Stone and Strait — Cappadocia & Istanbul
Most trips that promise Cappadocia and Istanbul spend a day and a half driving between them. This one does not. You fly straight into Cappadocia — no connection to sit out in Istanbul first — and after three days among the rock churches you take a seventy-minute flight to the city that was the capital of three empires. The time that other programmes spend on the road, this one spends standing still: a full day in the Ihlara valley, a full day in the old city, and evenings that are actually free.
Met at Kayseri (ASR) or Nevşehir (NAV) and driven to your cave hotel in Ortahisar or Ürgüp. You land in Cappadocia directly — there is no connection to wait out in Istanbul. The afternoon is yours; Ürgüp’s old market is a few minutes on foot. Dinner at the hotel.
Göreme Open Air Museum first, early, before the coaches — rock-cut chapels with their frescoes still on the walls, and the Dark Church, which kept its colour because almost no light ever reached it. Then the fairy chimneys of Paşabağ and the rock-cut hollows of Zelve, and Avanos on the Kızılırmak, where the red clay is still thrown on kick wheels. Uçhisar Castle in the late afternoon, for the view over the whole valley system. Those who want the balloon take off before dawn; it is booked separately and the weather decides.
An underground city — Derinkuyu or Kaymaklı, whichever is quieter that morning — eight levels of it, ventilation shafts, stables, a church, and millstone doors that could only be rolled shut from the inside. Afterwards the Ihlara Valley, walked along the stream between its walls, with lunch at Belisırma where the tables stand in the water, and Selime Monastery at the valley’s end. Pigeon Valley on the way back.
An early morning flight from Kayseri to Istanbul, around ninety minutes, with the vehicle waiting at the other end. The afternoon is kept light: İstiklal Caddesi on foot, then the walk down from Galata to Karaköy — all slope and nineteenth-century doorways — ending at the water.
The upper gallery of Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome and its obelisks. The Basilica Cistern before lunch — the forest of columns Justinian sank under the city to hold its water. Topkapı Palace and the Harem through the afternoon. Free time in the Grand Bazaar.
Dolmabahçe Palace in the morning, where the Ottoman court moved when it gave up the old palace for European rooms and a crystal staircase. Then onto the water for the Bosphorus, as far up as Rumeli Hisarı — the fortress Mehmed II built in four months to close the strait. Back down for the Spice Bazaar and Eminönü, and Galata Tower before the light goes. Farewell dinner, and the evening free in Karaköy.
Check out, free time according to your flight, and a transfer to Istanbul Airport.
All seven days in order, with the overnights and the meals, and everything the price covers — ready to read or to share with the people travelling with you.
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Please note: the day-by-day programme is indicative and may change. Site opening days, weather, traffic and local conditions can move the order of visits, and hotels are confirmed at the time of booking. Nothing listed is dropped — it is the sequence that moves. The file on this page is always the current version.
Every entrance named in the programme is paid before you arrive, and so is the flight between Cappadocia and Istanbul. You will not be asked for money at any gate on this trip, and you will not be asked to buy a domestic flight on top of the price.
On the order of the days. Several of Istanbul’s palaces and museums close one day a week, and they do not all close on the same day. The programme above is written for a Monday-to-Sunday departure; on other start dates the sequence of days five and six is adjusted so that nothing is shut when the group arrives at it. The content of the week does not change.
On group size. The price is built on a minimum of four travellers and the group never exceeds twelve. Below four the vehicle and the guide cost no less, so a smaller party is quoted separately rather than carried at the published rate.
Every departure begins on a Monday and ends on a Sunday, so the trip sits inside one working week. On all nine, day five falls on a Friday and day six on a Saturday — which keeps the old city away from the Tuesday that Topkapı closes and the Monday that Dolmabahçe does. Cappadocia sits at eleven hundred metres and its seasons are real: winter is cold, clear and empty, and priced accordingly. We keep the group between four and twelve and set the price on four, so a small group costs no more than a full one.
Free · no payment · no obligation. Dates and prices are confirmed — tell us which week suits you and we will come back to you personally, usually the same day.
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