Boutique Design
Maximum 14 travelers. Never a coach tour, never a crowd. Every element — accommodation, meals, experiences — is selected for quality and character, not convenience.
Boutique Türkiye: Istanbul to Bodrum
A 10-day boutique small group tour of Türkiye for culturally curious travelers — imperial Istanbul, Cappadocia's valleys, ancient Ephesus and the Aegean coast of Bodrum. Expertly guided. Unhurried. Deeply rewarding.
Duration: 10 Days
Group: Max 14
Style: Small Group
Route: Istanbul → Bodrum
From: €3,999 pp
Specialist travel since 2001
Max 14
Operated with local knowledge
Carefully designed itineraries
Why This Tour
What sets this journey apart
Local Access, Not Tourist Access
Lunch at a women's cooperative in Cappadocia. A cooking class in an Aegean village kitchen. A potter's workshop in Avanos. These are not add-ons. They are the journey.
A Guide Who Knows the Layers
Türkiye has 10,000 years of history and a living culture that surrounds it. Your English-speaking guide brings both into focus — the context that turns a beautiful place into a meaningful one.
Curated by 25 Years on the Ground
True Blue Tour has been operating in Türkiye since 2001. Every hotel, every routing decision, every local partner in this itinerary reflects that depth of knowledge. You benefit from relationships that cannot be built quickly.
Route
Your route across Istanbul
1
Istanbul
3
2
Cappadocia
2
3
Sirince
2
4
Bodrum
2
At a Glance
Tour snapshot
Duration
10 days
Style
Small Group
Meals
Welcome dinner, daily breakfast, 2 included lunches
Best For
Unhurried — mornings with purpose, afternoons with room
Flights
Istanbul (IST) – Cappadocia (ASR/NAV)
Cappadocia (ASR)–İzmir (ABD)
Accommodation
Boutique hotels and cave-style properties
Start City
Istanbul
End City
Bodrum
The Experience
What this journey feels like
<p>This is not a tour that moves fast to cover more ground. It is a tour that slows down in the right places. </p>
<p>It feels like descending into the Basilica Cistern on a quiet morning and understanding, in a way guidebooks cannot fully convey, what it means to build a city for the ages. It feels like the silence above Cappadocia before sunrise, suspended in a hot air balloon over valleys that look like nothing else on earth. </p>
<p>It feels like sitting down to lunch with women who grew and cooked everything on the table, in a language you may not share, and finding the conversation happens anyway. Like making something with your own hands in a pottery workshop that has been here for centuries — and taking it home not as a souvenir but as a memory with weight to it. </p>
<p>It feels like arriving in Şirince at the end of the day, when the tour groups have gone and the village becomes itself again. Like walking Ephesus with a guide who has studied these streets long enough to know which detail to linger on and which story changes how you see the whole. </p>
<p>By the time you reach Bodrum — the Aegean light, the whitewashed lanes, the castle reflected in the harbor — the journey has given you something most travel does not: a genuine sense of a country. Not its highlights. Its character. </p>
<p>That is what True Blue Tour has been building for 25 years. This itinerary is one of the clearest expressions of it. </p>
"This is the homeland of boundless skies... Elsewhere people die and lie in light — here, you live in it."
Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (The Fisherman of Halicarnassus)
Day by Day
Your 10-day itinerary
Istanbul
Days 1–10
Arrive and transfer to your hotel. Evening welcome dinner with your guide and fellow travelers — where the journey properly begins.
A full day in Istanbul's historic peninsula. The Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia and the atmospheric underground Basilica Cistern — then the Grand Bazaar to end the day at your own pace. Optional: Interior visit of Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.
A private Bosphorus cruise between Europe and Asia, then the Spice Market on foot. After lunch, fly to Cappadocia and transfer to your cave-style boutique hotel.
Optional dawn balloon flight over the valleys. Then Paşabağ's fairy chimneys, lunch at a local women's cooperative, Kaymaklı Underground City and a carpet weaving demonstration.
The quieter side of Cappadocia: the Byzantine rock complex at Açıksaray and St. Jean Church, a hands-on pottery or tile workshop in Avanos, and Turkish coffee fortune telling to close the day.
Morning flight to İzmir, then up into the Aegean hills to Şirince — a village of stone houses, local wine and unhurried afternoons. Check in and settle.
Walk the marble streets of Ephesus — Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre, temples and public spaces. After the visit, an Aegean cooking class: you cook, you eat, you leave with recipes worth keeping.
Drive south along the Aegean coast to Bodrum. Optional cultural stop at Priene, Miletus or the Temple of Apollo at Didyma en route. Arrive in time for a relaxed evening by the harbor.
A morning exploring Bodrum's old town and harbor, followed by a local artisan workshop — ceramics, sandal-making, jewelry or weaving. Afternoon free.
Breakfast and transfer to Bodrum Airport. End of services.
What’s Covered
Included & not included
Included
- 9 nights boutique accommodation
- English-speaking guide throughout the journey
- Domestic flights
- Private Arrival Transfer
- Private transportation throughout the journey
Not Included
- International airfare
- Travel insurance
- Gratitudes for guides & drivers
- Meals not included in the tour
- Personal expenses
Book Your Place
Dates & prices
2026 Departures
2027 Departures
Enrich Your Journey
Optional experiences
Hot Air Balloon
250 €Common Questions
Frequently asked questions
Yes — and it was designed with that in mind. The routing covers the country's most iconic destinations while going deeper than a standard tour. Your guide provides the context that makes each place genuinely meaningful, not just visually impressive.
Moderate. Ephesus and the Istanbul historic peninsula involve a fair amount of walking on uneven surfaces. Cappadocia can include optional valley walks. No day is strenuous, but comfortable walking shoes are essential. If you have specific mobility concerns, contact us before booking.
It means private vehicles, not coaches. It means restaurants book a table for you, not a section. It means your guide can have a real conversation with the group, not broadcast into a microphone. The difference in experience is significant.
No. Balloon flights in Cappadocia are weather-dependent and can be cancelled on the morning of the flight. We recommend budgeting for it and treating a cancellation as the exception rather than the rule — most departures operate as planned.
True Blue Tour · Turkey
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