Turkey 10 Day Tour 2027: Best Itineraries, What's Included and Prices

A 10-day Turkey tour with us costs from $2,499 per person for Istanbul and Cappadocia, $2,800 for the Grand Turkey package through Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus and Pamukkale, and $3,299 for the Best of Turkey 10-day package. If you would rather spend all ten days in one city, the all-inclusive Istanbul package starts at $1,750. Every one of them includes nine hotel nights with breakfast, domestic flights where the route needs them, airport transfers and guided tours. The international flight is booked separately.

Which 10-day Turkey tour fits you

Ten days is the length where Turkey stops feeling like a rush. We run four versions, and they are different trips rather than the same trip at four prices.

All four are priced per person, and prices vary with the season and the hotels, so ask us for the price for your dates. We organise everything: hotels, transfers, internal flights, guides and tickets. You arrive in Istanbul and we take it from there.

For a side-by-side look at every length from 4 to 15 days, see our Turkey tour packages page or the longer comparison in best Turkey tour packages 2027.

Day by day on the most popular route

This is the Grand Turkey plan, taken from the package itself. It is the route most first-time visitors choose, because every region gets at least one full day without a long transfer.

1. Day 1, Istanbul. Arrival and a private transfer to the hotel. Nothing is planned, which helps after a long flight.
2. Day 2, Istanbul Old City. A private licensed guide takes you through Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Hippodrome, Topkapı Palace and the Grand Bazaar, with lunch included. The day ends around 17:30.
3. Day 3, Bosphorus. A free morning, then a Bosphorus cruise with lunch on board past Dolmabahçe, Ortaköy and Rumeli Fortress. In the evening there is a Turkish hammam and spa session.
4. Day 4, Istanbul by car, flight to Cappadocia. A private car and driver follow the route you choose: Galata, Balat, Karaköy, Ortaköy or the Asian side. The flight to Cappadocia leaves in the evening.
5. Day 5, Cappadocia Green Tour. Kaymaklı underground city and Ihlara Valley, with an optional ATV or horse ride at sunset.
6. Day 6, Red Tour. An optional sunrise balloon first, then the fairy chimneys, cave churches and viewpoints, and a Turkish night show with dinner.
7. Day 7, fly to İzmir, Kuşadası. A transfer to the hotel on the Aegean coast and an afternoon by the sea.
8. Day 8, Ephesus. The Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre and the House of the Virgin Mary.
9. Day 9, Pamukkale. The white travertine terraces and the ruins of Hierapolis.
10. Day 10, back to Istanbul. A transfer to İzmir Airport and a flight to Istanbul, where services end.

If you want the same trip written as a plain itinerary with timings and transfers, our 10-day Turkey itinerary page covers it, and the 10-day package for US travellers shows how it connects to American flights. Our blog also has a comparison of Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus and Pamukkale in 10 days.

Istanbul: three nights is the minimum

Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Topkapı and the Grand Bazaar can be seen in one long day, but only with a guide who knows which gates have queues. That is the reason the Old City day comes first in every package. Our Istanbul days usually start at 09:00, because by 11:00 the lines at Topkapı and Hagia Sophia are longer.

The second Istanbul day is about water. The Bosphorus cruise on the Grand Turkey route has lunch on board, and the stops you see from the deck (Dolmabahçe Palace, Ortaköy Mosque, Rumeli Fortress and the bridges) are the ones that fill another day if you try to visit them on foot. Those who want more can add the Bosphorus dinner cruise with a night show at $90, or the Dolmabahçe Palace and Bosphorus tour with a private guide at $150 per person.

If Istanbul is the part of the trip you care about most, the all-inclusive 10-day package spends all nine nights there: Old City, Bosphorus and dinner cruises, a day on the Princes' Islands, a food tour and free days. The Istanbul tours page lists the single-day options if you want to build your own mix.

Cappadocia: balloons, valleys and an underground city

Cappadocia is an hour and a half by air from Istanbul, and it is the reason most people pick a 10-day tour over a 7-day one. The Green Tour covers the southern valleys, an underground city and the Ihlara gorge; the Red Tour covers the fairy chimney districts, Pasabağ, the pottery town of Avanos and the Göreme area. In the 10-day Istanbul and Cappadocia package you also get a horse ride through the valleys and a dinner show, and you sleep in a cave hotel.

A sunrise balloon flight is optional on every package, so you decide on the morning. A standard sunrise flight is $199, a comfortable one $275 and a premium one $399, and they are cancelled on windy mornings, which is why the Grand Turkey plan keeps two nights free in Cappadocia. Plan on getting up around 04:30. If you only want to watch, a sunrise viewpoint tour costs $35.

The standalone Red Tour with lunch is $80 and the Green Tour with lunch $80, if you are building your own trip. Read more on our Cappadocia tours page or in how many days Cappadocia needs. Cappadocia is also covered by our sister site getturkiyetours.com, which has Turkey-wide trips.

Ephesus and Pamukkale: the Aegean leg

From Cappadocia you fly to İzmir and sleep in Kuşadası, a seaside town close to Ephesus. Ephesus is one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the Mediterranean, and the walk from the upper gate down the marble street to the Library of Celsus takes about two hours with a guide. The House of the Virgin Mary and, on some days, the village of Şirince fill the rest of the afternoon. The Ephesus and Kusadasi tours page has shorter options.

Pamukkale is a long day. The drive from Kuşadası is about three hours each way, so the package leaves early; you see the travertine terraces, walk the Hierapolis ruins and have lunch in between. In summer the terraces are hot and bright, so bring sunglasses and water shoes. The standalone full-day private Ephesus highlights tour costs $300.

What a 10-day Turkey tour includes, and what it does not

The packages include nine nights in a middle-class hotel chosen from our selection, with daily breakfast; all airport transfers; the domestic flights; guided tours with entrance tickets to the listed sites; lunch on tour days; and transport during the tours. A personal travel assistant is reachable on WhatsApp throughout.

Not included: the international flight, most dinners, tips for guides and drivers, personal spending and the optional extras such as the balloon and the spa. Dinners are left open on purpose. Istanbul and Cappadocia have good restaurants at every price, and a fixed dinner each night is the first thing travellers ask to drop.

Hotel rates move with the season, so send your dates and we confirm the hotels and the final price together.

When to go

April to early June and September to October are the easiest months: warm days, green valleys in spring, and fewer queues at Hagia Sophia than in July. Summer reaches 30 degrees and more at Ephesus and Pamukkale, and midday visits are hot. Winter is cold and wet in Istanbul, and Cappadocia can have snow, which looks excellent but shortens the days and can ground balloons. The coast is not beach weather between November and March.

Hotel and package prices follow the same curve: the shoulder months are cheaper than July, August and the end of December. If your dates are fixed by school holidays, send them over and we will quote for exactly those nights.

How to add days or change the route

Ten days is a good base, not a rule. People often add two nights in Istanbul at the end, using the best Istanbul private guided tour at $199 per group per day, or swap Pamukkale for the Antalya coast on the Istanbul and Antalya package. For two more days, our 12-day Turkey itinerary shows the next step up; for fewer days, see the 8-day Turkey itinerary.

If you want a longer holiday, the 15-day Best of Turkey package is $3,980 per person and adds five nights on the Antalya coast. Browse every length on the packages page.

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