Tours
Troy Day Trip from Istanbul
Troy is one of those places that sits at the exact intersection of myth and archaeology. Homer wrote about it. Heinrich Schliemann dug it up. And now you get to walk through it — nine distinct layers of settlement stacked on top of each other, spanning more than four millennia of human occupation.
Your day starts with an early morning pickup from your Istanbul hotel and a scenic drive westward toward the Dardanelles and the town of Canakkale. The route takes you through the rolling farmland of Thrace and across the strait that separates Europe from Asia. By late morning, you’re standing at the entrance to one of the most significant archaeological sites in the Western world.
Your guide walks you through the excavated city layer by layer — from the earliest Bronze Age walls (Troy I, around 3000 BC) through the settlement most scholars associate with Homer’s Iliad (Troy VIIa) to the Roman rebuilding of the city under Augustus. You’ll see the defensive towers, the sacrificial altars, the residential quarters, and the massive replica of the Trojan Horse that has become the site’s most recognizable landmark. After a lunch break, you begin the return drive to Istanbul, arriving back at your hotel in the evening.
Bursa Day Trip from Istanbul
Bursa rarely appears on first-time Turkey itineraries, which is precisely why it rewards the visit. This was the Ottoman Empire’s first capital — the city where the dynasty took shape before Constantinople fell. The architecture here predates Istanbul‘s great mosques by a century, and the food culture runs deep enough that one dish alone (Iskender kebab, invented here) draws Turks from across the country.
Your day begins with a pickup from your Istanbul hotel and a scenic drive to the ferry terminal. The crossing over the Sea of Marmara takes about an hour — open water, coastal views, and a clean break from Istanbul‘s density. On the other side, your guide takes you into the city’s Ottoman core: the Green Mosque with its turquoise Iznik tiles, the Green Tomb where Sultan Mehmed I rests, and the Grand Mosque (Ulu Cami), where 20 domes and masterful Arabic calligraphy fill a space that has served as Bursa‘s spiritual center since 1399.
After lunch — Iskender kebab, naturally, at a local restaurant where they take the dish seriously — you’ll walk through Koza Han, the 15th-century silk market that once anchored the eastern end of the Silk Road. If weather permits, the day finishes with a cable car ride up Uludag Mountain, where the panoramic views across the Bursa plain and the distant Marmara coast put the entire region in perspective. Then it’s back to the ferry and your Istanbul hotel.
3-Day Ephesus & Pamukkale Tour
Two of Turkey’s most visited UNESCO sites, connected in a single three-day route with flights from Istanbul on both ends. You fly into Izmir, settle into your coastal hotel in Kusadasi, then spend a full day walking the marble streets of Ephesus — a city that once held 250,000 people and served as the Roman capital of Asia Minor.
Your second full day takes you inland to Pamukkale, where thermal water has been cascading down a hillside for thousands of years, leaving behind white travertine terraces that look like frozen waterfalls. Above them sits Hierapolis, a Greco-Roman spa city with a 12,000-seat theater and a necropolis so large it tells you how popular this place was, even 2,000 years ago.
Both days include your private guide and lunch. Round-trip domestic flights are built into the package — you leave Istanbul in the morning and return in the evening on Day 3, without losing days to driving.
3-Day Gallipoli, Troy & Ephesus Tour
This three-day itinerary covers four of Turkey’s most significant archaeological and historical sites in a single southward sweep along the Aegean coast. You start at Gallipoli, where the 1915 campaign left its mark on the landscape and on the national identities of Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand. The next day, you stand at Troy — the city Homer wrote about — then continue to Pergamon, one of the great intellectual centers of the ancient world.
On your final day, you walk through Ephesus. Not a ruin in the usual sense — more like a Roman city frozen mid-stride, with its library facade, 25,000-seat theater, and marble-paved streets still intact enough to feel lived-in. After Ephesus, you fly from Izmir back to Istanbul. No long return drive, no wasted hours on the road.
This tour does not include Istanbul sightseeing. It is designed as an add-on for travelers who want to cover the western Aegean sites efficiently, with a private guide and all logistics handled.
9-Day Istanbul, Fethiye Blue Cruise & Antalya Tour
You’ll spend your first days in Istanbul on your own terms — choosing between the Ottoman grandeur of Sultanahmet and the waterfront energy of the Bosphorus. Then you’ll fly south, board a traditional Turkish gulet in Fethiye, and spend three nights sailing a coastline that most visitors only see from a beach towel. Butterfly Valley, the Blue Lagoon at Oludeniz, the sunken ruins of Kekova — this is the Mediterranean at its most unfiltered.
After three mornings waking up on the water, you’ll transfer overland through the Olympos corridor to Antalya, where a free day lets you explore the old harbor town, hit the beach, or simply do nothing at all. The final leg brings you back to Istanbul for your departure.
This itinerary balances structure with open time. Guided days in Istanbul, three days of coastal sailing with meals included on the gulet, and enough free days to make the trip feel like yours — not someone else’s schedule.
Istanbul City & Bosphorus Tour
Istanbul is a city that reveals itself in layers, and this full-day tour is designed to move through them. You start at the Spice Bazaar, where saffron, Turkish delight, and dried figs have been traded since the 1660s. From there, you cross the Galata Bridge into Karaköy — a former Genoese trading port turned creative district — before boarding a private Bosphorus cruise past Ottoman waterfront mansions, Rumeli Fortress, and the suspension bridges that link Europe to Asia.
The afternoon climbs uphill to Galata Tower, where a panoramic view from the top puts everything you’ve seen into geographic context — the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the minarets of the Old City skyline. From the tower, you walk Istiklal Avenue — Istanbul’s grand pedestrian boulevard lined with 19th-century consulates, historic patisseries, and art nouveau facades — ending at Taksim Square, the symbolic heart of modern Istanbul.
This is the tour for travelers who want to see Istanbul from the water up. No mosques, no museums, no ancient ruins — just the strait, the streets, and the city as it lives today. Your guide meets you at your hotel lobby and shapes the route around the day. If you want to extend it, an optional Dolmabahçe Palace visit adds the opulent final chapter of the Ottoman Empire to the itinerary.