From Cappadocia to the Aegean 5 Days

We fly from Istanbul to Kayseri in just over an hour and cross the plain to Göreme, about seventy minutes by road with Mount Erciyes behind us. On arrival at the hotel we hand you your travel documents and the assistance phone number, and go through the plan for the coming days with you. The rest of the afternoon is free: if you arrive in daylight, any terrace in the village is perfect for a first look at the valley. Dinner at the hotel. Accommodation at a hotel of the planned category.

We start at the Göreme Open-Air Museum as soon as it opens, before the coaches arrive: these are the rock-cut churches with 10th- to 13th-century Byzantine frescoes that made the region famous. We continue to the viewpoint at Uçhisar Castle, the highest point in Cappadocia, where you can see at a glance how volcanic ash and wind carved this landscape. After lunch we cross to Avanos, on the banks of the Kızılırmak River, to see a pottery workshop that works the red clay as in Hittite times. If you want to fly in a balloon, tomorrow at sunrise is your chance: it is booked separately. Dinner at the hotel. Accommodation at a hotel of the planned category.

This is the long day of the trip, and we'll tell you straight: 650 kilometres to the Aegean, about eight hours on the road including stops. Mid-morning we stop at a 13th-century Seljuk caravanserai, one of the Silk Road staging posts that dotted the plateau a day's caravan journey apart. We reach Pamukkale in the late afternoon, which is the best time: we explore Hierapolis — its Roman theatre and the largest necropolis in Anatolia, with more than twelve hundred tombs — and walk barefoot down the white travertine terraces in the last light, when the stone turns golden. Dinner at the hotel. Accommodation at a hotel of the planned category.

We leave early for Selçuk, about three hours along the Aegean motorway. We first go up to the House of the Virgin Mary, high on Mount Bülbül, while it is still quiet, and then head to Ephesus through the upper gate to explore the city downhill: Curetes Street, the Temple of Hadrian, the Library of Celsus — 2nd century, the most photographed façade in Türkiye — and the Great Theatre, with seating for 25,000 spectators, where St Paul preached. In the afternoon we continue to Izmir, another hour's drive, and if there is still light we take a stroll along the Kordon, its seafront promenade. Dinner at the hotel. Accommodation at a hotel of the planned category.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast and, depending on your flight time, we take you to Izmir (Adnan Menderes) Airport for the flight back to Istanbul, just an hour's journey that connects with the afternoon international flights. Assistance up to the check-in desk and farewell. End of our services.