5-Day Guided Tour of Istanbul, Ephesus and Pamukkale

Arrive Istanbul - Airport Transfer

Welcome to Istanbul. Our driver will meet you at the airport. You will be transferred to your hotel.

Overnight in Istanbul - Recital Hotel (or similar)

Jewels of Istanbul

After you meet with your guide at the hotel, you will visit Dolmabahce Palace which was built in the 19th century and is one of the most glamorous palaces in the world. It was the administrative center of the late Ottoman Empire with the last of Ottoman Sultans was residing there.

After Dolmabahce Palace, you will pass across the Bosphorus by driving and reach Camlica Hill on the Asian Continent side of Istanbul. You can see the Bosphorus, two of the bridges which link each side of Istanbul, the Old City of Istanbul, and more.

You will take a boat to the Bosphorus Strait for about 1 and a half hours. During your tour, you will see more palaces, mansions, and famous restaurants just on the side of the Bosphorus.

A flyover by Cable Car to enjoy the beautiful view of Golden Horn from Pierre Loti hill.

The Spice Bazaar is one of the largest bazaars in the city. Located in the Eminönü quarter of the Fatih district, it is the most famous covered shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar.

Overnight in Istanbul - Recital Hotel Sultanahmet (or similar)

Explore the Old City & Fly to Izmir

Hagia Sophia is a Late Antique place of worship in Istanbul, designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. Built-in 537 as the patriarchal cathedral of the imperial capital of Constantinople, it was the largest Christian church of the eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) and the Eastern Orthodox Church, except during the Latin Empire from 1204 to 1261, when it became the city's Latin Catholic cathedral. In 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque. In 1935, the secular Turkish Republic established it as a museum. In 2020, it re-opened as a mosque.

The Topkapı Palace is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans.

Sultan Ahmed Mosque also known as the Blue Mosque is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A functioning mosque also attracts large numbers of tourist visitors. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah, and a hospice.

Hippodrome of Constantinople is a square in Istanbul, Turkey. Previously, it was a circus that was the sporting and social center of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos, horse, and dromos, path or way. For this reason, it is sometimes also called Atmeydanı ("Horse Square") in Turkish. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras.

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls in the world.

After the old city tour in Istanbul, you will be transferred to the airport and take a flight to Kusadasi.

Overnight in Kusadasi - Efe Boutique Hotel (or similar)

Explore Pamukkale (Cotton Castle)

Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The area is famous for a carbonate mineral left by the flowing of thermal spring water. It is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year.

Hierapolis was an ancient Greek city located on hot springs in classical Phrygia in southwestern Anatolia. Its ruins are adjacent to modern Pamukkale in Turkey and currently comprise an archaeological museum. The site has the Tomb of Philip the Apostle.

Overnight in Kusadasi - Efe Boutique Hotel (or similar )

Explore Ephesus - Departure from Turkey

Absorb yourself in history. Today you visit Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis, and the House of Virgin Mary. Feel the mystical atmosphere of ancient times. Ephesus is one of the most important ancient cities in the world and it was the capital of Asia Minor.

The Temple of Artemis or Artemision, also known as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, local form of the goddess Artemis (associated with Diana, a Roman goddess). It was located in Ephesus. It was completely rebuilt twice, once after a devastating flood and three hundred years later after an act of arson, and in its final form was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. By 401 AD it had been ruined or destroyed. Only foundations and fragments of the last temple remain at the site.

The House of the Virgin Mary is a Catholic shrine located on Mt. Koressos in the vicinity of Ephesus, 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) from Selçuk in Turkey.

When our tour concludes, we say goodbye and you will be transferred to Izmir airport to take your flight back to Istanbul.