Luxury Turkey Vacations & Tours

Any first-time tour of Turkey should include three key elements: Istanbul, ancient culture, and an alluring coastline. The former is simply unmissable, and warrants a stay of at least three nights, enabling you to fully explore its bubbling bazaars and staggering UNESCO treasures. We would then typically recommend moving on to otherworldly Cappadocia, spending a couple of nights exploring the Goreme Open Air Museum, and perhaps taking a memorable hot air balloon flight. There’s then so much beautiful coastline to choose from to round out your tour, but we find Izmir is always best for introductory trips, with its many fine hotels, great amenities, and easy access to the ancient ruins of Ephesus.

A tour in line with the above would typically be around 9 nights: three in Istanbul to start; two each in Cappadocia and Izmir; and a final night back in Istanbul to recap the city and leave you in situ to fly home. This covers the briefest and best highlights, but should you be able to expand out to around two weeks you could also include stops in Sufi-centre Konya, the magical ‘cotton castle’ of Pamukkale, and additional stops along the majestic south coast: the bustling resort city of Antalya, or placid, picturesque Kas spring to mind. Additional nights in Istanbul are also always recommended!

Turkey is known as one of the world’s great summer holiday destinations, with its coastal resorts jam-packed with visitors from across Europe from June through to August. For touring itineraries we would recommend avoiding this busiest and hottest season, instead opting for the spring months (April, May) and fall (September through November). At this time the weather is pleasantly warm but not draining, there is little to no rain, and skies are typically clear. The winter months can become surprisingly cool – with snow not uncommon in Istanbul – and should likewise be avoided.

Absolutely! The sprawling south coast resorts of Dalaman, Bodrum, or Antalya are family holiday gold – and typically packed out during the school summer holidays. Adventurous families need not restrict themselves to ‘package’ style trips: visits to Cappadocia can be tweaked to suit families of all ages, with hot air balloon trips or challenging hikes for older children; Istanbul can include memorable walking tours and interactive cooking classes, and lesser destinations such as Selcuk and Saklikent offer easy-going but intriguing insights into Turkish culture and history.

Turkey remains outside the Eurozone and as such sees spending costs significantly lower than nearby destinations such as Greece, Spain, or Italy. A 4-star budget in these destinations can comfortably become a 5-star budget in Turkey, and your day-to-day costs are very keen too, with a scrumptious lunch or delicious dinner for two typically coming in at no more than £35 / US$50. Shopping and souvenir-hunting costs are equivalent and remember that haggling is part of life in Turkey, so sharpen your skills to pick up some fantastic bargains!

Turkey is a hugely welcoming country, with well-established tourist support services, and friendly, helpful English speakers pretty much everywhere you go. It’s easy to get around Turkey’s leading destinations in your downtime, with lots of taxis and local activity providers to be easily found in the cultural and coastal destinations. An extended stay in Istanbul is a must, and with the city boasting a very good – and easy-to-use – subway, bus, and tram system it’s both cheap and straightforward to explore the magical city under your own steam.

Turkey is a lively destination with lots of great festivities to look out for. As a majority Muslim country, the festival calendar follows typical Islamic celebrations, with the month of Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish) and climactic Eid-al-Fitr being the biggest event of the year. Visitors during this time – typically late Spring – will not see disruption to their trips and can also dive into nightly iftar yemegi – fast-breaking. A wide array of cultural festivals – celebrating harvest time, folk dance, or local cultural practices – are held in major destinations throughout the year and will provide an additional highlight should you time your visit well. Istanbul has a full calendar of festivals year-round, from art and jazz to oil wrestling – make sure to ask your consultant what’s going on when you plan to visit.