Treasures of Ancient Turkey Tour - 14 Days

Overview

Our Treasures of Ancient Turkey tour is the definitive journey through humanity’s deepest roots. Over 14 extraordinary days, you travel from the cosmopolitan magnificence of Istanbul to the red earth of Sanliurfa — standing at Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, the oldest temples ever found, built 12,000 years before anyone reading this was born.

This is not a bus tour. It is a guided immersion into 12,000 years of human civilization, with a guide who has been watching this story unfold since before it was a story.

Itinerary

Day 1 — ISTANBUL

Arrival at Istanbul International Airport. Private transfer to your 5-star hotel in the historic Sultanahmet district.

Istanbul is the only city in the world spanning two continents. It has been the capital of three empires — Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman — for over 1,600 years combined. Its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Accommodation: 5-Star Holiday Inn, Istanbul

Day 2 — ISTANBUL

Full day exploring Istanbul’s most iconic landmarks: Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the ancient Hippodrome, and the Grand Bazaar.

Topkapi Palace housed Ottoman sultans for 400 years. Hagia Sophia is a 1,500-year-old architectural masterpiece that has served as a Byzantine cathedral, an Ottoman mosque, and a museum. The Blue Mosque’s interior is lined with 20,000 handmade Iznik tiles. The Grand Bazaar is one of the world’s oldest covered markets, with over 4,000 shops.

Distance: 5 km | Meals: Breakfast | Accommodation: 5-Star Holiday Inn, Istanbul

Day 3 — GALLIPOLI — DARDANELLES — CANAKKALE

Morning visit to Istanbul’s Spice Market and Rustem Pasha Mosque. Drive to the Gallipoli Peninsula: ANZAC Cove, Chunuk Bair, Lone Pine Cemetery. Cross the Dardanelles to Canakkale.

Gallipoli is where over 100,000 soldiers from multiple nations died in the 1915 campaign — now a place of pilgrimage, particularly for Australians and New Zealanders. The Dardanelles Strait has been strategically vital since antiquity, linking the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

Distance: 320 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 4-Star Iris Hotel, Canakkale

Day 4 — TROY — PERGAMON — KUSADASI

Visit the legendary city of Troy — nine layers of settlement spanning 4,000 years. Drive to Pergamon to explore the Asklepion, the ancient world’s most sophisticated medical center.

Troy was considered mythological until Heinrich Schliemann began excavating in 1871. The site contains nine distinct cities built on top of each other from 3000 BC to 500 AD. At Pergamon, the physician Galen developed medical practices still foundational to modern medicine. The famous 200,000-volume Pergamon Library was second only to Alexandria.

Distance: 390 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 5-Star Elite World, Kusadasi

Day 5 — EPHESUS — KUSADASI

Visit the House of the Virgin Mary. Full exploration of ancient Ephesus: the Great Theatre (25,000 seats), Marble Road, Library of Celsus, Temple of Artemis site, and the Basilica of St. John.

Ephesus was the second-largest city in the Roman Empire, with a population of 250,000. The Library of Celsus held 12,000 scrolls. The Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Basilica of St. John was built over the apostle’s tomb by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century.

Distance: 30 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 5-Star Elite World, Kusadasi

Day 6 — APHRODISIAS — LAODICEA — PAMUKKALE

Explore Aphrodisias (one of the Roman world’s greatest sculpture centers, with a 30,000-seat stadium). Visit Laodicea, one of the Seven Churches of the Book of Revelation. Arrive at Pamukkale — white calcium travertine terraces and the ancient spa city of Hierapolis.

Aphrodisias’ stadium is among the best-preserved in the ancient world. Laodicea was a wealthy Roman banking city. Pamukkale (meaning “Cotton Castle”) has attracted visitors to its mineral-rich thermal pools for 2,000 years. Hierapolis’ necropolis contains more than 1,200 remarkably preserved tombs.

Distance: 280 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 5-Star Hierapark Hotel, Pamukkale

Day 7 — CATALHOYUK — KONYA

Visit Catalhoyuk, the world’s oldest town — a Neolithic settlement continuously occupied from 7400 to 6200 BC. Continue to Konya for the Whirling Dervish Museum (Mevlana) and the stunning 13th-century Karatay Madrasa.

Catalhoyuk’s densely packed mud-brick houses (entered through roof hatches, not doors) housed a community with sophisticated art, religion, and trade networks 9,000 years ago. Its discovery permanently rewrote the timeline of urban human settlement. Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet whose work is still read in over 20 languages, lived and died in Konya.

Distance: 390 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 5-Star Bayir Diamond Hotel, Konya

Day 8 — CAPPADOCIA

Enter the extraordinary landscape of Cappadocia. Visit Kaymakli Underground City, Uchisar Rock Castle, and the historic Greek-Ottoman village of Sinasos.

Cappadocia’s underground cities were carved by early Christians hiding from Roman persecution — Kaymakli alone could shelter 5,000 people and their livestock across eight underground levels.

Distance: 240 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: Cave Hotel, Cappadocia

Day 9 — CAPPADOCIA

Optional sunrise hot air balloon flight. Full day exploring Goreme Open Air Museum (30+ rock-cut Byzantine churches), Pasabag (Monks Valley), Zelve Open Air Museum, and Avanos pottery workshops.

Goreme’s churches date from the 10th to 12th centuries and contain vibrant frescoes that survived the Byzantine Iconoclasm. Pasabag’s distinctive “fairy chimney” pillars are capped with harder volcanic rock that resists erosion differently than the softer tuff beneath. Avanos has been a center of pottery since Hittite times, using red clay from the Kizilirmak River.

Distance: 40 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: Cave Hotel, Cappadocia

Day 10 — GAZIANTEP

Visit the world-class Zeugma Mosaic Museum — spectacular Roman mosaics rescued before dam flooding, including the iconic “Gypsy Girl.” Explore the Roman castle, ancient bazaars, and spice merchants.

Gaziantep has been continuously inhabited since 3650 BC. The Zeugma Mosaic Museum houses some of the finest Roman mosaics ever found — rescued during a race against rising dam waters in the 1990s. The haunting “Gypsy Girl” mosaic has become one of Turkey’s most recognized cultural images. Gaziantep is also Turkey’s undisputed capital of pistachio baklava.

Distance: 280 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 5-Star Sirehan Hotel, Gaziantep

Day 11 — MOUNT NEMRUT — ADIYAMAN

Explore Mount Nemrut at 2,134 metres: the 1st-century BC funerary sanctuary of King Antiochus I with its giant broken stone heads. Visit the Roman bridge of Cendere (built 200 AD, still standing) and the open-air sanctuary of Arsameia.

Mount Nemrut is one of antiquity’s most extraordinary monuments. King Antiochus I built this mountain-top tomb and placed 9-metre-tall statues of gods around it — his ultimate act of self-deification. Earthquakes toppled the heads from their bodies, and they now rest on the mountainside in profound, haunting silence. The Cendere Bridge has carried traffic continuously for over 1,800 years.

Distance: 480 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 5-Star Elruha Hotel, Sanliurfa

Day 12 — GOBEKLI TEPE — KARAHAN TEPE — HARRAN — SANLIURFA

The most significant day of the tour — and arguably one of the most significant days you will spend anywhere on earth.

Visit Gobekli Tepe (9600-8200 BC): the world’s oldest temple complex, built 7,000 years before Stonehenge and 6,000 years before writing was invented. Walk among the T-shaped pillars carved with animal reliefs by people who were, by previous academic consensus, incapable of such organized effort. Fazli has been guiding here since 2005 — before the road existed.

Visit Karahan Tepe (currently under active excavation): a nearby sister site that is currently rewriting what Gobekli Tepe already rewrote. Three-dimensional human faces push through stone walls. Only 5% of the site has been excavated. You are standing at the edge of what is currently known.

Continue to Harran — beehive-shaped mud houses, mentioned in the Book of Genesis, where Abraham is said to have lived. Then Sanliurfa (ancient Edessa) — the city of prophets, with its sacred carp pools.

“Standing at Göbekli Tepe, you realise that organised religion, monumental architecture, and long-distance community cooperation existed before agriculture. That is not a minor revision. That is a complete rewriting of what we thought we knew about history of ourselves.”

Distance: 280 km | Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Accommodation: 5-Star Elruha Hotel, Sanliurfa

Day 13 — SANLIURFA TO ISTANBUL

Transfer to Sanliurfa Airport. Domestic flight to Istanbul. Free afternoon to explore or shop in Istanbul.

Meals: Breakfast | Accommodation: 5-Star Holiday Inn, Istanbul

Day 14 — ISTANBUL — DEPARTURE

Private transfer to Istanbul International Airport.

Meals: Breakfast