Allow about 8,000 Turkish liras (US$200) for meals, add more if you include alcoholic or expensive fruit juice drinks with each meal.

Lunches and dinners are normally taken in local restaurants, known as lokantas; such eating places are widespread throughout Turkey, and the variety, price range and choice are usually quite extensive. Your tour leader normally assists in organising group meals so you may benefit from better choice and prices.

Savor your introduction to Turkish cuisine at a convivial group dinner, where you’ll meet your Tour Director and fellow travelers. Sample shared plates of meze, aromatic grilled meats or seafood, and syrupy desserts accompanied by strong Turkish tea or coffee. The atmosphere encourages conversation and sets a warm tone for the journey ahead.

Your host highlights regional flavors—from Aegean olive oils to Anatolian spices—and explains dining customs that make Turkish hospitality so distinctive. It’s a relaxed, flavorful start that frames the culinary side of your adventure.

Sink your feet into the luminous travertine of Pamukkale’s “Cotton Castle”, where mineral-rich springs have sculpted white cascades and milky-blue pools. Stroll boardwalks, feel warm water over smooth calcite, and capture wide-angle views across the Menderes Valley.

Your guide explains how calcium carbonate deposits formed these terraces over centuries and why UNESCO status protects the site. Bathe where permitted, absorbing the serene landscape and the gentle hush of flowing thermal water.

Pay respects at the Gallipoli battlefields, where 1915’s Dardanelles campaign shaped national memory in Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand. Walk shorelines and ridges around ANZAC Cove, pause at Lone Pine Cemetery, and look toward Chunuk Bair as your guide recounts strategies, losses, and acts of endurance on this dramatic peninsula.

Contextual commentary connects trenches and memorials to the wider conflict and to the Dardanelles Strait below, a strategic waterway that has influenced empires for centuries. Expect moments for quiet reflection amid windswept pines and sea views.

Cross from Europe to Asia by local ferry, gliding between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the storied Dardanelles Strait. Take in coastal fortresses like Kilitbahir and Cimenlik, spot fishing boats plying narrow channels, and feel the sea breeze as the skyline of Canakkale comes into view.

Your guide highlights the strait’s strategic role—from classical era trade to WWI naval operations—so this short voyage doubles as a compact lesson in geography and power that shaped the region’s destiny.

Walk the ramparts of ancient Troy, the city immortalized in Homer’s Iliad. Examine layers of settlement spanning millennia, from Bronze Age walls to Roman Ilium, while your guide separates legend from evidence and evokes the world of Achilles and Hector.

Interpretive stops reveal gateways, defensive towers, and domestic quarters that Heinrich Schliemann’s 19th-century excavations first brought to light. The site’s windswept plateau and views across the Troad invite a pause for photos and reflection on how myth and archaeology intertwine.

Trace marble avenues through Ephesus, once second only to Rome. Stand before the Library of Celsus, admire columned facades, and step into the vast Great Theatre where voices could reach 25,000 spectators. Your guide brings daily life alive—from bath rituals to bustling markets along Curetes Street.

Learn about the nearby Temple of Artemis—one of the ancient Seven Wonders—and hear stories of imperial visitors, including myths of Cleopatra and Mark Antony gracing these very streets. Classical urban design and Mediterranean light combine for vivid impressions.

Explore the Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis, founded by the kings of Pergamon and famed for its healing springs. Walk the colonnaded street to the monumental fountain, step into the shadow of the 2nd-century theatre, and examine bath complexes that once welcomed spa-goers from across the empire.

Amid the vast necropolis, sarcophagi and tumuli attest to centuries of pilgrimage and patronage. Stories of the Plutonium and early Christian sites—linked to St. Philip—add spiritual resonance to this atmospheric plateau above Pamukkale.

Survey the urban plan of Perge—its stadium, baths, and colonnaded boulevard framed by Hellenistic towers—before continuing to Aspendos, home to the most perfectly preserved Roman theatre in Anatolia. Stand on the stage and test the fabled acoustics that still carry a whisper to the upper tiers.

Guided commentary links inscriptions, fountains, and city gates to the prosperity of Pamphylia and the reign of Marcus Aurelius, when Aspendos’ 15,000-seat theatre rose in refined symmetry that continues to host performances today.

Taste the Aegean at a hillside winery near Selcuk, where an expert leads a flight of regional styles—think Okuzgozu, Narince, or elegant Syrah—paired with local cheeses and olive oil. Discuss terroir, aging, and Anatolia’s long winemaking lineage as vineyards slope away toward the horizon.

This is an optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour (often enjoyed one evening in the Selcuk area). The relaxed setting and informed guidance make it an enriching counterpoint to the region’s archaeological wonders.

Explore the historic heart of Istanbul on a guided walk that pairs the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) with the storied expanse of Sultanahmet Square. Step beneath thousands of blue Iznik tiles, study the mosque’s six soaring minarets, and absorb the tranquil rhythm of prayer and daily life around this 17th-century masterpiece.

Wander the former Hippodrome, pausing at the Obelisk of Theodosius, the Serpent Column, and the Walled Obelisk. Your guide illuminates layers of Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman heritage that shaped the square and gave Istanbul its unique cultural tapestry.

Join a women-led kitchen in hillside Sirince to master regional recipes. Under friendly guidance—often from Mrs. Mujde or her daughters—you’ll prepare classic meze, a seasonal vegetable main, and a fragrant clay-pot guvec. Finish with silky irmik helvasi dotted with pine nuts, served warm with ice cream.

Between stirring and tasting, hear how village traditions, Aegean produce, and family hospitality shape Turkish home cooking. Sit together to enjoy the feast you created, a flavorful window into everyday culture and culinary craft.