Turkey and Greece Tour Packages from the USA 2027: Routes, Ferries and Prices

A Turkey and Greece tour package from the USA runs 12 to 15 days and joins two shores of the Aegean in one trip. Our 15-day Aegean Legends package covers Istanbul, Cappadocia, Ephesus, Pamukkale, Athens and Santorini from $4,200 per person, with 14 hotel nights, domestic flights, the transfer to Athens, the Santorini ferry, transfers and guided tours included. You book the flights from the USA yourself, and we organise everything on the ground.

The Aegean Legends route, day by day

The route follows one idea: start with the biggest city, move inland, come back to the Aegean coast in Turkey, then cross to Greece. That order keeps the two long internal legs early, when you have energy, and ends the trip on an island with nothing to catch except the flight home. These are the 15 days of our Aegean Legends Turkey and Greece package.

Days 1 to 3, Istanbul. Day 1 is arrival: a driver meets you at Istanbul Airport and takes you to the hotel. Day 2 is the Old City with your guide: Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace, the Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar. Day 3 covers the Spice Market, a Bosphorus cruise between Europe and Asia, Dolmabahce Palace, Ortakoy, Taksim Square and Istiklal Street.

Days 4 to 5, Cappadocia. You fly from Istanbul and join the north Cappadocia tour: Uchisar Castle, the Goreme Open Air Museum, Pasabag, Devrent Valley and the pottery town of Avanos. Day 5 starts, if you choose, with an optional balloon flight at sunrise, then the south tour with an underground city (Kaymakli or Derinkuyu), Pigeon Valley, Ortahisar and Mustafapasa.

Days 6 to 8, Kusadasi, Ephesus and Pamukkale. You fly to Izmir and transfer to Kusadasi. Day 7 is Ephesus: the Great Theatre, the Library of Celsus, the Temple of Hadrian and Curetes Street, plus the Terrace Houses, the House of the Virgin Mary and the Temple of Artemis site. Day 8 is a full day at Pamukkale and Hierapolis, returning to Kusadasi in the evening.

Day 9, Turkey to Athens. After breakfast you travel from Turkey to Athens, by flight or, depending on the season, by ferry via Samos, and a driver takes you to the hotel.

Days 10 to 11, Athens. Day 10 is the Acropolis with the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, the Acropolis Museum and the old Plaka quarter. Day 11 is free, with an optional trip to Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon or a cruise to the Saronic islands.

Days 12 to 14, Santorini. On day 12 you are transferred to Piraeus for the ferry to Santorini. Day 13 covers Fira and Oia, and day 14 is free for the beaches, with an optional caldera boat trip.

Day 15, departure from Santorini Airport. Our service ends at the airport.

Price: what $4,200 per person covers

At $4,200 per person for 14 nights, the package works out at about $300 per person per night. That figure includes hotels in a mid-range category from our selection (confirmed by availability and with your approval), breakfast, the two internal flights in Turkey, the Turkey-to-Athens leg, the ferry to Santorini, every airport, port and hotel transfer, and the guided tours and entrance fees listed on the package page.

What is not in the price: the flights from the USA, lunches and dinners, the Cappadocia balloon, tips for guides and drivers, personal expenses, and a Greek visa if one applies to your passport. For US citizens a visa is not needed for either country on a normal holiday (see the entry section below).

If you have 8 to 10 days, you can do Turkey alone and add Greece another year. The 10-day Grand Turkey package from $2,800 per person covers Istanbul, Cappadocia and the Aegean coast, and the 15-day Best of Turkey package from $3,980 per person adds the Antalya coast. Our Turkey tour packages from the USA page shows the whole range.

The Turkey to Greece crossing: flight or ferry

The Aegean has several short ferry crossings between Turkey and the Greek islands, and travellers often ask whether to go by sea. The honest answer is that it depends on the season and on what comes next.

• Kusadasi to Samos. The crossing to Samos takes roughly an hour. Services are seasonal: the timetables we found for 2026 listed limited departures in spring and autumn and more in summer, with the last season ending in October. A 2027 timetable was not published when we checked on 12 November 2026, so we confirm the sailing for your date before we plan the day. This is the route behind the ferry option on day 9.
• Bodrum to Kos. About 30 minutes on the usual boats, with up to six daily crossings in high season and far fewer in winter, according to ferry aggregator pages, whose timetables do not always agree.
• Flight from Istanbul to Athens. Nonstop flights take about an hour and a half, and Aegean Airlines flies the route daily according to flight-tracking schedules.

A ferry to Samos does not take you to Athens. From Samos you still need a flight or another ferry, which is why a ferry day is rarely faster than flying. It suits travellers who want an island night on the way and have extra time. For the Aegean Legends package we use the flight or the ferry via Samos depending on the season, and tell you which in writing before you go.

If you only want to see Ephesus from Greece, see our page on a Samos to Ephesus day trip. If you are arriving from the Greek side by sea, our Athens to Istanbul cruise page explains what to book in Istanbul.

Entry rules for US citizens: Turkey and Greece

Turkey: US citizens with an ordinary passport do not need a visa for tourism for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs; our page on Turkey travel requirements for US citizens lists the passport-validity details.

Greece: Greece is in the Schengen Area, and US citizens can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa. Two EU systems matter for planning. The Entry/Exit System began on 12 October 2025 and registers non-EU travellers at the external border, and the European travel authorisation ETIAS is the second. ETIAS was originally planned for the last quarter of 2026, but reports describe the launch as postponed, with no firm start date; the EU says it will announce the date several months in advance. Check the official EU ETIAS page before you fly, since the date and the fee reported by different sources did not agree.

A Greece trip counts toward your Schengen days, but a 15-day route uses a small part of the 90. The Turkey days do not count toward Schengen.

Getting there from the USA

Turkish Airlines flies nonstop to Istanbul from more than a dozen US cities, and our page on flights to Istanbul from the USA lists them with flight times. The package starts at Istanbul Airport, and the trip ends at Santorini Airport, so you can book an open-jaw ticket: into Istanbul, home from Santorini, usually with a connection through Athens or another European hub. An open-jaw fare avoids flying back to Istanbul at the end, which would add a day.

A second route is to fly into Athens first and run the itinerary in reverse. That works if your fare is cheaper to Athens, and we can reverse the order on request. Tell us your dates and your departure city and we reply with a written plan.

Twelve days instead of fifteen

Some travellers have 12 days, not 15. The usual way to shorten the route is to drop one of the two free days (one in Athens, one on Santorini) and cut a night in Istanbul, or to leave out Pamukkale, which is the longest day by road. We price a shortened version on request. We do not publish a fixed 12-day price because the cut changes with the hotel dates, so the written quote is the number to rely on.

Two other options are worth knowing. The 10-day Turkey tour package from the USA page compares Istanbul, Cappadocia and Ephesus without Greece. And if you want a view of how the two countries compare before you decide, our Turkey vs Greece vacation page sets out prices, beaches and the best time to go for each. A more general article on Greece and Turkey tours covers other ways to combine them.

Best time for a Turkey and Greece trip

May and late September to October suit this route best. Cappadocia and Istanbul are comfortable, Ephesus and Pamukkale are not at their 35 degree peak, and Santorini's ferries and hotels are fully open. July and August are the hottest and most expensive weeks in Athens and on the island, and Ephesus is crowded from mid-morning. Winter is poor for Santorini, because many hotels and restaurants close and ferries run less often. Our best time to visit Turkey page gives the month-by-month detail for the Turkish part.

For US families, the school calendar usually decides: spring break week gives about nine days, so a 15-day route fits better in late May to June or in the autumn.

Questions to settle before you book

Ask yourself four things. Do you want one hotel per city, or a base for several nights? This route uses a hotel per stop. Do you want a private guide in Greece too? The package includes guided tours as listed, and extra days can be arranged. Is the Cappadocia balloon important? It is booked separately and weather decides whether it flies, so the two nights in Cappadocia give you one real chance. Do you want to extend in Istanbul? The Istanbul packages from $699 per person for four days can be added before the route starts.

For a view of Turkey beyond this route, our sister site Get Turkiye Tours covers Cappadocia, Ephesus, Pamukkale and the Antalya coast as separate trips, and our Cappadocia tours page has the Cappadocia day tours and packages on this site.

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