Istanbul War sites Trips

Excellent 14 day tour of Turkey from Istanbul through Ankara and Cappadocia then onto Antalya and Kaş before moving onto Pammuckale, Selcuk and Cannakale. The tour guide was knowledgeable and you could tell his love for Turkey. He was inclusive in activities. The only thing was that he set a fast pace when walking and didn’t really stop or slow during these walks until he got to where he wanted to be to talk about an item or historical event. I’ve not encountered this on any other tour I’ve been on. You could quite easily get left behind and he wouldn’t know where you were. Besides that this jam packed tour was great, although I’m sure you’ve already been told before that more than one night in Antalya would be better considering you don’t arrive there till the evening on this tour

Great trip if you want a fast paced view of what Turkey has to offer. You'll see the main cultural and historical sites, lots of interesting geography, get to swim in the sea and be looked after by a knowledgeable guide.

The itinerary was excellent - for me! But it should be clearer that it involves a lot of walking. Infirm travellers were disadvantaged (which also slowed us some). Our tour director was very knowledgeable and was able to make the sites we visited come alive for us.

Pretty strenuous schedule for older folks. Excellent choices of stops and topics of interest. Nice accommodations, comfortable coach, good driver and excellent tour director. Side excursions were interesting. Overall a fun and educating experience.

Nice trip but found all the time was spent on the bus or visiting ruins…No time to explore towns or villages…I love ruins but in the end did not want to see another one… About explore….this was my first time travelling with them, was quoted a price for an extra night in the start hotel and was given a price twice I payed directly with hotel, same with transfers, was quoted £130 for a one way airport hotel, that could be booked for £35 on booking.com…Just wondering now if the tour was overpriced….

'Turkey in Depth' was exactly as billed - a fast-paced tour that takes in many of the must-see sights in western Turkey. It is full on, with early starts and long road journeys, but absolutely worth it. The success of the tour was down to our tour leader, Zafer, who looked after us at every stage, was mindful of the health issues some of us had and did his best to accommodate the different interests and dietary preferences within the group. We tested his patience at times, but he has a good sense of humour and ensured everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable time. His English is reasonably fluent, albeit accented, and he took care to repeat important information about the arrangements for the tour. When we were on the road, it would have been helpful (and safer) if there had been a microphone on the minibus to avoid Zafer having to get out of his seat as the vehicle was moving to talk to the group. As an archaeologist, with a PhD on Greek and Roman sarcophagi, Zafer is very knowledgeable about all aspects of Turkey's past and was an excellent guide to the many historical sites we visited. He gave us the historical and cultural background of each place and pointed out fascinating details relating to the architecture and artefacts, which added immensely to our understanding and appreciation of the things we saw. Our driver, Sami, was doing the tour for the first time, but coped really well with the long hours he spent behind the wheel. He has little English, but was always helpful and cheerful. He is a good driver and we felt completely safe in his hands. All the hotels we stayed in were of an acceptable standard - some had bigger rooms or better showers than others, some had some minor deficiencies, but nothing serious. We particularly liked the Kekova Hotel in Kas, which is a simple, homely hotel in a good location. One of the attractions of Turkey is its food and we had an opportunity to sample everything from street food to more up-market cuisine. In some locations, particularly in Anatolia, there were limited options for non-meat eaters, but there was plenty of fish available on the coast. The most memorable dinner we had was in Avanos, near Goreme, where we had testi kebabs - meat (trout in my case) cooked in sealed clay pots, served flaming at the table. Occasionally, the eateries were less than satisfactory - in Karahayit, near Pamukkale, for example, and on the road between Goreme from Ankara - but these were the exceptions. It is impossible to pick out a single highlight of the tour, there were so many - ranging from the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara to our balloon flight over the astonishing landscape of Cappadocia, from the terraced houses of Ephesus to the turtles and rock tombs on the Dalyan River, and from the ruins of Aphrodisias and Troy to the travertine slopes of Pamukkale. If you want to see as much as possible of Turkey in two weeks, we can strongly recommend 'Turkey in Depth'.