Our most complete Sirnak itinerary spends six days and five nights in one hotel and goes beyond the city and Cizre to the ancient fortified sites of the surrounding mountains. Alongside a heritage tour, a cooking day and a relaxing hamam day, it includes an excursion to Babil Castle and the Finik Ruins, two little-known archaeological places of south-eastern Turkey. Round-trip transfers from Sirnak Airport, five breakfasts, one lunch, an English-speaking guide, the entrance fees in the programme and hotel room taxes are all included.
The heritage day covers the Red Madrasah, a red-brick school raised under the Cizre Principality in the 1400s and the Abdaliye Madrasah, an Arab-style school immortalised in the story of Mem and Zin. You stop at Mount Cudi, linked by tradition to Noah's Ark, before visiting Cizre's museum dedicated to Ismail Ebul-Iz El Cezeri, the Great Mosque, once a church and converted in the period of Caliph Omar, and the Tomb of Noah. The cooking day combines an orientation drive, a Turkish cooking lesson reflecting Turkish, Syrian and Iranian influences, lunch made by your own hands, fruit wine making in the vineyards and shopping at a regional leather production centre. On the fourth day you relax, shop and visit a hamam whenever you like.
The fifth day leads to Babil Castle in the village of Kebeli, where an outer wall with 30 bastions surrounds a circular inner castle of white limestone. You then explore the Finik Ruins between Damlarca and Eskiyapi near Cizre, a mountain settlement about 4,000 years old whose remains include a palace, a dungeon, a cistern and rock-cut dwellings, and rock reliefs of a woman at Borzana Sitiya and of a man and a woman standing side by side.
| Tour type | Shared small group · multi-day tour |
|---|---|
| Duration | 6 Days 5 Nights |
| Price | From €642 per person |
| Departures | Every day |
| Guide | English-speaking licensed guide |
| Stops | 10 |
| Entrance fees | Included |
| Booking | Instant request online, confirmation within 24 hours · TÜRSAB-licensed operator (A-5751) |
Your full program, day by day — click a day to see every stop.
A representative greets you on arrival at Sirnak Airport and accompanies you on the transfer to your hotel. Once you have checked in, the remainder of the day is yours. It is a chance to recover from your travels and enjoy the calm of the city before five days of guided touring, cooking, relaxation and archaeology begin. Your guide will collect you from the hotel at 08:30 the next morning for the first excursion.
Departure from the hotel is at 08:30 for a full day of history. You begin at the Red Madrasah, a 15th-century building of the Cizre Principality with a striking red-brick courtyard, and the Abdaliye Madrasah from the same century, an Arab-influenced school that features in the classic story of Mem and Zin. On the way to Cizre you visit Mount Cudi, which tradition identifies as the mountain where the Ark settled after the Flood. In Cizre the programme includes the museum devoted to Ismail Ebul-Iz El Cezeri, the Great Mosque, a former church turned into a mosque in the period of Caliph Omar, and the Tomb of Noah, which draws many visitors. Midday brings a lunch stop at a restaurant serving the varied local cuisine of kebabs, meatballs, salads and sweets, after which the tour continues before you return to the hotel.
Pick-up is at 08:30. After a morning orientation and sightseeing drive through Sirnak, you join your first Turkish cooking lesson, sampling flavours from various regions of the country. Sirnak's position in the south-east means its cuisine combines Turkish, Syrian and Iranian elements, so the table is full of variety. You eat what you cook for lunch. Later you visit the vineyards to learn the art of making fruit wine with local wine makers, and in the evening there is a playful quiz on what you have learned. A stop at one of the area's renowned leather production centres lets you buy at factory rates, with your guide on hand so you can shop in peace. Afterwards you are driven back to the hotel.
Today has no fixed schedule. After breakfast you are free to rest or go shopping, and at a time of your choosing you can be collected and transferred to a hamam in Sirnak for a traditional Turkish bath, a classic part of any stay in the country. It is a welcome pause between the guided days, and after the bath you return to the hotel and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.
At 08:30 you set out for the Babil ruins in the village of Kebeli. The site is enclosed by rectangular walls and divided into an outer and an inner fortress: the outer city wall carries 30 bastions, while the inner castle is circular and built of white limestone. You then continue to the Finik Ruins, which lie between the villages of Damlarca and Eskiyapi near Cizre and date back some 4,000 years. Set in mountainous terrain, the ancient city preserves a palace, a dungeon, a cistern and numerous cave dwellings cut into the white limestone. North of Finik Castle, at a place called Borzana Sitiya, a relief of a woman is carved into the rock, and to the north-east of the village a man and a woman are depicted standing side by side. After the tour you are transferred back to Sirnak.
After breakfast you check out of your hotel and are driven to Sirnak Airport for your homeward flight. From Mount Cudi and the Tomb of Noah to the stone walls of Babil and Finik, we hope this journey through south-eastern Turkey has been memorable, and we would be glad to host you again on another of our tours. Thank you for choosing this journey, and have a safe flight home.
Sirnak → Sirnak, Mount Cudi, Cizre → Sirnak → Babil Castle, Finik Ruins → Sirnak
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Extra day tours you can add along your route — Sirnak, Sirnak, Mount Cudi, Cizre, Babil Castle, Finik Ruins.
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My husband and I chose Inca Tour for our honeymoon and we are so glad we did. The boutique hotel selection was beautiful and the Bosphorus dinner cruise was so romantic. Thank you for making our trip special!
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Ender was our Italian-speaking guide and we felt like family. He took us to local spots tourists never see. The hotel choice in Sultanahmet was perfect for walking everywhere.
10+ years later we still talk about our Cappadocia balloon ride and the Bosphorus sunset cruise. Some memories are timeless. Thank you Inca Tour!