Istanbul in a few hours
All super cute, the guide a 7, took us to the mosques to the cistern, wonderful.
Gallipoli & Troy in Two Days: From Istanbul and Back
Gallipoli & Troy
Overview
You’ll leave Istanbul early and drive southwest to the Gallipoli Peninsula, where the 1915 campaign left over 100,000 dead and permanently changed the national identities of Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand. Your guide walks you through the landing beaches, the trenches, the cemeteries, and the museum: not as a checklist, but as a connected narrative that makes sense on the ground.
After the ferry crossing to Canakkale, you’ll spend the night in this compact harbor town on the Dardanelles. Day two takes you to Troy: nine layers of civilization stacked on top of each other across 4,000 years, from the Bronze Age city that inspired Homer to the Roman settlement that came centuries later.
This is a round-trip from Istanbul. You leave the city, spend one night by the strait, and return the same way. Small-group tour, licensed guide, every entrance fee and ferry crossing covered. You bring comfortable shoes and whatever questions you have: your guide handles the rest.
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1
Gallipoli (Istanbul to Canakkale)
Early morning pickup from your Istanbul hotel (typically around 6:00–6:30 AM). The drive to the Gallipoli Peninsula takes approximately four hours, with a comfort stop along the way.
Your guide leads you through the key sites of the 1915 campaign in chronological and geographic order:
- ANZAC Cove: the beach where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps came ashore at dawn on April 25, 1915. Today it is a peaceful, pine-covered hillside, quiet enough to hear birdsong, and hard to reconcile with the battle that raged here for eight months. The ridgeline above still explains why the campaign stalled.
- Lone Pine Cemetery & Memorial: 1,167 graves and the names of 4,934 missing soldiers. The battle here lasted four days in August 1915, fought largely with bayonets and grenades in covered trenches.
- Johnston’s Jolly: where Allied and Ottoman trenches ran parallel, separated in places by less than ten meters
- The Nek: a saddle of land barely 30 meters wide where successive waves of Australian Light Horsemen charged into concentrated machine-gun fire
- Chunuk Bair: the New Zealand memorial marks the high point of the August offensive. Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) led the counterattack that retook this ridge.
- Brighton Beach: the evacuation point for the December 1915 withdrawal, carried out with almost no casualties, the most successful operation of the entire campaign
- Kabatepe War Museum: personal effects, weapons, uniforms, and letters from soldiers on both sides. The human scale of the artifacts makes the numbers real.
Ferry across the Dardanelles to Canakkale. Check in and explore the waterfront at your own pace.
Day 2
Troy (Canakkale to Istanbul)
After breakfast, drive to the archaeological site of Troy: about 30 minutes from Canakkale.
Troy is not a single city. It is nine cities, built on top of each other over 4,000 years. Your guide walks you through the layers: the Bronze Age fortification walls (Troy II, where Schliemann controversially claimed to find “Priam’s Treasure”), the city most likely connected to Homer’s Iliad (Troy VI or VII, depending on which archaeologist you ask), and the Roman-era settlement (Troy IX) that survived into the early Byzantine period.
You’ll see the ramp gate, the sacrificial altars, the defensive walls, and the reconstructed Trojan Horse that marks the entrance. The guide connects the mythology to the archaeology: what we know, what we think we know, and what Schliemann got wrong.
After Troy, begin the return drive to Istanbul. Expect an evening arrival, with your driver dropping you at your hotel or the airport.
How it works. This is not a fixed-departure coach tour: your trip starts on the date you choose. Guided days are regular tours shared with other travellers, with a licensed English-speaking guide and no more than 18 guests in a Sprinter van, and transfers are shuttles timed to your flights unless the itinerary says private transfer. Prefer the whole trip private? Ask us and we'll quote it.
Where You'll Stay
1 night with breakfast, in central, hand-picked hotels.
Çanakkale1 night
Büyük Truva Hotel or similar, in Çanakkale near the Dardanelles.
We confirm the exact hotel for your dates before booking. If one is full, we book another of the same category and let you know.
What's Included
- Round-trip shared transfers from Istanbul
- 1 night accommodation in Canakkale with breakfast
- Professional licensed English-speaking guide for both days
- All entrance fees (Gallipoli sites, Kabatepe Museum, Troy)
- Lunches on both days
- Dardanelles ferry crossing
- Air-conditioned small-group vehicle
Not Included
- Dinners and drinks
- Personal expenses
- Travel insurance
- Guide and driver gratuities (optional, appreciated)
Who Is This Tour For?
This itinerary works well for:
- ANZAC families making a pilgrimage: you stand at ANZAC Cove, walk Lone Pine and Chunuk Bair, and travel in a small group, not on a large coach tour
- Mythology enthusiasts who want to walk the nine archaeological layers of Troy with a guide who can separate Homer from Schliemann from the actual evidence
- Overnight-trip planners who want a meaningful two-day excursion from Istanbul without committing to a longer Aegean route
- Military history readers who have studied the 1915 campaign and want to see the terrain that shaped it: the ridgelines, the coves, the strait itself
What Our Travelers Say
Frequently Asked Questions
The Gallipoli Peninsula and Canakkale are among the most visited memorial and archaeological sites in the country, drawing visitors from Australia, New Zealand, and Europe year-round. You travel in a small-group vehicle with a licensed guide who knows the Dardanelles region firsthand: no public transport, no navigating unfamiliar roads on your own.
Light to moderate. Gallipoli involves walking between memorial sites on mostly flat to gently rolling terrain: some paths are unpaved. Troy is a compact site with some uphill sections. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended but no special fitness is required.
Yes. Want to spend more time at specific Gallipoli memorials? Add a stop in Canakkale? Skip Troy and extend Gallipoli to a full day and a half? Tell us your priorities and we’ll adjust.
The dawn service at ANZAC Cove draws thousands of visitors from Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. If you want to attend, plan well ahead: accommodation and transport book out months in advance. We can arrange the logistics, but early booking is essential for this date.
April through June and September through November. Spring is particularly meaningful at Gallipoli, with wildflowers covering the hillsides above the coves. Summer is hot. Winter is quiet but can be cold and wet on the peninsula.
Questions before you book?
Tell us your name and email and we send you a personalized quote for your dates.
Gallery
From $
364
/ person
2 Days · Guided Tour
in a double or triple room · daily departures
What's included
- Round-trip shared transfers from Istanbul
- 1 night accommodation in Canakkale with breakfast
- Professional licensed English-speaking guide for both days
- All entrance fees (Gallipoli sites, Kabatepe Museum, Troy)
- Lunches on both days
- Dardanelles ferry crossing
- Air-conditioned small-group vehicle
How you pay
20%Deposit, when we confirm
40%About 30 days before arrival
40%On arrival in Turkey
Your deposit is never lost: if your plans change, it stays as credit for 12 months.
From
$
364
/ person
