10 Days Turkey Discovery Tour from Izmir

On arrival at Izmir Airport, our staff welcomes you with your name sign.

Transfer to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk and settle in for a lighter first day on the Aegean side of the country.

This opening day is intentionally easy so the long route starts without pressure and gives you time to reset after your arrival.

Overnight stay in Kusadasi/Selcuk

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

08:30 - After breakfast, transfer from your hotel to the Ephesus tour area.

• Ephesus Ancient City: Curetes Street is the main artery of Ephesus, lined on both sides with columns, statues, and ornamental fountains that once greeted Roman citizens and merchants alike. At the far end stands the Library of Celsus, one of the most photographed ancient buildings in the world, its restored facade remarkably intact. Walking this street with a guide means understanding not just what you see, but who built it and why.
• House of Virgin Mary: Located on Bulbul Mountain in the hills above Selcuk, the House of Virgin Mary is accessible by road and represents a very different kind of stop from the archaeological excavations at Ephesus. Where the ancient city overwhelms with scale, this site works through intimacy. A small stone chapel, a handful of candles, a quiet courtyard, it asks for stillness rather than attention.
• Temple of Artemis: Among all the stops on an Ephesus day tour, the Temple of Artemis may be the one that most rewards intellectual engagement over visual spectacle. There is not much to look at, one column, a shallow marshy field, some storks. But the story of what stood here, why it was built, and how it was lost carries enough historical weight to fill an entire afternoon of conversation. A guide who loves this site makes all the difference.

16:00 - Transfer back to your hotel in Kusadasi/Selcuk after the tour.

Overnight stay in Kusadasi/Selcuk

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

08:00 - After breakfast and hotel departure, travel inland toward Pamukkale.

• Pamukkale: Arriving at Pamukkale, most people stop walking the moment they see the hillside. Sheets of pure white travertine reflect the sunlight so sharply they almost look like snow in summer. This UNESCO World Heritage Site in Denizli province is one of those rare places that genuinely exceeds the photographs.
• White Calcium Terraces: Pamukkale's white calcium terraces do not look the same throughout the day. Early morning light turns the travertine pale gold; midday sun bleaches it to almost pure white; late afternoon brings warm shadows that reveal the texture of each mineral layer. Visiting at golden hour means the pools reflect the sky, turning the whole hillside into a landscape of blue and white.
• Hierapolis Ancient City: Hierapolis did not decline the way most ancient cities did, it was largely abandoned after a series of devastating earthquakes. Those same earthquakes toppled columns and tilted walls into poses that photographers love, and the dry hilltop climate preserved much of what fell. Today the Greco-Roman ruins cover an enormous area above Pamukkale's thermal terraces, with a dedicated on-site museum holding the finest artifacts recovered during excavations.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: Submerged Roman columns lie scattered across the floor of Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool, toppled by an ancient earthquake and left exactly where they fell. Warm mineral water at 36 degrees Celsius fills the pool year-round, surrounding the column drums and marble fragments with a natural bath that has been in use since antiquity. Swimming among genuine Roman ruins is an unusual experience, entry is not included in the tour price and must be paid on-site.

16:00 - Return drive to Kusadasi/Selcuk after the Pamukkale visit ends.

Overnight stay in Kusadasi/Selcuk

Meal: Breakfast

Transfer from your hotel to Izmir Airport. (Pickup time and airport may change.)

Flight from Izmir via Istanbul to Cappadocia. (Flight time may change.)

On some dates, there may be no direct flight between Izmir and Cappadocia, so a connecting flight may be used.

Arrival at Kayseri or Nevsehir Airport and meet our local team. (Arrival airport and time may change according to availability.)

Transfer to your hotel in Cappadocia and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

This free arrival window works well for optional sunset viewpoints or a slower evening before the sightseeing days begin.

Overnight stay in Cappadocia

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

09:30 - After breakfast, transfer to the north Cappadocia tour area.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley): Devrent Valley formed when layers of compressed volcanic ash from Mount Erciyes and Hasan eroded at different rates, leaving behind columns of harder rock surrounded by softer soil. Over millions of years, those columns took on shapes that human imagination has always found irresistible.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum: Children visiting Pasabag are typically most engaged at this stop, because the scale of the fairy chimneys and the idea of people actually living inside them fires the imagination immediately. Guides often explain monk life through simple comparisons that resonate with younger visitors.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop: Every Avanos pottery demonstration includes an explanation of clay preparation, covering the mixing, kneading, and aging that happen before any throwing begins. That preparation takes days, and understanding it changes how you perceive the finished piece sitting on the showroom shelf.
• Goreme Panoramic View: From Goreme Panoramic View, the entire fairy chimney valley spreads below in a single wide frame, with Uchisar Castle visible on the horizon and hundreds of rock formations filling the middle distance. No other point on the Red Tour route delivers this kind of spatial overview.
• Zelve Open Air Museum: Inside Zelve's cave rooms, the volcanic tuff walls maintain a cool temperature even on the hottest summer days, which explains why cave living made practical sense for communities in Cappadocia's climate. That temperature difference is immediately noticeable when you step from sunlit path to carved interior.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view): Pigeon houses are among the most visible features of Uchisar Castle's exterior, carved into the rock face in large numbers at varying heights. Pigeons were economically important in Cappadocia for centuries, providing fertilizer for the volcanic soil's poor agricultural land, and Uchisar's density of pigeon houses reflects that importance.

17:00 - Transfer back to your hotel after the north Cappadocia route.

Overnight stay in Cappadocia

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

09:30 - After breakfast and check-out, transfer to the south Cappadocia route.

• Red Valley: Red Valley sits close to the village of Cavusin and is best visited in combination with neighboring Rose Valley, which shares the same trail network. Together, the two valleys form one of Cappadocia's most rewarding walking routes, delivering continuous scenery without retracing the same path.
• Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley): Silence inside Rose Valley's rock chapels is striking, especially on quiet mornings when no other visitors are present and wind moves across carved window openings. Standing alone in a carved church interior, surrounded by faded frescoes and worn stone floors, produces a sense of historical depth that photographs rarely capture.
• Cavusin Village: Cavusin's combination of early church architecture, abandoned cliff homes, and active modern village makes it one of the most temporally layered stops on any Cappadocia itinerary. Within a single 20-minute visit, you can see Byzantine carving from the 5th century, Ottoman-era stone construction from the 19th century, and contemporary village life side by side.
• Pigeon Valley: Pigeon Valley takes its name from the thousands of carved pigeon houses cut into its cliff walls by local farmers who relied on bird droppings as fertilizer for their vineyards and orchards. The tradition of keeping pigeons in carved cliff houses continues in Cappadocia today, maintaining an agricultural practice that has persisted in this valley for well over a thousand years.
• Underground City: Cool air inside Cappadocia's underground city maintains a near-constant temperature throughout the year, which served the practical purpose of preserving food stores during long underground stays. Carved storage areas near the lower levels show channels cut to allow liquid runoff, evidence of careful planning around the challenges of preserving perishables underground.

Transfer to the airport after the tour. (Pickup time and airport may change.)

20:40 - Flight to Istanbul. (Flight time may change.)

22:20 - Arrival in Istanbul and meet our airport team. (Arrival airport and time may change according to availability.)

Transfer to your Istanbul hotel.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast

Today is open for independent time in Istanbul, which is useful after the flights and regional transfers of the previous days.

You can use the day for neighborhood walks, local food, shopping, or a slower pace before the city sightseeing program resumes.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

08:30 - After breakfast, transfer to the old city area to begin the Istanbul highlights route.

• Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque Area: Standing opposite each other across Sultanahmet Square, these two buildings together represent the shift from Byzantine Christian to Ottoman Muslim architecture in one walkable space. Hagia Sophia's dome, engineered in 537 AD, was the largest in the world for nearly a thousand years, while the Blue Mosque's six minarets were a deliberate statement of imperial ambition.
• Hippodrome: The Hippodrome once seated more than one hundred thousand spectators and was the center of Byzantine public life for over a thousand years. Three ancient monuments remain in place, an Egyptian obelisk, a Greek serpent column from Delphi, and a column of Constantine, each with its own story about how Constantinople gathered the ancient world into one city.
• Free Time Between City Tour and Cruise: The first part of the program usually ends around 12:30 pm, followed by approximately 90 minutes of free time before the Bosphorus cruise pick-up.
• Bosphorus Cruise: The Bosphorus cruise pick-up is usually around 14:00, and lunch is served on the boat. The cruise puts Istanbul's geography into immediate perspective, showing the European and Asian shorelines simultaneously with palaces, mosques, fortresses, and waterfront neighborhoods unfolding at a pace that no land-based route can match. For travelers ending their Turkey tour here, this is the clearest way to understand why Istanbul has commanded the crossroads between Europe and Asia for over two thousand years.

17:00 - Transfer back to your hotel after the city program.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast

This second free day gives the tour a better long-trip rhythm and allows time for shopping, museum visits, or simply slowing down in Istanbul.

Many travelers use it to revisit neighborhoods they only briefly saw on the guided day or to enjoy a more personal closing experience in the city.

Overnight stay in Istanbul

Meal: Breakfast

According to your outbound flight schedule, our driver comes to your hotel for the airport transfer. (Pickup time and airport may change.)

Your 10-day Turkey discovery tour from Izmir ends with your transfer to an airport in Istanbul.