Name: Highlights Of Turkey Small Group Tour (Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus)
Brand: Sojourn Turkey

Overview

Choose from these dates to join our small group tour with our same highly rated guides:

2024 Small Group Tour Dates
16 April - 23 April 2024
14 May - 21 May 2024
5 June - 12 June 2024
26 August - 2 September 2024
19 September - 26 September 2024
14 October - 21 October 2024

The Highlights of Turkey: Istanbul, Cappadocia & Ephesus Tour is the ideal travel choice for those who wish to enjoy the main historic sites and major attractions of Turkey in a longer tour but without a lot of bus travel. Instead, we connect the major destination cities by short one hour flights.

We’ll explore Istanbul and it’s ancient structures, from the mosques to the Roman influenced architecture. Immerse yourself in the history of this incredible city as you explore the Grand Bazaar, the Hippodrome and the Basilica Cistern, and the Topkapi Palace with it's Imperial Harem.

Next, you'll take a short flight to Cappadocia where you'll experience an entirely new region of Turkey and be amazed by breathtaking landscapes. While staying at a luxurious cave hotels at night, you'll explore the lunar like topography and cave mosaics during the day.

Sites such as Uchisar Fortress, OrtaHisar, Red Valley, Pasabaglari (Fairy Chimneys), Zelve Open Air Musuem (houses carved in rock, Seljukian Mosque and remains), Esentepe for panoramic view of the Goreme Valley, Goreme Open Air Museum (rock cut churches, frescos, monastery) and Kaymakli Underground City all await!

A quick flight departing Cappadocia to Izmir will allow you to experience the unique Aegean culture. Enjoy a visit to the wonderful village of Sirince. The next day you'll tour the highlight site of Turkey - Ephesus - once a great Roman city, it still has the glory as a must see site.

You'll depart from Izmir airport the final day on your international flight.

7 Nights 8 Days 14 May, 05 Jun, 26 Aug, and more İstanbul, İstanbul

Highlights

Hippodrome:

An enormous public entertainment arena, it once seated as many as 100,000 zealous fans who came to watch chariot races, executions, and mock battles. Formerly the center of Byzantine civic life, it is still marked by the Egyptian Obelisk, the Bronze Serpentine Column, and the Column of Constantine.

Blue Mosque:

With its massive central dome flanked by six slender minarets, the Blue Mosque stands as the single most recognizable monument in the Istanbul skyline. Built between 1609 and 1616, the enormous complex also included a hospital, caravansary, public kitchen, marketplace, schools and the Mausoleum of Sultan Ahmet I. The mosque’s immense interior, flooded with sunlight streaming through 260 windows, is decorated with more than 20,000 precious Iznik tiles detailing traditional flowers of Ottoman design. In fact, it is the deep blue glow of the tiles in the sunlight that gives the building its name.

Hagia Sophia:

This famous basilica was constructed in the 6th century A.D.. It is often described as the greatest work of Byzantine architecture. Once the Church of Holy Wisdom, Christendom’s crowning glory, it glittered with mosaics and artistic treasures. Today, the Hagia Sophia is the fourth largest building constructed as a church in the world. It was dedicated to Hagia Sophia which means Divine Wisdom – an attribute of Christ.

Basilica Cistern:

Istanbul, besieged countless times, has always needed permanent water supplies. As a result, many underground cisterns were built during the Byzantine Empire. Water was brought to these big reservoirs from distant sources via aqueducts. We will visit the largest and most ornate of these cisterns.

Grand Bazaar:

The area of the Grand Bazaar was a trade center during the Byzantine period. Two domes were built by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror to enrich the economic life of the city. Today, the atmosphere of the Grand Bazaar is mysterious and intriguing. It has become a very popular place, where visitors explore a labyrinth of streets and passages housing eighteen entrances and more than 4,000 shops.

Topkapi Palace:

The home for 400 years of ruling Sultan’s in Istanbul, this is a not to be missed site. The second palace built in Istanbul after its conquest by the Turks, it served as the center of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. This palace’s maze of oppulent buildings is where the sultans, their courts, and their harems lived and governed.

Spice Market:

This covered market, built as part of the Yeni Cami (New Mosque) complex, is filled with the fragrant scent of spices from the Orient.

Bosphorus Straits:

This narrow, navigable strait between Europe and Asia connects the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea. It is about 20 miles long and up to one and a half miles wide. Our cruise will take us past the late Ottoman Palaces – Dolmabahce and Beylerbeyi, as well as beautiful, wooden mansions and modern villas built in this elegant section of the city during the 19th & 20th centuries.

Ephesus:

Once a leading city of Rome - it fell prey to silting up of the harbor - which also lead to the cities downfall and protection, to our benefit as it is now one of the best preserved cities from the ancient world.

Itinerary

Day 1: Istanbul

Your private guide will welcome you at the Istanbul Airport and take you to your hotel in the heart of Istanbul (All our hotel options sit atop the tallest of the seven hills of Istanbul in the historic Sultanahmet district.)
You will have time to become acquainted with the celebrated historic district of this bustling city before turning in for the night.

Day 2: Istanbul

Today your guide will meet you at your hotel, and you will first visit the Hagia Sophia to explore it's incredible architecture and remarkable story.
Later you will also visit one of the Ottoman Empire’s greatest architectural achievements: the Blue Mosque.
Following lunch, you will marvel at the Hippodrome and the Basilica Cistern.
In the afternoon, you can browse the shops of the Grand Bazaar before retiring to the hotel for the night.

Day 3: Istanbul

Your guide will meet you at your hotel and you will take off to the Topkapi Palace! After conquering Constantinople in the 15th Century, the Ottomans built Topkapi Palace. You'll have the opportunity to explore the palace and its treasures, including the hidden chambers of the Imperial Harem.
Next, you'll make a visit to the Spice Market /Egyptian Bazzar before a boat tour of the Bosphorous Strait, and a quiet cafe offers a bit of rest in the afternoon. (Based our guides discretion, the morning and afternoon may be reversed in order to give you the best experience possible.)
You'll spend your final night in Istanbul.

Day 4: Istanbul to Cappadocia

Enjoy breakfast in Istanbul and then get ready for your flight to Cappadocia!
A private driver will meet you at your hotel and transfer you to the Istanbul airport for a one hour flight to Cappadocia.
Your private guide and driver will will welcome you to Cappadocia as you exit from baggage claim.
Directly from the airport your tour will begin with a visit to Uchisar Fortress, OrtaHisar and Red Valley.
After a day of exploration and travel you will check-in to your hotel and retire for the night.

Day 5: Cappadocia

You may choose to rise today or day 6 before dawn for an hot-air balloon ride over the picturesque Cappadocian valleys. Let us know if you would like to add this addition experience to your tour.
Today, your Cappadocia guide will take you to explore Pasabaglari (Fairy Chimneys), and Zelve Open Air Musuem (houses carved in rock, Seljukian Mosque and remains).
Following lunch, continue to Esentepe for panoramic view of the Goreme Valley, Goreme Open Air Museum (rock cut churches, frescos, monastery) and Kaymakli Underground City.
Enjoy the incredible views of the Cappadocia landscape and enjoy the hospitality of your hotel in the evening before you retire for the night.

Day 6: Cappadocia - Ephesus

In the morning you will be transferred directly to Cappadocia Airport for your flight to Izmir. Once here, you will be met again by a guide and driver and have a tour of Sirince village as you make your way to your hotel on the coast in Kusadasi.

Day 7: Ephesus

Today will meet you at your hotel and you will visit the magnificent ancient city of Ephesus. You will enjoy a leisurely exploration of the city, including the Terraced Houses, followed by trip to the Ephesus Archeology Museum.
Following lunch you will visit St. John’s Basilica, reputed burial site of the Apostle John, and see the ruin of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
You will also make a stop at Mary's House, and from there you'll return to your hotel in Kusadasi for a relaxing evening.

Day 8: Departure

A private driver will pick you up from your hotel and transfer you to the Izmir airport for your international flight home.

Inclusions/Exclusions

What is included in the tour

Accommodation: Sultanhan, Kale Konak, Doubletree by Hilton Kusadasi
Meals: 7 breakfasts, 5 lunches
Services of a private licensed professional English speaking tour guide
Airport Transfers: with air conditioned transportation with driver
Air conditioned transportation with driver in Cappadocia, Izmir
Domestic flights: Istanbul-Cappadocia, Cappadocia-Izmir
Admission fees to sites and museums
Parking, portage, tipping (except guide & driver), toll roads
Coordination and attentive customer service throughout the tour by Sojourn staff 
Required Association of Turkish Travel Agencies Foreign Visitors Insurance  (a basic mandatory policy and not an adequate replacement for purchasing your own travel insurance.)