5 Days Istanbul, Pamukkale, Ephesus and Cappadocia Tour

Welcome to Istanbul. Whenever your flight lands at Istanbul Airport (IST) or Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW), our driver will be waiting at the international arrivals exit with a sign showing your name. From there you'll be driven straight to your hotel in the Old City.

Depending on traffic, the ride from IST takes about 45 minutes to an hour; from SAW it can run closer to 90 minutes. Once you check in, the rest of the day is yours.

If you'd like to add something tonight, ask us about the optional dinner cruise on the Bosphorus Strait, with a meal and live show on board (extra cost). Otherwise, get some rest before tomorrow's early start. Comfortable shoes are the one thing you'll want ready for the week.

• Overnight in Istanbul.
• Included Meal(s): None

After breakfast, around 8:30 AM, your guide will pick you up from the hotel to start a full day in the Old City. The group stays small, so you'll hear everything without straining. Most of today's sights sit within walking distance of each other.

You'll begin at Hagia Sophia, finished in 537 AD under Emperor Justinian. Look up at the main dome, then find the surviving gold mosaics. Next door is the Blue Mosque, named for the blue Iznik tiles inside its prayer hall.

From there you'll walk the Byzantine Hippodrome, once a Roman chariot track, where the Obelisk of Theodosius still stands. Then it's on to Topkapi Palace, home to Ottoman sultans for about 400 years.

Lunch is included at a restaurant in the Old City, so you'll taste some local dishes before the afternoon. After that you'll head into the Grand Bazaar, with its thousands of shops selling carpets, ceramics, spices and jewelry.

Expect a lot of walking today, plus crowds and cobblestones, so wear flat, comfortable shoes. Bring a scarf and cover your knees and shoulders for the mosques. You'll be back at your hotel around 5:00 PM, and the evening is free.

• Overnight in Istanbul.
• Included Meal(s): Breakfast and Lunch

It's an early one today. Around 4:00 AM you'll be picked up from your hotel and driven to the airport for your morning flight to Denizli, which departs sometime between 6:00 and 8:00 AM. Grab coffee where you can; the reward is worth it.

When you land, a driver takes you to Pamukkale to meet your guide. Around 10:45 AM you'll stop at Karahayit Red Springs, where iron-rich water stains the rock a rusty red. Then you'll drive to the ancient city of Hierapolis around 11:30 AM.

Here you'll see the Necropolis, the Roman Baths, Domitian Gate, Frontinus Street, the Agora, the Theater and the Plutonium. Around 12:30 PM you'll get about an hour free. You can swim in the Cleopatra Antique Pools here, at your own cost.

At 1:30 PM you'll meet the guide to walk the white Pamukkale travertines barefoot, from top to bottom (shoes and socks come off, so the calcium terraces stay clean). Lunch at a local restaurant follows around 2:30 PM. There's a 30-minute stop at an onyx workshop around 3:30 PM before the drive to Kuşadası. Bring sunscreen, a hat and a towel if you plan to swim; you'll reach your hotel around 7:30 PM.

• Overnight in Kuşadası.
• Included Meal(s): Breakfast and Lunch

After breakfast, around 8:30 AM, your guide picks you up for a full day at Ephesus, one of the best-preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean. You'll walk marble streets that once carried tens of thousands of people.

Highlights include the Temple of Hadrian, the two-story Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre and the Trajan Fountain. Plan on a couple of hours of walking here, much of it on uneven stone and often under strong sun.

Lunch is included at a nearby restaurant. Afterward you'll visit the House of the Virgin Mary, believed to be her final home. You'll pass the last column of the Temple of Artemis, once one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and finish at the Isa Bey Mosque, built in 1375 in Seljuk style.

Then you'll be driven to Izmir Airport for your flight to Kayseri or Nevşehir, usually connecting through Istanbul. A representative meets you on arrival and drives you to your cave hotel in Cappadocia. It's a long travel day, so keep a light layer handy for the evening.

• Overnight in Cappadocia.
• Included Meal(s): Breakfast and Lunch

If you want the balloon experience, we can arrange an early morning hot air balloon ride before breakfast, weather permitting (extra cost). Flights lift off before sunrise for the best light over the valleys.

After breakfast, around 9:30 AM, you'll be picked up for a full day across Cappadocia's volcanic landscape. First up is the Göreme Open-Air Museum, a cluster of rock-cut churches with Byzantine frescoes. Then you'll stop at Pigeon Valley, named for the dovecotes carved into the soft tuff.

There's a quick 15-minute photo stop at Uçhisar Castle, the highest point around. Lunch is included at a local restaurant, where you might try testi kebab, meat slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot that's cracked open at the table.

In the afternoon you'll see the Fairy Chimneys at Pasabağ, then the multi-level Kaymaklı Underground City, and finish at Devrent Valley, where the rocks look like animals.

Around 4:00 PM you'll be driven to Kayseri or Nevşehir airport for your evening flight back to Istanbul, arriving late in the evening (about 90 minutes in the air). END OF OUR SERVICE AND TOURS.

• Included Meal(s): Breakfast and Lunch