Turkey Tours in January 2026

I am typically stressed when I go on vacation because of all the planning I did to prepare for it. Thankfully this time around I booked through CharlieTheTraveler. My trip to Turkey was all planned for me and offered me a chance to fully relax.

In depth exploration of Turkey from BCE to now. I now have a greater appreciation of its position within history and its influence globally. Would certainly recommend G Adventures as an introduction to this fascinating country

I knew very little of Turkey so really enjoyed learning of the history and culture. Lovely people. Wide variety of landscape and weather. Our guide enjoyed having us along for the ride

At Izmir we met Sait. What a phenomenal memory that man has. I think if we said page 83 he could tell us exactly what was there. We had a great time with him…I think if I were to live anywhere in Eastern Europe, it would be Cappadocia. The fairy chimneys were phenomenal. Our guides told us of playing hide and seek in them when they were growing up. I can see myself doing the same. Staying in a cave was a new experience. We woke up our second morning to 11 inches of new snow…Tugba was our guide the first day…She was great and turned out to be our savior. Her husband Aras finished as our guide. As Tugba was the same size as us she loaned us long underwear, jackets and shirts to survive the balloon ride and tours. We saw everything on the agenda…The balloon ride was spectacular with the snow highlighting the fairy chimneys. It turned out Aras and I have a love of carpets. He took us to his home and gave us a private showing of his collection. Any spare time was spent discussing techniques, history and design of carpets. Istanbul was unexpected. I somehow had in my mind a picture of Arabian Nights. It is a large thriving Metropolitan City. I adore our guide Ayse and we are staying in communication and hopefully meeting in Italy in April…We saw everything possible in Istanbul with a good history to go with it. We saw everything on your schedule…Our guides took us to little hole-in-the-wall restaurants with marvelous food. We ate way too much, but we had to try everything. I will definitely be recommending Charlie The Traveler to anyone that wants to see the world.

Nebil was a great guide to the paths and routes that we took. Great group of fellow-walkers, dined together every night. Walks were mixed with additional local information. Meals with local residents was great, particularly the one on New Year’s Eve, with a perfect sunset. Accommodation was good but felt some of us missed out with basic rooms while others (mostly singles) had a sofa and /or a jaccuzzi while those sharing had neither so very little space.

The trip was well organised on a day by day experience. We followed the trip notes and each day were given a briefing on the next day's itinerary. We knew therefore what to wear , especially foot wear and what to expect.