The Bosphorus at eight. A balloon basket at five. Turkey runs on early starts.
Which Bosphorus boat turns at the second bridge and which one keeps going. What a sunrise flight over Goreme actually costs. Whether Ephesus fits between docking and the all-aboard. Reviews of every tour you can book in Turkey.
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5The Bosphorus, the gulet fleet, and a hundred coves with no road to them.
Ferries cross between Europe and Asia for the price of a coffee. Wooden gulets run out of Fethiye and Bodrum by the day. The pirate boats along the Antalya coast anchor over water you can see the bottom of. Three kinds of deck, three prices.
Istanbul first, Cappadocia second, then whichever coast your flight lands nearest.
A city on two continents, a valley carved out of soft rock, three resort coasts and the classical sites the cruise ships call for. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
Istanbul: the walled city before ten, the water after four.
Everything in Istanbul →
Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Topkapi stand inside one walled square kilometre, and the queues form by mid-morning. Do those early, then get on a boat. The Bosphorus is where the city finally explains itself.
One combined morning, or a mosque at a time
A single guided run takes in Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome before lunch. Right call on a two-day stop. On a five-day stay, buy the entries separately and go slower.
Which boat, and how far up the strait
The short sightseeing loop passes the palaces and turns at the second bridge. The long ones carry on toward the Black Sea mouth and stop for lunch. Sunset sailings cost more and earn it.
A hamam in a four-hundred-year-old room
Cagaloglu and Gedikpasa still run the way they always did: a hot marble slab, a kese mitt that removes more than you expect, then a cold room where nobody hurries you out.
The days out Turkey books more than any other.
Every tour in Turkey →Turkey’s busiest bookings, in order. A ferry loop up the strait sits next to a balloon basket at dawn, and both have earned the traffic.
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Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private Table
Cruise Istanbul’s Bosphorus aboard a mega yacht with dinner, Turkish shows, palace views, private tables, and optional hotel pickup.
From · $34
Read our review →
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Daytime or Sunset Sightseeing Cruise & Audio Guide
from $8
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Bosphorus Dinner Cruise with Turkish Night Show
from $34
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Best of Istanbul 1, 2 or 3-Day Private Guided Istanbul Tour
from $100
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FOR CRUISERS: Skip The Lines PRIVATE EPHESUS TOUR &On Time Return
from $39
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Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Ride / Royal Balloon
from $133
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Hagia Sophia Skip-the-Line Ticket & Museum Option
from $33
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Goreme Hot Air Balloon Flight at Sunrise
from $142
Cappadocia: the balloons lift at first light, or they do not lift.
On a calm morning a couple of hundred envelopes go up over Goreme together and the whole valley turns orange underneath them. Flights are capped by the aviation authority and grounded outright for wind, so a Cappadocia trip gets planned around the weather rather than the other way round.
From Fethiye to Alanya the road never leaves the water for long.
Oludeniz has the lagoon and the paraglider launch on the ridge above it. Kas has a city sunk in the shallows off Kekova. Sapadere has a gorge that keeps its cold water all summer. The coast changes character every hour of driving, and almost every version of it is a boat day.
The whole Turquoise Coast →
Ephesus, Hierapolis, and a cistern under the Sultanahmet traffic.
More classical city stands in Turkey than anywhere on the other side of the Aegean, and most of it is a day trip. Ephesus from the berth at Kusadasi, the white terraces above Pamukkale, and the columns holding up a road you were walking on ten minutes earlier.
What a day out in Turkey actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good number of the best Turkish days come in under the price of the taxi from the airport.
Bosphorus boats, hamam sessions, old-city walks and the canyon jeep days along the coast.
The full-day standards: Ephesus and Pamukkale by minibus, gulet days, most balloon seats.
Private guides, chartered yachts, the premium balloon baskets and the multi-day runs.
Three things that only happen in Turkey.
Ruins and beach clubs run right round the Mediterranean. A scrub on hot marble, men turning for forty minutes without stopping, and two hundred balloons over a valley of carved rock do not.
The Hamam
The order of things has not changed in centuries: a hot room, a marble slab warmed from underneath, a tellak working over you with a kese mitt until you stop recognising your own forearms, then foam, then a cold room and a glass of tea. Cagaloglu in Istanbul has been doing it since 1741. Bring nothing. Everything is handed to you at the door.
- 1Private Turkish Bath, Massage, and Spa in Old City★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,225 reviews
- 2Private Turkish Bath, Sauna, and Massage★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,306 reviews
- 3Istanbul Gedikpasa Historical Turkish Bath with Privacy Option★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,285 reviews
The Sema Ceremony
The turning is a prayer rather than a performance. The right palm stays up to receive and the left turns down to pass it on, the ney carries the music, and the whole thing runs about an hour without applause. Konya is where Rumi is buried and where the order began; in Istanbul it is usually seen in a restored bathhouse hall at Hodjapasha.
- 1Hodjapasha Whirling Dervishes Show & Exhibition★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 4,790 reviews
- 2Whirling Dervishes Ceremony and Mevlevi Sema★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 1,694 reviews
- 3Whirling Dervish Ceremony next to Hagia Sophia★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 906 reviews
The Balloon Fleet
Take-off is before sunrise because the air over the valleys is only reliably still for an hour after it. The aviation authority caps how many balloons fly each morning and grounds the lot when the wind gets up, which happens often enough that experienced visitors book the flight for their first morning and keep the second as a spare.
- 1Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Ride / Royal Balloon★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,829 reviews
- 2Goreme Hot Air Balloon Flight at Sunrise★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,924 reviews
- 3Cappadocia Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Flight / Discovery Balloons★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,882 reviews
Four Turkish bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast on the day. These four run on a daily cap, a ship’s departure time, a timed entry slot or a weather window, and none of them take any interest in when you arrive.
- 01Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Ride / Royal BalloonOnly so many balloons are cleared to fly each morning, and the whole fleet is grounded for wind. Book your first morning so a cancellation still leaves you a spare day.
- 02Ephesus: Small Group Tour for Cruise PassengersA cruise call gives you one shot at Ephesus between docking and the all-aboard. The tours built around the ship’s timetable go first.
- 03Hagia Sophia Skip-the-Line Ticket & Museum OptionEntry runs on timed slots and the queue across Sultanahmet forms before the doors open. The early slots are the cool ones and they go first.
- 04Hodjapasha Whirling Dervishes Show & ExhibitionThe ceremony runs on set evenings in a small hall. There is no standing room at the back and no second showing.
The morning the balloons stay on the ground in Goreme.
Cappadocia grounds its fleet more often than the photographs suggest, and the same weather takes the boat days off the coast. Both have one answer: go under the rock instead. Churches cut into cliffs, an underground city eight levels deep, a canyon that holds its cold all summer.
By place — city, valley and coast
By kind of day — deck, ruin, hamam or dirt track
Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus, Pamukkale, the coast: the loop almost everybody does first.
PamukkaleThe newest Turkish tour reviews.
Older Turkish reviews, still worth a look →
Istanbul Imperial & Bosphorus Tour – Incl. Lunch
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Istanbul to Cappadocia 2 Day Tour with Guide, Flights and Hotels
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A Magical Evening in Istanbul: Private City Tour
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Pamukkale Small Group Guided Tour from Antalya incl. Lunch
Read our review →
2-Days Private Tour to Gobeklitepe and Karahantepe from Istanbul
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Traditional Turkish Bath, Sauna, Peeling & Massage
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Private 7-Hour Istanbul Tour with Red Carpet Treatment
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Kusadasi Boat Trip With Lunch And Hotel Transfer
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3-Hour Private Sunset Boat Tour With Dinner in Bodrum
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