Great highlights tour of Turkey - Istanbul, Cappadocia and Ephesus
Turkey
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Dec 26 - Jan 5, 2024

We had a fantastic 10 day trip to Turkey seeing the highlights in Istanbul, Cappadocia and Ephesus/Sirince. We loved our guide in Istanbul, Volkan, and the sights were amazing; Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Cistern, and the Bosphorous cruise. The hotel in Old Town was excellent! Cappadocia lived up to the hype with the amazing hot air balloon ride, cave frescoes, and exploring the valleys. Staying in a cave hotel was a unique experience! Our guide Hattice was excellent with our son! Ephesus was amazing and we enjoyed exploring the town of Sirince. The boutique hotel on the hillside over Sirince was so traditional and the restaurant was amazing. We enjoyed the cooking class we did with the chef!
Hotel Reviews
Absolutely beautiful, great location, fantastic breakfast
Very unique boutique hotel obviously built with love and run by excellent staff. The terrace house was beautiful, and the tower house 3 room was fine, a little small for 3 people. There was a lot of work being done around the property given that it was the off season. Restaurant was amazing and the cooking class was a lot of fun! The hotel is not meant for people who don't like cobblestones or stairs.
Such a unique experience, staff did an excellent job mitigating some cleanliness concerns in one of the rooms, rooms are dark but that is to be expected, hotel facilities are very nice (Turkish bath, terrace). Some minor flaws, nail in the wood on the bed sticking out, dogs were somewhat agressive coming in late at night, dirt from the cave ceiling falling down).
Activity Reviews

A must do in Istanbul.

Very authentic

We enjoyed the Ceramics experience; amazing work and it was fun that Connor got to try it. We did not do the hiking in the Love Valley due to timing and physical constraints.

Excellent overview of Istanbul and you hit the high points of the Old Town!

Surprisingly good for kids.

Flawless - must do

Beautiful

I didn't really find this worthwhile. We only visited the church and it didn't seem particularly special.

Amazing

Very interesting experience and the boat was great!

Beautiful and great speed for my in-laws. The stop for pancakes along the river was fun.

Would recommend doing this earlier in the trip.

Can't miss.

Amazing - recommend including visiting the Dark Church in the price

Very nice, only snafu was over who was paying for it, but it was worked out.


Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you for this detailed review!
We are very happy to hear you had a positive experience in our beautiful country. Thank you very much for choosing us and for taking the time to write this review - much appreciated. We'll sure take into account all the valuable feedback you provided.
It was also so nice to meet you and your family in person!
All best regards on behalf of Trail Travel team,
Berat