Choose an immersive digital exploration of Hagia Sophia’s history in Istanbul. Exhibits interpret the landmark’s architecture and guide you through its changing role across Byzantine and Ottoman centuries.

This is one of two included Insight Choice activities; it is an alternative to visiting Hagia Sophia’s interior with a Local Expert. The digital format offers a way to examine the building’s layered past and the architectural ideas behind its celebrated dome.

Explore the Roman theater at Aspendos near Antalya. Stand within its vast seating tiers and look towards the remarkably intact stage building to appreciate the scale of public entertainment in an ancient city.

Dating from the Roman period, the theater is celebrated as one of the best-preserved examples of its kind. Its enduring stone structure makes the design and ambition of Roman performance spaces unusually easy to imagine.

• 9 Dinner (D)
• 14 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Cappadocia: Step inside a traditional cave house and meet a local Cappadocian who has lived there for decades. Hear how the home was shaped, how it has changed over time and what it means to remain rooted in this landscape.

Insight Vacations

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over dinner at a local restaurant in Istanbul. Share a table and discover traditional Turkish flavours in the city where Europe and Asia meet.

This hosted meal offers an introduction to Turkey’s dining culture, where conversation and dishes shared around the table are part of the experience. It is a chance to get acquainted with the group while enjoying the atmosphere of Istanbul.

Cruise the Bosphorus Strait between Istanbul’s European and Asian shores. Watch ferries, fishing boats and cargo vessels navigate the busy waterway while waterfront neighbourhoods, Ottoman palaces and historic fortresses come into view.

The strait connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and has shaped Istanbul’s trade and daily life for centuries. From the water, its layered skyline and the close relationship between the city’s two continents become especially clear.

Explore Bursa with your Travel Director, visiting the Green Mosque, Grand Mosque and mausoleum complex before discovering the city’s bazaars and celebrated Silk Market. Look for the tilework, calligraphy and monumental spaces that mark Bursa’s early Ottoman heritage.

As the Ottoman Empire’s first major capital, Bursa became a centre of religious architecture and commerce. Its historic market district recalls the silk trade that helped connect Anatolia with wider trading routes.

Discover Gordion, the former capital of ancient Phrygia, and encounter a place closely associated with King Midas and the legend of the Gordian Knot. Its archaeological landscape opens a window onto a powerful Anatolian kingdom.

Gordion’s importance reaches far beyond the familiar myths: the settlement stood at a crossroads of cultures in central Anatolia. Exploring the site brings the region’s pre-Roman history into focus against the broad plains surrounding Turkey’s modern capital.

Descend into Ozkonak Underground City in Cappadocia, moving through rooms and narrow passages carved into the region’s soft volcanic rock. See how subterranean spaces provided shelter and could be defended when communities faced danger.

The visit reveals an ingenious response to Cappadocia’s landscape and a history of life beneath its visible valleys. The enclosed passageways and interconnected chambers give a tangible sense of how people organised daily life below ground.

Watch hot air balloons rise over Cappadocia from a panoramic viewpoint before dawn. As the light changes, photograph balloons drifting above valleys, fairy chimneys and sculpted volcanic rock formations.

This is a ground-based viewing experience, not a balloon flight. The elevated perspective brings Cappadocia’s unusual terrain into focus, with the first sunlight picking out ridges and rock towers while the balloons move across the sky.

Explore the rock-cut churches of Goreme, carved into Cappadocia’s soft volcanic stone. Step inside to see surviving frescoes and discover how early Christian communities created places of worship within the landscape itself.

The painted interiors contrast with the pale, weathered rock outside. Together, the churches and their wall paintings offer insight into centuries of faith, artistry and settlement in a region renowned for its cave dwellings.

Taste homemade Anatolian dishes at Uchisar Kadineli Restaurant, a women-owned establishment in Cappadocia. This hosted dining experience introduces local flavours while supporting employment for women from the village.

The restaurant provides work for more than 65 women in roles that include cooking, service, teaching and administration. Its wider training initiatives help participants develop practical skills and earn income, making the meal a direct connection to the local community.

Step inside a traditional Cappadocian cave house and meet a local resident who has lived there for decades. Tour the home and hear firsthand how its rooms were shaped within the rock and adapted for family life.

Beyond Cappadocia’s famous scenery, this personal visit reveals what it means to remain rooted in the region. The resident’s stories connect the practical character of cave dwellings with local traditions and changing ways of life.

Witness a Whirling Dervish Sema ceremony in Cappadocia and dine at a local restaurant. Watch the ritual’s measured movement, music and traditional dress as the performers turn in a practice associated with the Mevlevi Sufi tradition.

Sema is a form of spiritual devotion rather than simply a dance performance. Experiencing its deliberate pace and symbolism offers a deeper understanding of a tradition still practised in Turkey, alongside an evening of local dining.

Visit a pottery studio in Avanos to watch artisans prepare and shape clay at the wheel. Follow the stages of forming, drying and decorating a piece in this Cappadocian town beside the Kizilirmak River.

Avanos has a clay-working tradition reaching back to Hittite times. Seeing the process at close range connects the finished ceramics with the river’s red clay and the skill passed between generations of local craftspeople.

Step inside Sultanhani Caravanserai, a 13th-century roadside inn on an Anatolian trading route. Explore the courtyard and see how its stables and storerooms were arranged to shelter travellers, animals and goods.

Built in 1229 during the Seljuk period, the caravanserai speaks to the infrastructure behind long-distance trade. Its substantial stone architecture evokes the practical needs of merchants crossing the open plains between major centres.

Visit the Mevlana Museum with a Local Expert in Konya and see the Karatay Medrese and Ince Minaret Medrese. Learn about the city’s association with the Mevlevi tradition and admire the architecture of its Seljuk-era religious schools.

Konya was a capital of the Anatolian Seljuk Empire and remains closely linked to the mystic poet Rumi, known as Mevlana. Its monuments bring together the city’s intellectual, artistic and spiritual heritage.

Wander through Antalya’s Old Town, following narrow streets towards the coast and taking in views over the Mediterranean. Explore a historic district where traditional streetscapes sit close to the harbour and local markets.

Known as Kaleici, the old quarter reflects layers of the city’s long history. Its compact lanes offer a different perspective on Antalya from the surrounding resort coast, with sea views and everyday activity woven through the historic centre.

Explore ancient Hierapolis and Pamukkale’s white terraces with your Travel Director. See the remains of a Roman spa city beside the hillside formations created by flowing, calcium-rich thermal water.

Founded around 190 BC, Hierapolis grew around the area’s natural springs. At Pamukkale, mineral deposits continue to shape the travertines, creating a striking contrast between the pale terraces and the archaeological remains above them.

Explore ancient Aphrodisias near Geyre and see the Temple of Aphrodite, with re-erected columns marking a focal point of the city. Discover an archaeological site dedicated to the goddess of love and associated with exceptional ancient sculpture.

The surviving streets, monuments and statues illuminate the city’s importance in the Greek and Roman worlds. Aphrodisias offers the rare pleasure of examining an ancient urban landscape and its artistic legacy in one place.

Visit the House of the Virgin Mary on Mount Koressos above Ephesus. Spend time at this quiet pilgrimage site, traditionally associated with Mary’s final years and respected by both Christian and Muslim visitors.

Its wooded hillside setting feels distinct from the monumental ruins below. The visit adds a spiritual dimension to the region’s history and offers insight into why Ephesus and its surroundings continue to draw pilgrims as well as archaeology enthusiasts.

Walk through Ephesus with a Local Expert, following the Arcadian Way into one of the ancient Mediterranean’s great cities. Stand before the Library of Celsus and enter the Great Theater, whose seating reveals the scale of public life here.

Once the Roman capital of Asia Minor, Ephesus was a centre of commerce and culture. Its preserved streets and buildings help make the workings of a Roman city tangible rather than distant.

Discover Anatolia’s leather-making heritage during your time in the Ephesus region. Learn about a craft associated with the Ahi guilds, networks of medieval artisans and traders linked to the 13th-century leatherworker Ahi Evran.

This introduction places leatherwork within a longer story of skill, commerce and apprenticeship. It offers a cultural perspective on an enduring Turkish craft beyond the archaeological monuments for which the region is best known.

Visit the Ephesus Archaeological Museum to examine objects recovered from the ancient city, including statues of Artemis, mosaics and household artefacts. See details that can be easy to miss among the scale of the outdoor ruins.

Excavations at Ephesus began in the 19th century, revealing evidence of religious practice and daily life. The museum’s collections give the city’s celebrated monuments a more personal context through the objects its inhabitants made and used.

Explore the archaeological site of Troy with your Travel Director and view its reconstructed wooden Trojan Horse. Hear how the story of Paris, Helen and the Trojan War became entwined with a settlement whose history spans thousands of years.

Beyond Homer’s legend, Troy preserves traces of successive periods of occupation. Seeing the site provides a chance to distinguish the real ancient city from the enduring myths that made its name known across the world.

Visit ANZAC Cove and Lone Pine Cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Learn about the 1915 campaign, stand at the landing site of Australian and New Zealand forces and take time to pay your respects.

The nine-month struggle for control of the Dardanelles left a lasting mark on all nations involved. ANZAC Cove remains a focus of annual remembrance, while Lone Pine’s memorial landscape gives space for reflection on the human cost of the campaign.

Explore Istanbul’s historic peninsula with a Local Expert, visiting the Blue Mosque and Hippodrome. Admire the mosque’s Ottoman design and stand where crowds once gathered for chariot races in Byzantine Constantinople.

These neighbouring landmarks express different chapters of the city’s history within a short walk. Together they trace its transformation from imperial Byzantine capital to Ottoman centre, while the surrounding streets remain part of a living city.

Step inside Hagia Sophia with a Local Expert in Istanbul and look up beneath its vast central dome. Discover architectural and decorative elements that reflect the building’s history as a Byzantine church and an Ottoman mosque.

Completed in AD 537, Hagia Sophia has shaped the city’s skyline for nearly 1,500 years. This is one of two included Insight Choice activities, offered as an alternative to the Hagia Sophia Digital Experience.

Explore the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and experience the bustle of its covered lanes and thousands of shops. Browse displays of Turkish goods and try your hand at bargaining if something catches your eye.

A centre of trade since the Ottoman era, the bazaar is more than a shopping stop: its interconnected passages preserve the atmosphere of a historic commercial district. Conversation with merchants is part of the experience, whether you purchase anything or simply observe.

Gather with your fellow travellers for dinner at a local restaurant in Istanbul. Share Turkish flavours and raise a toast together in the city that links the shores of Europe and Asia.

This hosted restaurant evening is a social experience rather than a routine hotel meal. It offers time for conversation around the table and a final taste of the dining traditions encountered across Turkey.

Learn Turkish culinary techniques in a hands-on cooking class offered during your stay in the Kusadasi and Ephesus region. Take part in preparing food rather than only tasting it, gaining a closer appreciation of the methods behind local dishes.

This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. It suits travellers who want a practical food-focused activity alongside the region’s archaeological visits; your Travel Director can provide the available class details.

Walk through central Canakkale and sample local bites on a gentle food-focused stroll. Tastings include a Biga-style Turkish meatball sandwich and a traditional cheese dessert, pairing familiar city streets with regional flavours.

This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. It offers a relaxed way to explore Canakkale’s everyday food culture and discover dishes that connect the city with its surrounding area.

Walk through Cumalikizik, a village near Bursa with narrow cobbled lanes and traditional timber-framed houses. Its tightly clustered streets offer a close look at an Ottoman rural settlement more than 700 years old.

Unlike the empire’s grand palaces and mosques, Cumalikizik reveals the scale of everyday village life. Notice how its historic houses follow the contours of the hillside, preserving a distinctive streetscape rooted in Bursa’s early Ottoman period.

Explore Ankara with your Travel Director, tracing the capital’s ancient heritage at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and visiting Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Walk through its ceremonial complex and enter the Hall of Honor.

The museum’s collections illuminate the many cultures of Anatolia, including the Hittites. At Anitkabir, monumental architecture reflects Ataturk’s role as founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.

Explore Pasabag Valley in Cappadocia and take in its distinctive fairy chimneys, including rock pillars topped by darker stone caps. Walk among formations shaped by the long erosion of volcanic deposits.

Also known as Monks Valley, Pasabag shows how natural forces created the region’s striking skyline. Up close, the changing textures and shapes reveal why Cappadocia’s rock formations have influenced both local settlement and travellers’ impressions of the landscape.

Visit Topkapi Palace, the former Ottoman palace complex on Istanbul’s historic peninsula. Explore its setting above the Bosphorus and Golden Horn while learning about the seat from which sultans governed an empire.

For centuries, the palace was both a royal residence and a centre of administration. Its position overlooking the city’s waterways underscores Istanbul’s strategic importance and adds another layer to the story told by the peninsula’s mosques and Byzantine landmarks.