7 Days Cappadocia, Pamukkale, and Antalya Tour from Istanbul

Meal: Lunch

04:00 - Hotel pick-up in Istanbul and transfer you to one of the airports in Istanbul.

06:40 - Flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia. (Flight time may change.)

08:00 - Arrival at Kayseri or Nevsehir Airport. (Arrival airport and time may change according to availability.)

Transfer to the North Cappadocia tour area.

• Devrent Valley (Pink Valley): Walking into Devrent Valley without a guide is possible but less rewarding, because many formations are not self-evidently animal-shaped until someone points out the correct viewing angle. A guided visit turns a walk through interesting rocks into a genuinely playful experience.
• Pasabag Open Air Museum: Pasabag in winter looks entirely different from its summer appearance, with snow sitting on the basalt caps and the valley floor bare and quiet. Off-season travelers who visit Cappadocia in January or February often report Pasabag as one of the highlights of a very different kind of tour.
• Avanos Pottery Workshop: Avanos sits on the longest river in Turkey, and the Kizilirmak's red clay is the raw material that has defined the town's identity for millennia. You can see the river from the workshop area, which gives the craft its geographic context in a way that a museum display never could.
• Goreme Panoramic View: A low stone wall at the edge of Goreme Panoramic View serves as both safety barrier and camera rest, letting you stabilize your phone for sharper shots without a tripod. Your guide will point out the two or three specific compositions that work best from this spot.
• Zelve Open Air Museum: Social history is more present at Zelve than at any other Cappadocia museum site, because the twentieth-century occupation dates are recent enough to feel personal. Zelve's residents were alive during the 1952 relocation, and some of the people who grew up in these caves are still alive today.
• Uchisar Castle (exterior view): Uchisar Castle is one of the few Cappadocia landmarks that is genuinely impressive at any time of day, in any weather, and from any angle. Most sights benefit from specific conditions; Uchisar's sheer scale and carved complexity mean it delivers at nine in the morning, at noon, and in the long shadows of late afternoon.

17:00 - The North Cappadocia tour ends.

Transfer to your hotel in Cappadocia.

Overnight stay in Cappadocia

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

09:30 - Breakfast, hotel check-out, and departure for the South Cappadocia tour.

• Red Valley: Unlike some of Cappadocia's more commercialized viewpoints, Red Valley retains a raw and natural quality that makes it feel genuinely off the beaten path. Visitor numbers are lower here than at Goreme Open Air Museum, which means the valley is quieter and easier to experience at your own pace.
• Rose Valley (Gulludere Valley): Rose Valley's connection to Cavusin village at its northern end means the walk can finish with a visit to Cappadocia's oldest cliff settlement just minutes from the trail exit. Combining Gulludere Valley with old Cavusin creates a natural half-day route that covers both natural scenery and deep cultural heritage without any backtracking.
• Cavusin Village: Cavusin is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Cappadocia, with Greek-speaking Christian communities carving homes and churches into its cliff face from at least the 5th century onward. A population exchange between Greece and Turkey in the 1920s ended centuries of habitation in the upper cliff dwellings, leaving the carved facades intact but empty.
• Pigeon Valley: Its canyon was formed by the same erosion processes that shaped Cappadocia's fairy chimneys, with a seasonal stream cutting downward through soft volcanic tuff over thousands of years. The valley walls reveal clear horizontal layers of different rock types, each deposited in a separate volcanic event and eroding at a different rate.
• Underground City: Ancient oil lamp niches are carved into the walls at regular intervals throughout Cappadocia's underground city, positioned to illuminate key intersections and passageways within the tunnel network. Blackening from lamp soot is still visible on the carved ceilings of some lower chambers, the oldest physical evidence of light sources used by the city's original inhabitants.

17:00 - The South Cappadocia tour ends and transfer to Cappadocia Bus Station.

You will have an overnight intercity bus trip to Pamukkale, which takes about 10 hours with some breaks on the way.

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

05:30 - Arrival at Pamukkale Bus Station.

Transfer you to our freshening-up room for a short rest and breakfast. Please take your luggage with you.

09:30 - Start of the Pamukkale day tour after taking some rest and breakfast.

• Pamukkale: It translates as 'Cotton Castle,' a name given by people who saw this white hillside long before there were cameras to capture it. Calcium-rich thermal springs have been shaping the travertine terraces here since ancient times. Today it stands as one of Turkey's most recognizable UNESCO World Heritage Sites, located in the inland province of Denizli.
• White Calcium Terraces: Warm, white, and genuinely unique, the calcium terraces at Pamukkale sit in a category of their own among Turkey's natural attractions. Thermal water rich in dissolved minerals has been flowing here since antiquity, depositing calcium carbonate that slowly builds up the broad travertine ledges and shallow pools. Removing your shoes at the entrance is not just a rule; it is the moment the experience actually begins.
• Hierapolis Ancient City: Founded in the 2nd century BC, Hierapolis grew into one of the wealthiest spa cities in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Its location directly above Pamukkale's thermal springs made it an obvious destination for emperors, merchants, and pilgrims seeking healing waters. Today the ruins stretch across a wide hilltop plateau, offering one of the most complete ancient cityscapes in Turkey.
• Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool: Few swimming pools anywhere have a floor covered in genuine Roman archaeological fragments, but Cleopatra Antique Thermal Pool does. An earthquake toppled the columns of an ancient structure directly into the pool, and they remain exactly where they landed, now submerged under warm 36-degree mineral water. Entry is not included in the tour price, it is an optional extra paid at the pool entrance on the day of your visit.

16:00 - The Pamukkale tour ends.

Transfer to your hotel and check into your room.

Overnight stay in Pamukkale

Meal: Breakfast

11:00 - Our driver will come to your hotel in Pamukkale.

Transfer to Pamukkale Bus Station.

12:00 - Intercity bus to Antalya. The journey includes scheduled rest stops. (Bus time may change.)

15:30 - Meet our team at Antalya Bus Station. (Arrival time may change.)

Transfer to your hotel in Antalya.

Overnight stay in Antalya

Meal: Breakfast & Lunch

08:30 - Departure for the Antalya day tour after breakfast.

• Perge Ancient City: A Greek city that grew rich under Rome, it still shows its Hellenistic gate with two round towers, a long colonnaded street with a water channel down the middle, Roman baths and a stadium. Saint Paul preached here on his first missionary journey.
• Aspendos Theater: Built in the second century AD, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, it is the best-preserved Roman theatre of the ancient world, with its stage building still standing to its full height. Its acoustics carry a voice from the stage to the top rows, and it still hosts performances today.
• Side Ancient City: The ruins run right into today's town on a small peninsula: the columns of the Temple of Apollo stand on the shore, and a large Roman theatre, the colonnaded street and the agora sit among the houses and shops.
• Free Time in Side: Time to walk the harbour and the lanes of the old town, have a coffee by the sea or sit by the Temple of Apollo at your own pace.
• Manavgat Waterfall: The Manavgat River drops here over a wide, low ledge rather than from a great height, so the falls are broad and full of spray, with shady tea gardens along the banks: a cool, easy stop after the morning's ruins.

17:30 - The Antalya tour ends.

Transfer back to your hotel in Antalya.

Overnight stay in Antalya

Meal: Breakfast

Today is free. Antalya is the biggest summer holiday centre in Turkey, so there are a lot of things to do and explore!

Overnight stay in Antalya

Meal: Breakfast

11:00 - Hotel check-out and transfer to Antalya Airport according to your flight time.

14:00 - Flight from Antalya to Istanbul. (Flight time may change.)

15:20 - Arrival at Istanbul Airport. (Arrival airport and time may change according to availability.)

Your tour ends here. If you need a transfer to your hotel, we can arrange it for an additional fee.