6 Days Guided Istanbul and Cappadocia Tour

Day 1: Arrive Istanbul - Airport Transfer

1. Istanbul
   Pass by
   Welcome to Istanbul. Our driver will meet you at the airport. You will be transferred to your hotel.

Day 2: Jewels of Istanbul

1. Galata Koprusu
   15m
   After Dolmabahce Palace you will have a chance to step on Galata Bridge which was built in Ottoman Period.
2. Rustem Pasha Mosque
   30m
   Then your guide will take you to one of the mosques which were built by Master Architect Sinan, Rustem Pasha Mosque. The Rüstem Pasha Mosque was unique among Sinan’s many mosques for its lavishly decorated, tiled interior. Rüstem Pasha may have ordered the mosque’s characteristic Iznik tiles in order to support court designer Kara Memi, who was known for elegant floral designs.
3. Bosphorus Strait
   1h 30m · Admission ticket included
   After lunch, you will join a regular boat trip on the Bosphorus An amazing cruise between the two continents, EUROPE and ASIA, along the Bosphorus by the Dolmabahçe and Beylerbeyi Palaces, wooden villas, and mansions.
4. Misir Carsisi
   1h
   At the end of the tour, you will have time to do shopping in Spice Market which is one of the largest bazaars in the city. Located in the Eminönü quarter of the Fatih district, it is the most famous covered shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar.

Day 3: Explore the Old City & Fly to Cappadocia

1. Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque
   2h · Admission ticket included
   Hagia Sophia is a Late Antique place of worship in Istanbul, designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. Built-in 537 as the patriarchal cathedral of the imperial capital of Constantinople, it was the largest Christian church of the eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) and the Eastern Orthodox Church, except during the Latin Empire from 1204 to 1261, when it became the city's Latin Catholic cathedral. In 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque. In 1935, the secular Turkish Republic established it as a museum. In 2020, it re-opened as a mosque.
2. TopkapI Palace
   2h · Admission ticket included
   The Topkapı Palace is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans.
   Topkapi Place is closed on every Tuesday!
3. Blue Mosque
   1h
   Sultan Ahmed Mosque also known as the Blue Mosque is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A functioning mosque also attracts large numbers of tourist visitors. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah, and a hospice.
4. Hippodrome
   45m
   Hippodrome of Constantinople is a square in Istanbul, Turkey. Previously, it was a circus that was the sporting and social center of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
   
   The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos, horse, and dromos, path or way. For this reason, it is sometimes also called Atmeydanı ("Horse Square") in Turkish. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras.
5. Grand Bazaar
   1h
   The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls in the world.
   Grand Bazaar is closed on every Sunday!
6. Cappadocia
   Pass by
   After the tour, we will transfer you to the Istanbul airport and you will board your flight to Cappadocia. Upon your arrival, we will transfer you to your hotel.

Day 4: Explore Cappadocia

1. Devrent Valley
   30m · Admission ticket included
   Devrent Valley (also spelled as Dervent Valley) reveals many different rock formations and is only a 10-minute drive from Goreme. The small fairy chimneys in the valley form a lunar landscape, or moonscape, by their strange look. The valley also has many animal-shaped rocks.
2. Pasabag Vadisi
   30m
   Pasabag or Pasha's Vineyard is situated on the Zelve road between the popular town of Goreme and traditional pottery-making town Avanos. Here you can find spectacular cone topped rock pillars known as Fairy Chimneys standing tall throughout the vineyard, Pasha was a in important officer in Ottoman times when the region was captured. However Pasabag is more commonly known as Monks Valley, it earned its name from the many monk refuges carved into the soft rock cones.
3. Goreme Open Air Museum
   2h · Admission ticket included
   The Goreme Open-Air Museum resembles a vast monastic complex composed of scores of refectory monasteries placed side-by-side, each with its own fantastic church.
4. Uchisar Castle
   30m · Admission ticket included
   Uchisar is situated at the highest point in Cappadocia, on the Nevsehir-Goreme road, just 5 km from Goreme. The top of the Uchisar Castle provides a magnificent panorama of the surrounding area with Mount Erciyes in the distance.

Day 5: Explore Cappadocia

1. Red Valley
   2h
   After having breakfast at the hotel, we will again depart for a full-day Cappadocia tour. Depart from your hotel to visit Red valley, and explore the famous rock-cut churches and hike 5 km through the Güllüdere valley.
2. Cavusin
   1h
   Then visit Cavusin village. This village is famous for the houses and churches of Christian clergymen.
3. Pigeon Valley
   30m
   Pigeon Valley is a lovely valley located near Uchisar town named after the thousands of pigeon houses carved into the soft tufa since ancient times and offers another spectacular panoramic view over Cappadocia together with the spectacular views of the dovecotes.
4. Ozkonak Underground City
   2h · Admission ticket included
   Ozkonak underground city is built under the hill known as the Citadel of Kaymakli and was opened to visitors in 1964. The people of Cappadocia have constructed their houses around nearly one hundred tunnels of the underground city. The inhabitants of the region still use the most convenient places in the tunnels as cellars, storage areas, and stables, which they access through their courtyards.

Day 6: Departure from Turkey

1. Cappadocia
   Pass by
   After breakfast, our tour concludes and we say goodbye and transferred to the airport. Fly back to Istanbul.
   
   Have a safe trip back home and thanks for choosing Smart Turkey Tours.
   
   End of the service!!

Pickup details

We have a signboard at the airport. We welcome all our guests after the luggage claim door.

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels