10 Days Ancient Cities of Turkey: Izmir, Seven Churches, Ephesus, Didyma and Istanbul Private Tour

Your journey begins at Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport, where you are met and transferred to your hotel in the city. After check-in the rest of the day is free to relax after your flight or take a first walk along the seafront of this lively Aegean port, which has been an important trading city since antiquity under the name of Smyrna. Your guide will meet you the following morning to begin the programme. Overnight in Izmir.

After breakfast the guided Izmir city tour begins at the Izmir Archaeology Museum and its fine collections of statues and finds from the region. You then drive up to Kadifekale, the hilltop fortress with wide views over the bay. Back in the centre you explore the Roman Agora of Smyrna and the Hisarönü Mosque, then walk with your guide through Kemeraltı, the historic bazaar quarter. The last stop is the Asansör, a historic lift with a panoramic outlook, before you see the iconic Clock Tower. Transfer back to the hotel. Overnight in Izmir.

Your guide meets you at 08:30 for the drive to Pergamum, modern Bergama, one of the Seven Churches of Asia. On the acropolis you see the remarkably steep theatre, the foundations of the Altar of Zeus, called the Throne of Satan in Revelation, the Trajaneum with its re-erected marble columns and the site of the great library, once home to some 200,000 volumes and linked with the development of parchment. You also visit the Asklepion, the celebrated medical centre of antiquity. In the afternoon you continue to Thyatira, today Akhisar, to see the remains of a basilica and Roman architectural fragments. Return to Izmir for the night.

An early start takes you to Sardis, the former capital of the Lydian kingdom and another of the Seven Churches. Here you visit the Temple of Artemis, the restored gymnasium and reconstructed synagogue, and see the end of the Persian Royal Road built under Cyrus the Great beside the gold-bearing Pactolus stream. Continue to Philadelphia, present-day Alaşehir, the church not rebuked in Revelation, where the brick remains of a Byzantine basilica survive. Next is Laodicea on the Lycus, founded in the 3rd century BC by Antiochus II. You end the day at Hierapolis and the white travertines of Pamukkale. Dinner and overnight in a thermal hotel in Pamukkale.

After breakfast you drive to Ephesus, the city where the Apostle Paul preached and stayed for three years and which received one of his epistles. Walking along its marble streets, you see the great theatre, the Temple of Hadrian, the Library of Celsus and the Baths of Scholastica, while learning about the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The tour also includes the Basilica of St. John and the House of the Virgin Mary on the wooded hillside above the ruins. In the late afternoon you continue to the coast. Dinner and overnight in Kusadasi.

Departing from the hotel at 08:30, you spend the day among three great Ionian sites. Priene was among the most elegant cities of Ionia. At Miletus you see the large theatre and the Byzantine fortress that crowns it. The final stop is Didyma, home of the Temple of Apollo, the largest Ionic temple in the world, where the famous fallen Medusa head lies among the column bases. After the tour you are driven back to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in Kusadasi.

After breakfast you are transferred to Izmir Airport for your domestic flight to Istanbul; the ticket is not included in the tour price. On arrival in Istanbul you are met and taken to your hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure, so you can stroll through your neighbourhood, take in the atmosphere of the city that bridges Europe and Asia, or simply rest before the guided days ahead. Overnight in Istanbul.

The guided tour of the historic peninsula starts at the Hippodrome, once the stage for chariot races, with the Obelisk of Theodosius, the Serpentine Column and the Column of Constantine. You then visit the Blue Mosque, built between 1609 and 1616 and named after its blue Iznik tiles. Hagia Sophia, the 6th-century church of Emperor Justinian and today a mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Basilica Cistern are seen from the outside; if you wish to go inside Topkapi Palace or the cistern, the entrance fee is paid on the spot. Please bring a scarf for the mosque visits. Transfer back to your hotel. Overnight in Istanbul.

You are collected at 08:30 for a boat trip on the Bosphorus, the strait that divides Europe and Asia. From the water you see wooden mansions, Dolmabahçe Palace, the pavilions of Yıldız Park, the long marble façade of Çırağan Palace, Ortaköy with its mosque, church and synagogue, the 1452 fortress of Rumeli Hisarı and Beylerbeyi Palace on the Asian shore. You cross the Bosphorus Bridge between the continents and enjoy the panorama from Çamlıca Hill. The day ends with a shopping tour of carpet weaving, jewellery, handicrafts and leatherwear. The evening is free. Overnight in Istanbul.

After a final breakfast you check out of your hotel and are transferred to the airport for your flight home. This marks the end of a journey that has taken you from the ancient cities of the Aegean and the churches of Revelation to the imperial monuments of Istanbul.