Turkey runs on dawn starts and long lunches.
Which balloon slot actually leaves the ground. Which Bosphorus boat is a ferry with a microphone attached. What a proper hamam costs before the tip. Every tour in Turkey, read and ranked.
Istanbul is two continents and one ferry ticket.
The city gives up more in a morning than most capitals do in a week: a bath house older than the buildings around it, a boat that crosses to Asia for the price of a coffee, and a mosque queue that moves faster than it looks. Nearly two in five tours in Turkey start here.
Six things people fly to Turkey for.
Balloons at first light, a boat between two continents, marble streets, a scrub on a hot slab, white terraces and a mosque that has been the biggest room in the city since 537. Book these well and the rest of the trip arranges itself.
In Cappadocia the day is decided before sunrise.
Balloons fly at first light or not at all, and the valleys underneath fill up later with jeeps, horses and quad bikes. Sleep in a cave room, be in a field by five, and keep the afternoon for the underground cities where the temperature never changes.
Some Turkish days run on a timetable, not on your itinerary.
Most of Turkey can be arranged over breakfast on the day. These four cannot: they answer to wind, to a prayer clock, to a set performance night, or to a date in April that has been fixed for over a century.
- 01Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Ride / Royal BalloonBaskets lift at first light and the day’s flights are capped and grounded outright when the wind is wrong. In season the good mornings are gone weeks ahead.
- 02Hodjapasha Whirling Dervishes Show & ExhibitionThe sema runs on set evenings rather than nightly, so the date decides this one. It is a religious ceremony, watched in silence, not a floor show.
- 03Istanbul to Gallipoli Full Day Tour with Lunch and TransfersThe peninsula is a war cemetery and memorial ground. Places at the 25 April services are allocated by registration months in advance; the rest of the year the sites are open and quiet.
- 04Blue Mosque & Hagia Sophia Guided Tour w/ TicketsBoth mosques close to visitors around the five daily prayers and for longer on Friday middays. A guided slot is really a slot in that clock.
What travellers in Turkey actually book.
Every review →Ranked by the number of people who have been and rated it. The dinner cruises and the balloon mornings sit where the reviews put them, not where a brochure would.
1
Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private Table
3-hour Bosphorus dinner cruise with live Turkish and Latin shows, a private table, and big-city views from a mega yacht.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Daytime or Sunset Sightseeing Cruise & Audio Guide
from $8
3
Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Turkish Night Show
from $28
4
Best of Istanbul 1, 2 or 3-Day Private Guided Istanbul Tour
from $100
5
FOR CRUISERS: Skip The Lines PRIVATE EPHESUS TOUR &On Time Return
from $39
6
Basilica Cistern Fast-Track Entry and Audio Guide
from $44
7
Top Choice For Cruisers: Ephesus, Mary’s House WITH TICKETS+LUNCH
from $29
8
Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Ride / Royal Balloon
from $133.02
On the Turkish coast the boat leaves at ten and the canyon is cold.
Antalya, Side, Alanya, Kemer and Belek run on the same rhythm: a gulet out to the bays in the morning, a jeep into the Taurus foothills for the day, and a canyon whose water stays at about 10°C in August. Trout for lunch, sunburn optional.
- 1Ziplining, Rafting, Jeep Tour & Quad Safari w/Lunchfrom $26
- 2Suluada Island Boat Trip with Lunch & Hotel Pickupfrom $20
- 3City of Side: Jeep Safari & Green Lake Boat Trip with Lunchfrom $19
Three things Turkey has not exported.
Boat trips and ruins you can find all around this sea. The bath house, the sema and the glass lamp workshop belong to this country, and they are cheaper here than any copy of them elsewhere.
The Hamam
You undress, wrap the thin checked peştemal, and lie on a heated marble slab until the heat has done its work. Then someone scrubs you with a kese mitt, and the grey rolls off in a way nobody warns you about, and you are washed down in olive-oil foam. Sessions run in separate men’s and women’s hours or wings; the scrub and foam are the point, the massage is an add-on.
- 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
The turning belongs to the Mevlevi order and has done since the thirteenth century: one hand raised to receive, one turned down to pass it on, the skirt opening as the tempo holds. Venues in Istanbul and Cappadocia run it on set evenings. Audiences are asked not to applaud and not to photograph the ceremony itself, and both requests are meant.
- 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 Glass Lamp
Turkish mosaic lamps are built the slow way: a plain glass globe, hundreds of chips of coloured glass and mirror set into adhesive by hand, then grouted. Workshops in Istanbul and along the coast hand you tweezers and let you make one. It takes about two hours, it dries while you eat, and it packs better than a rug.
- 1Original Turkish Mosaic Lamp Workshop w/ Snacks★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 3,077 reviews
- 2Turkish Mosaic Lamp Workshop w/ Materials Included★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,058 reviews
- 3Turkish Mosaic Lamp Workshop in Galata – All Included★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 636 reviews
What a day out in Turkey costs.
Every published tour, sorted by what it actually charges. The cheap end of this country is not a compromise: some of the best half-days on the site cost less than lunch on the coast.
Entry tickets, bath houses, city walks, an afternoon on a boat with a crowd on it.
The standard full day: Ephesus with a guide, Pamukkale and back, a jeep into the Taurus, dinner afloat.
The balloon morning, private drivers, chartered gulets and the days worth blowing the budget on once.
Dinner in Turkey starts late and often floats.
All evening tours →The table is the event. A boat that casts off at eight, a folklore night in the hills behind the resorts, a rooftop with the call to prayer coming across the water twice.
Bosphorus Sunset Cruise on Yacht with Live Guide
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A July afternoon on this coast is a heat problem with cold answers.
Inland Turkey and the southern beaches sit in the high thirties for most of July and August, and the middle of the day is unusable. The fixes are old ones: thick stone, deep water and shade. A bath house is 200 years of air conditioning. The cistern under Istanbul holds its temperature all summer. The canyon water above Manavgat runs near ice.
By town — where you are actually staying
Istanbul521 tours
Cappadocia228 tours
Antalya126 tours
Kusadasi & Ephesus111 tours
Alanya97 tours
Side86 tours
Marmaris51 tours
Fethiye29 tours- Every town we cover →
The route most first trips end up taking.
Istanbul
Cappadocia
Pamukkale
Kusadasi
Fethiye
AntalyaThe newest Turkey reviews.
All recent →
Private Customizable Istanbul Day Tour with Licensed Guide
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Bosphorus Cruise, Bus Tour, Cable Car Ride with Live Guide & Ticket
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From Kusadasi/Selcuk: Highlights of Ephesus Small Group Tour
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Bosphorus Dinner Cruise and Turkish Night Show with Private Table
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Bodrum Horseback Riding Experience with Hotel Transfer
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Istanbu City Walk: Topkapi Palace, Harem, & Basilica Guided Tour
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Antalya Combo Rafting Package With Quad Safari & Zipline
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First Class Business Sedan Airport Transfer Services in Istanbul
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2 Days Ephesus and Pamukkale Tours from Istanbul
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Hot Air Balloon Ride in Cappadocia (morning flight)
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Full Day Green Tour Natural History of Cappadocia Tour
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