• 7 Dinner (D)
• 10 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

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

• Istanbul: Meet your Travel Director and your small group for your first dinner together in Istanbul, marking the start of your journey through Turkey.
• Izmir: Share a Farm-to-table lunch at Nif Baglari, a family-owned wine producer in the foothills near Izmir. Walk through the vines and learn how the land is used, then sit down to seasonal dishes made with produce grown on the property, served in the vineyard setting.
• Istanbul: Toast the culmination of your travels during dinner at a local restaurant with your small group and Travel Director.

• 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.

• Istanbul: An immersive digital experience through the iconic structure’s rich past, showcasing its transformation from a Byzantine cathedral to an Ottoman mosque and now a museum, with captivating exhibits and architectural wonders.
• Istanbul: Visit Hagia Sophia with your Local Specialist. You’ll step beneath the central dome and see how elements from its time as a Byzantine basilica and as an Ottoman mosque share the same interior, reflecting the building’s long and layered history.

Visit the hillside chapel known as the House of the Virgin Mary, a quiet shrine above Selcuk surrounded by pines and birdsong. Step inside this modest stone dwelling and take a moment at the simple altar and wishing wall outside.

Hear how long-standing tradition links the site to Mary’s final years and how devotion here bridges Christian communities. The setting’s hushed atmosphere and views over the valleys invite private reflection.

Visit the Ephesus Archaeological Museum to see masterpieces unearthed from the ruins, displayed steps from their original setting. Highlights include the famed statues of Artemis, intricate household items and portraiture that brings Ephesus’s citizens face to face.

Curated rooms of marble, mosaic and bronzes illuminate domestic life, cult worship and civic power. This compact museum deepens the site visit by pairing artifacts with context, timelines and stories of discovery.

Step into a neighborhood kahvehane to learn tavla (backgammon) where it’s best understood—around a worn tabletop with locals. A host demonstrates the rules, common openings and table etiquette as you sip traditional Turkish coffee.

Put new skills into practice in a friendly match, hearing tales of Ottoman-era coffeehouses and the rhythms of modern Izmir life. The rattle of checkers and dice sets a social tempo that bridges language with play.

Walk the travertine terraces of Pamukkale where warm, calcite-rich waters ripple over dazzling white pools. Feel the mineral breeze and note delicate rimstone ledges that continue to form as the water flows.

Explore ancient Hierapolis—the theatre, streets and necropolis—set just above the shimmering slopes. The union of spa culture and sacred space spans millennia here; pause for photos and reflection where geology and history converge.

Visit a leather atelier to see designers and craftspeople at work, from pattern cutting and dye selection to hand-cutting and stitching. Handle different grades and finishes while learning how fit and drape inform each piece.

Turkey’s leather trade draws on caravan routes and coastal ports alike. This behind-the-scenes look reveals techniques, tools and the quiet precision behind quality garments and accessories.

Arrive before dawn at a panoramic lookout to watch hundreds of hot air balloons rise with the light. As first glow touches cliffs and cones, witness sunrise over Cappadocia and the valleys unfurling in gold and rose.

Use the vantage point for exceptional photo opportunities across honeycombed hills and distant plateaus. The hush, the burners’ flare and the slow drift of color create an indelible morning mood.

Explore the Goreme Open-Air Museum where rock-cut churches shelter vibrant frescoes of saints, angels and biblical scenes. Step into chapels hewn from tuff and note the geometry of columns and apses carved from living rock.

Monastic life flourished here between the 10th and 12th centuries; pigments still cling to vaults and domes. The setting pairs artistry with geology to illuminate early Christian worship on the Anatolian plateau.

Step inside a traditional cave house to meet a resident Cappadocian and hear how daily life adapts to stone. Learn about room layouts, ventilation and seasonal routines in a home carved from the hillside.

Rock-hewn architecture keeps interiors cool in summer and warm in winter. This intimate exchange offers living history carved in stone, from recipes to customs that remain anchored in the landscape.

Discover the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, where galleries trace cultures from Paleolithic finds to Phrygian gold and imposing Hittite reliefs. Examine carved orthostats, ceremonial vessels and tools that map the region’s human story.

Highlights include Neolithic artifacts from Catalhoyuk and royal treasures that illuminate belief, economy and art. The chronological layout helps make sense of Anatolia’s layered past in a single, compelling arc.

Cruise the Bosphorus to see Istanbul unveil from the water—quays, minarets and wooden yalis slipping by as ferries cross in all directions. Glide past Ottoman palaces and neighborhoods that face one another across the strait.

The channel’s swift currents and seabirds animate a route that has long linked Black Sea and Mediterranean trade. The thrill of sailing between Europe and Asia makes the city’s geography immediate.

Visit the Blue Mosque to admire its six minarets and interiors shimmering with Iznik tiles. Step across to the Hippodrome, once Constantinople’s chariot-racing arena, where monuments mark the old spine of imperial spectacle.

Obelisks and columns—Theodosius’s granite shaft and the Serpent Column—anchor centuries of urban theater. The mosque’s light-filled nave and the square’s open expanse create a dialogue between worship and civic pride.

Choose an immersive digital experience that traces Hagia Sophia’s layered history from Byzantine basilica to Ottoman mosque and its modern-era transitions. Animated reconstructions explain engineering feats behind the soaring dome and shifting ritual within its vast interior.

Interactive exhibits highlight mosaics revealed and re-covered across centuries, revealing how faith, power and architecture intertwined. This is an included choice experience, typically offered during your time in Istanbul.

Enter with a Local Specialist to step beneath the central dome of Hagia Sophia. Take in marble columns, colossal scale and the dialogue between Byzantine mosaics and Ottoman calligraphy panels that share the same space.

Hear stories from Justinian’s ambition to Mehmed II’s conquest and the building’s continuing role in Istanbul’s spiritual life. This is an included choice experience, typically offered during your time in the historic peninsula.

Walk the covered streets of the Grand Bazaar, navigating domed halls and historic hans where artisans display carpets, goldwork, ceramics and spices. Learn how to read patterns, gauge quality and approach friendly bargaining.

As one of the world’s oldest markets, its lanes hum with ritual and routine. The mix of artisans’ stalls and social courtyards ties today’s trade to centuries of exchange.

Witness the Whirling Dervishes in a contemplative Sema ceremony set to the haunting ney flute and drum. White robes unfurl as the ritual unfolds in measured stages, each gesture layered with meaning.

Rooted in Mevlevi tradition, the ceremony symbolizes a spiritual ascent through music and motion. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to local scheduling.

Dine along the Kordon promenade with an evening of seafood and meze served waterside. Taste Aegean flavors—grilled fish, olive-oil dishes and seasonal salads—paired with local wines or a splash of raki as the sea breeze drifts in.

The ritual of shared plates captures Izmir’s sociable spirit and coastal abundance. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

Insight Vacations

Visit the Gallipoli Peninsula to explore ANZAC Cove and the tranquil grounds of Lone Pine Cemetery. Walk the shoreline and ridgelines that shaped the 1915 campaign as your Travel Director sets the scene, highlighting the natural contours and viewpoints that defined the landings.

Learn how ANZAC Day commemorations keep the story alive and pause for photos and reflection at simple memorials set against sea and scrub. This moving experience balances landscape, history and remembrance in a place many consider sacred.

Explore the excavated mound of Hisarlik, the multi-layered site identified as ancient Troy, and walk the archaeological remains revealed by successive digs. View the reconstructed Trojan Horse beside the ruins and trace ramparts, gates and foundations that span millennia.

Hear how Homeric legend met modern archaeology here, from early trenching to refined stratigraphy that revealed nine main settlement layers. See how myth and material culture intertwine, from Bronze Age citadels to Roman Ilium.

Follow a Local Specialist to join a guided walk along the Arcadian Way into Ephesus, one of the best-preserved Roman cities. Stand before the Library of Celsus, admire finely carved facades and step into the vast Great Theatre that once held roaring crowds.

Gain insight into urban life in Roman Asia as you pass bathhouses, temples and public spaces that reveal a city built for commerce, ceremony and spectacle. The stones underfoot tell a vivid civic story still legible today.

Visit the Copmadam workshop to see how recycled packaging is transformed into bags, accessories and homeware. Meet artisans whose skills create employment for local women while reducing waste through inventive design.

Learn how this cooperative advances SDG 5: Gender Equality with dignified work, training and fair pay. Browse one-of-a-kind pieces that showcase craft, sustainability and community impact—your visit directly supports their mission.

Enjoy a farm-to-table vineyard lunch in the Aegean foothills, pairing seasonal dishes with estate bottlings that reflect local terroir. Stroll the vines and sample regional wines as your hosts share how soils, sun and slope shape each vintage.

Hear about Anatolia’s deep wine heritage, from Hittite-era cultivation to modern family producers. The setting—stone, shade and rows of green—frames a relaxed culinary moment rooted in place.

Step through the monumental portal of the Sultanhani Caravanserai, a fortified Seljuk inn that sheltered merchants and animals along the Silk Road. Walk its vast courtyard, stables and prayer hall to sense the rhythms of long-distance trade.

Dating to 1229, the complex displays robust stone vaulting and restrained ornament that signal security and welcome. Stories of caravans, spices and textiles come alive within these cool walls.

Explore the underground city of Saratli, descending through carved chambers, storage rooms and tunnels cut from soft tuff. See ventilation shafts, kitchens and presses that sustained extended life below ground.

Early communities expanded these spaces as refuge during unrest, creating multi-level networks hidden beneath the steppe. The close air, soot marks and stone thresholds preserve a tangible record of adaptation and resilience.

Walk among the fairy chimneys of Pasabag, where tuff cones capped by harder rock form surreal silhouettes. Trace paths between troglodyte dwellings and hermit cells while vineyards and soft sand underfoot heighten the otherworldly feel.

Shaped by wind, water and time, the valley demonstrates Cappadocia’s unique erosional sculpture. Framed by open sky, every turn reveals new textures, colors and angles for the camera.

Visit an Avanos pottery studio to watch masters prepare red river clay, center it on the wheel and shape forms with practiced hands. Follow firing and decoration stages that give each vessel its character.

Pottery here dates to Hittite times, with motifs and techniques passed across generations. The workshop’s earthy scents, whirring wheels and shelves of drying pieces reveal a craft rooted in river and soil.

Walk the ceremonial approach to Anitkabir, the monumental complex honoring Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Enter the Hall of Honour beneath soaring stone to appreciate the clarity of lines and scale framing his tomb.

Exhibits and architecture underline Ataturk’s role as founder of modern Turkey, from reforms to statehood. The site’s symmetry, quiet courtyards and city views encourage contemplation of a nation’s modern chapter.

Explore Topkapi Palace, wandering through imperial courtyards, council chambers and palace kitchens set above the Bosphorus. Glimpse jeweled regalia and ceremonial objects that signal centuries of court ritual.

The residence of Ottoman sultans for nearly four hundred years, Topkapi blends intimate spaces with grand vistas. Architecture, gardens and Bosphorus views reveal a world where politics, piety and daily life intertwined.