12-Day Luxury Turkey Tour – Istanbul, Gallipoli, Ephesus & Cappadocia

After breakfast your guide collects you between 08:00 and 09:30, with the exact time confirmed by your tour consultant the day before. The day begins at Topkapi Palace, the residence of the Ottoman sultans from the 15th to the 19th century, whose rooms display crystal, silver and Chinese porcelain, imperial robes, miniatures, the dazzling jewels of the Imperial Treasury and the Holy Mantle with relics of the Prophet Mohammed. You continue to the Sultanahmet Imperial Mosque, built in the 16th century across from Hagia Sophia and called the Blue Mosque for its blue Iznik tiles, and to the Hippodrome, the ancient chariot-racing ground with the Obelisk of Theodosius, the bronze Serpentine Column and the Column of Constantine. After lunch you head to the Spice Bazaar for shopping before returning to the hotel. Please note that Topkapi Palace is closed on Tuesdays. Overnight in Istanbul.

After breakfast and pickup between 08:00 and 09:30, you board a private luxury boat for a cruise on the Bosphorus, the strait between Europe and Asia, lined with wooden mansions, marble palaces, fortresses and fishing villages. You pass Dolmabahce Palace, the parks and imperial pavilions of Yildiz Palace and Ciragan Palace with its 300-metre marble facade on the water, and Ortakoy, where a church, a mosque and a synagogue have stood side by side for centuries and artists display their work on Sundays. Rumeli Fortress, completed in only four months in 1452 by Mehmet the Conqueror to control the strait, remains a masterpiece of Ottoman military engineering. On the Asian shore you visit Beylerbeyi Palace, the summer residence of the sultans with its original furniture, gardens and harem, cross the Bosphorus Bridge from one continent to another and enjoy the panorama from Camlica Hill, the highest point in Istanbul. Lunch is included, and the day finishes at the Bedesten with demonstrations of traditional carpet and silk weaving and free time to shop for jewellery, handicrafts and leather. Overnight in Istanbul.

An early departure at 06:00 or 06:30 takes you west towards the Gallipoli Peninsula, with a 20-minute rest stop along the way. You arrive around midday and have lunch before setting out to the battlefields of 1915. The tour includes the Kabatepe Museum, followed by Ariburnu Cemetery and Anzac Cove, where the landings and fighting began, then Beach Cemetery, Shrapnel Valley and Plugge's Plateau. Your guide brings the history of the campaign to life at each memorial. After the visit you drive to your hotel in Canakkale for dinner and overnight.

With a packed breakfast you depart at 08:30 and drive about 30 minutes to Troy, the famous archaeological and mythological site associated with the Trojan Horse and Helen of Troy. Afterwards a scenic three-hour drive brings you to Pergamon (Bergama). Following lunch at around 13:00, you visit the magnificent acropolis of Pergamon, whose temples and renowned library made it a leading cultural and political centre of the ancient world. Bergama is also known for jewellery, precious stones and silver, so on the way you stop at a jewellery centre for about 30 minutes. You arrive in Kusadasi at around 18:00. Dinner and overnight in Kusadasi.

After breakfast and pickup between 08:00 and 09:30, your guide leads you through Ephesus, among the finest surviving cities of the classical world. On the way you see the Temple of Artemis, then walk along Curetes Street past the Roman baths to the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre. After lunch at around 13:00 you visit a carpet weaving centre that keeps one of Turkey's oldest crafts alive. You then drive up to Sirince, a hillside village whose white houses were built in the style of the Anatolian Greeks. Famous for fruit wines, Sirince hosts a visit to the vineyards where local winemakers show you how fruit wine is made, followed by a friendly test of your new knowledge in the evening. On the way back you stop at one of the region's renowned leather production centres, where you can shop at factory prices without the pressure of the bazaar. Dinner and overnight in Kusadasi.

After breakfast and pickup between 08:00 and 09:30 you travel inland to Pamukkale, checking in at your hotel around noon and enjoying lunch until about 13:30. In the afternoon you visit the calcium terraces of Pamukkale, the Cotton Castle, where thermal water has created a cascade of brilliant white pools, and explore the ruins of Hierapolis, the ancient spa city on the plateau above. You can walk around this natural wonder and choose to relax in the waters of the natural springs. Dinner and overnight in Pamukkale.

After breakfast you depart at about 10:00 for Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. Around two hours into the drive you stop for a coffee break before continuing through the Taurus foothills. On arrival lunch is served at the hotel and the afternoon is free to enjoy the pool or walk into the city. Dinner and overnight in Antalya. The drive takes you from the inland valleys of the Aegean region down to the Mediterranean coast, and the late arrival leaves you with a relaxed afternoon after several busy days of sightseeing, before the guided tour of Perge and Aspendos the next morning.

After breakfast you set out to discover the ancient cities of Pamphylia. Perge, according to the geographer Strabo, was founded by the Achaeans after the Trojan War; Alexander the Great passed through in 334 BC, the city later came under Pergamon and then Rome, and by the first and second centuries BC it was one of the richest towns in Pamphylia, which is why St. Paul began his campaign in Anatolia here in 46 AD. After a lunch break on the way, you reach Aspendos, also known as Belkis, 47 kilometres east of Antalya on the Pamphylian plain. Greeks and Persians fought a great battle here in 486 BC. Under the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius the city received its theatre, later maintained by the Byzantines and Seljuks and now the best preserved ancient theatre anywhere. The extensive ruins also include a stadium, an agora and a basilica. Dinner and overnight in Antalya.

After breakfast you check out by noon and have free time until departure. You are then transferred to Antalya Airport for your domestic flight to Cappadocia. On landing at Kayseri Airport, a private transfer takes you to your cave hotel, and the rest of the day is free to explore the surroundings. Dinner and overnight in Cappadocia. The flight is short, so you usually arrive in time to enjoy the evening light over the fairy chimneys and rest before the full-day guided tour of Cappadocia tomorrow.

Cappadocia is a volcanic landscape shaped over some 10 million years into soaring rock pillars and valleys. The Persians called it Katpatuka, the land of beautiful horses, and the region is equally famous for ceramics and carpets. After breakfast and pickup you start at Uchisar Castle, the highest point of Cappadocia, then visit the Goreme Open Air Museum, the heart of the region, whose rock churches hold 10th-century frescoes depicting the life of Christ and the monks. Next is Cavusin, an abandoned village of cave houses once lived in by Greeks. Lunch is served in Avanos, followed by a pottery workshop and a visit to a workshop of handwoven Cappadocian carpets and kilims. The tour continues to Devrent Valley, also called Imagination Valley for its animal-shaped rocks, then to a wine shop in Urgup for tasting, and finishes at the Three Beauties, the capped fairy chimneys that are the symbol of Cappadocia. You return to the hotel at about 18:00. Dinner and overnight in Cappadocia.

After breakfast you have free time for some last shopping in Cappadocia. You are then transferred to Kayseri Airport for your domestic flight to Istanbul and your onward journey home. We hope this twelve-day journey across Turkey leaves you with wonderful memories and a wish to return. Your private transfer is timed according to your flight, so if you leave in the afternoon there is time for a final walk among the rock formations or to pick up some Avanos pottery or a handwoven carpet as a souvenir.