17-Day Great Turkey Discovery Tour with Cappadocia

Arrive in Istanbul, meet our team at the airport, and transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is free for recovery from travel.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

08:30 - Pick up from your hotel and transfer to the Sultanahmet historic district.

• Blue Mosque: The Blue Mosque is one of Istanbul's defining Ottoman landmarks, known for its domes, minarets and blue Iznik tiles.
• Hagia Sophia: Hagia Sophia shows Istanbul's layered Byzantine and Ottoman history through its vast dome, mosaics and monumental interior.
• Hippodrome: The Hippodrome was the ceremonial heart of Byzantine Constantinople and still frames important monuments in the Old City.
• Topkapi Palace and Harem: Topkapi Palace presents the Ottoman court through courtyards, treasury rooms and views over the Bosphorus.
• Grand Bazaar: The Grand Bazaar adds color, trade history and free time in one of Istanbul's most recognizable covered market areas.

17:00 - Transfer back to your hotel after the tour.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast

This day stays free in Istanbul. It gives you time for your own pace before the longer eastern section begins.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

Early pick up from your hotel and transfer to the airport for the flight to Adiyaman. (Pickup time and airport may change.)

Flight from Istanbul to Adiyaman. (Flight time may change.)

Arrival in Adiyaman and transfer to begin the Commagene route. (Arrival time may change according to availability.)

• Karakus Tumulus: Karakus Tumulus is a Commagene burial monument that prepares the historical setting before Mount Nemrut.
• Arsameia and Cendere Bridge: Cendere Bridge is a Roman bridge that shows the engineering strength of the region before the Nemrut ascent.
• Mount Nemrut: Mount Nemrut is known for the colossal Commagene statues and dramatic sunrise or sunset views over the mountains.

Evening drive from the Nemrut area toward Diyarbakir.

Overnight stay in Diyarbakir

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

Pick up from your hotel to begin the Diyarbakir city program.

• Four-Legged Minaret, Hazrat Suleiman Mosque, and Great Mosque: Diyarbakir adds basalt city walls, old streets and Tigris River context to the eastern Turkey route.
• Archaeological Museum and Ickale: Diyarbakir adds basalt city walls, old streets and Tigris River context to the eastern Turkey route.
• Surp Giragos Church, Telegraph Street, Hasan Pasha Caravanserai, and Suluklu Inn: Diyarbakir adds basalt city walls, old streets and Tigris River context to the eastern Turkey route.
• 10 Arches Bridge: Diyarbakir adds basalt city walls, old streets and Tigris River context to the eastern Turkey route.

When the tour ends, you will be transferred to your hotel to take a rest.

Overnight stay in Diyarbakir

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

Pick up from your hotel and depart Diyarbakir toward Mardin.

• Midyat Old Town: Mardin adds stone architecture, monastery heritage and Mesopotamian views to the southeast chapter.
• Mardin Castle (exterior view): Mardin adds stone architecture, monastery heritage and Mesopotamian views to the southeast chapter.
• Deyrulzafaran Monastery and Great Mosque of Mardin: Mardin adds stone architecture, monastery heritage and Mesopotamian views to the southeast chapter.
• Local Bazaar and Abbara passages: The Grand Bazaar adds color, trade history and free time in one of Istanbul's most recognizable covered market areas.

Continue by road from Mardin to Sanliurfa.

Overnight stay in Sanliurfa

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

Pick up from your hotel for the day's prehistoric and spiritual sites.

• Gobeklitepe: Gobeklitepe is one of the world's most important prehistoric sites, with monumental T-shaped pillars that changed how early ritual life is understood.
• Sanliurfa Archaeology Museum and Haleplibahce Mosaic Museum: Sanliurfa Archaeology Museum gives important context for Gobeklitepe and the wider prehistoric landscape of the region.
• Balikligol (Pool of Abraham): Balikligol, the Pool of Abraham, gives Sanliurfa a sacred and atmospheric stop in the old city.

Transfer back to your hotel after the tour.

Overnight stay in Sanliurfa

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

Pick up from your hotel for the Halfeti boat departure on the Euphrates.

• Halfeti Boat Tour: Halfeti adds Euphrates scenery and a boat route past partly submerged village landscapes.
• Zeugma Mosaic Museum: Zeugma Mosaic Museum gives Gaziantep a powerful cultural stop with Roman mosaics preserved in exceptional detail.

When the tour ends, you will be transferred to your hotel to take a rest.

Overnight stay in Gaziantep

Meal: Breakfast

Before leaving Gaziantep, the day gives room for the city center and bazaar atmosphere rather than treating it as a simple transfer point.

After local shopping time, continue by road to Cappadocia.

Overnight stay in Cappadocia

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

09:30 - Pick up from your hotel.

• Red Valley: Red Valley is known for warm volcanic colors, walking paths and layered rock walls that make south Cappadocia especially photogenic.
• Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley): Rose Valley, also called Gulludere, combines pink-toned cliffs with rock-cut churches and quiet walking sections.
• Cavusin Village: Cavusin is an old cave village where abandoned rock houses and cliff churches show the lived history of Cappadocia.
• Pigeon Valley: Pigeon Valley is named after carved dovecotes in the cliffs and gives one of Cappadocia's most familiar valley views.
• Underground City: The underground city reveals tunnels, storage rooms, ventilation shafts and defense passages used by local communities for protection.

17:00 - Transfer back to your hotel after the tour.

Overnight stay in Cappadocia

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

09:30 - Pick up from your hotel for the second Cappadocia touring day along the classic north route.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley): Devrent Valley introduces Cappadocia through animal-shaped fairy chimneys and wide volcanic forms that make the landscape feel almost imagined.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum: Pasabag is one of the best places to see Cappadocia's multi-headed fairy chimneys and the cave cells once used by hermit monks.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop: Avanos adds a cultural stop to the valley route, showing how red river clay is shaped in local pottery workshops.
• Goreme Panoramic View: Goreme panoramic viewpoints help you read the scale of Cappadocia, with cave settlements, valleys and volcanic ridges visible together.
• Zelve Open Air Museum: Zelve preserves a former cave village spread across several valleys, with carved rooms, tunnels and churches that show daily life in the rocks.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view): Uchisar Castle is Cappadocia's highest natural viewpoint and shows how defensive and domestic spaces were carved into one rock mass.

17:00 - Transfer back to your hotel after the tour.

Overnight stay in Cappadocia

Meal: Breakfast

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the domestic flight to Izmir.

Flight from Cappadocia to Izmir. (Flight time may change and it can also be a connected flight depending on flight availability.)

On arrival at Izmir Airport, your driver will meet you at the exit.

Continue to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk.

Overnight stay in Kusadasi/Selcuk

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

07:30 - Pick up from your hotel for the full-day drive to Pamukkale.

• Pamukkale: Pamukkale is famous for white travertine terraces formed by mineral-rich thermal water flowing down the hillside.
• White Calcium Terraces: The white calcium terraces are the signature view of Pamukkale, where shallow mineral pools step down the slope like a natural staircase.
• Hierapolis Ancient City: Hierapolis rises above the travertines with Roman streets, baths, theatre remains and a long sacred thermal tradition.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: Cleopatra Antique Pool is visited inside the Pamukkale area; entering the area is included, while swimming among ancient columns is extra on-site.

16:00 - Transfer back to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk after the tour.

Overnight stay in Kusadasi/Selcuk

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

08:45 - Pick up from your hotel for the morning Ephesus program.

• Ephesus Ancient City: Ephesus Ancient City preserves marble streets, temples, theatres and civic buildings from one of the great cities of the Roman world.
• House of Virgin Mary: The House of Virgin Mary is a quiet pilgrimage site on the mountain above Ephesus, visited for both its religious meaning and setting.
• Temple of Artemis: The Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and explains why Ephesus once mattered far beyond the region.

17:00 - Transfer to Izmir airport for your evening flight to Istanbul. (Flight time may change.)

19:55 - Fly to Istanbul from Izmir.

21:00 - Arrival in Istanbul and transfer to your hotel. (Arrival time may change according to availability.)

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast

This is another free Istanbul day and works as a decompression point after the full cross-country route.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast

A quieter morning leads into the afternoon Bosphorus cruise.

13:30 - Transfer to the pier for the Bosphorus cruise.

From the deck, the route closes with waterfront palaces, bridges, shoreline districts, and a broad urban skyline that gives Istanbul a calmer final reading.

17:00 - The Bosphorus cruise ends and you return to your hotel.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast

According to your international departure details, we arrange your hotel transfer to the airport. Your 17-day Turkey discovery route ends today.