and interconnecting rooms of this Stone Age underground city dug out from the hills and built to block invaders and defend against attacks.
  • Learn about the ancient art of pottery making in Avanos.
  • Visit a well preserved Seljuk Caravanserai.
  • Accompanied by your Local Expert, visit the beautiful Mevlana Tekke museum for an insight into the mystic Whirling Dervishes. See the Karatay Medrese and Ince Minaret.
  • Visit the world's best preserved Roman Theater in Aspendos.
  • Visit the historic Old Town and wander through its charming narrow streets, discovering souvenir markets and sweeping sea views.
  • See the cascading Cotton Castle of milky white travertine pools and the ancient ruin of Hierapolis.
  • Visit the open-air museum Aphrodisias dedicated to goddess Aphrodite, see the ancient city and statues that have survived preserving most of their originality.
  • Discover one of the world's finest ancient sites. Led by your Local Expert, walk the Arcadian Way, see the Library of Celsus and Amphitheater and visit the House of the Virgin Mary.
  • Visit Asklepion, the first hospital and spa center in the world for physical and mental health and see its well-preserved and impressive Roman columns.
  • Visit this ancient sight fabled to have been destroyed over love and view the huge reconstructed Trojan Horse.
  • On your orientation with your Travel Director hear about the nearly 4000 year-old settlement, see the wooden Trojan Horse and hear about myths and legends connected to this archaeological site.
  • Pay your respects at Anzac Cove and Lone Pine Cemetery.
  • Visit the Blue Mosque and explore Hagia Sophia. With your Local Expert, gain an insight into the lives of the Ottoman Sultans during a private tour of the fabulous Topkapi Palace. Then you are given a complete guide on how to haggle in the Grand Bazaar.
Make Travel Matter
  • Enjoy the unique flavors of Anatolia at Uchisar Kadineli Restaurant, where every dish is homemade with love. This remarkable establishment provides employment for more than 65 women from the village. The restaurant is owned by women and focuses on empowering women through employment. Some employed as administrators, some as teachers, some as cooks and some as waiters. Here they are taught how to sow clothes by using modern technology, how to knit, how to cook, how to make various kinds of artifacts, and how to merchandise their products and convert it to money for their families. Uchisar Kadineli Restaurant advances UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality.
Insight Experiences
  • Join a Cappadocian local, who has lived in the city for decades and take a tour of their cave house to learn more about their unique way of life.

Optional Experiences

Optional Experiences are subject to change. Your Travel Director will supply you with a final list of Optional Experiences available on your trip. Optional Experiences cannot be booked online; they can be purchased during your trip through your Travel Director.

Turkish Folklore Show (Available on Day 4)

A folklore show in a cave setting, featuring vibrant dances from different regions and also a belly dancer. During the show unlimited amount of local drinks, both with and without alcohol, 4 kinds of Turkish ‘meze’ (hors d’oeuvres, appetizers), nuts, fruits and Turkish dessert specialties will be served.

Adult Price: €47 Mediterranean Dream (Available on Day 8)

We drive to the harbor for a fantastic cruise by a romantic wooden yacht and enjoy the turquoise coast and bays of the South coasts of Turkey. During the yacht tour we will have opportunity to see the waterfalls and swim at the beautiful Mediterranean waters. Also on board you can take pictures of interesting landscapes of Antalya.

Adult Price: €50 Izmir Seafood Dinner (Available on Day 10)

Head to the Kordon where we take you to one of Izmir's favorite seafood restaurants. Known for stunning views and for serving the best fish dishes in coastal Turkey, dine on a variety of seafood and meze delights with drinks. Don't worry there's great options for those who don't like seafood too!

Adult Price: €77