Turkey Tour Packages from UAE: Istanbul and Cappadocia

Most of our Turkey trips run on shared tours, called seat-in-coach: you join a small group in a coach or minibus with an English-speaking guide for the touring days, and have the rest of the time free. Private tours, with your own car, driver and guide, cost more but let you set the pace. Families with young children, older parents or groups of four or more often find private tours worth it, because the cost is shared across everyone.

Prices rise sharply in the UAE summer holidays, at Eid and over Christmas and New Year, when Istanbul hotels fill and the Cappadocia balloon flights sell out. April, May, late September and October are usually better value and more comfortable for walking. If your dates are open, check the cheapest tour packages this month before choosing.

• Hotel area: Sultanahmet puts you next to the old city sights; Taksim and Şişli suit shopping and evenings out
• Cave hotels: a cave room in Cappadocia costs more than a standard room but is part of the experience
• Domestic flights: we build the Istanbul to Cappadocia flight into the price, rather than a long road transfer
• Children's prices depend on age, the airline's child fare and each hotel's child policy

1. 01

   Day 1: Arrive in Istanbul and the Bosphorus

   Land at Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gökçen, where a driver takes you to the hotel.

2. 02

   Day 2: The old city

   A guided tour of Sultanahmet: the Hippodrome and its obelisks, the Blue Mosque with its tiled interior, Hagia Sophia, and the covered lanes of the Grand Bazaar. Lunch is included. Topkapi Palace can be added at extra cost.

3. 03

   Day 3: Princes' Islands or Bursa

   Choose a ferry to Büyükada, the largest of the Princes' Islands, for wooden mansions and car-free lanes, or a full-day trip to Bursa for the Green Mosque and the cable car up Uludağ.

4. 04

   Day 4: Galata, Balat and the Spice Bazaar

   Walk Istiklal Avenue and see the Galata Tower, then the colourful houses of Balat and the Spice Bazaar for Turkish delight, baklava and dried fruit. The afternoon is free for shopping or a ferry to the Asian side at Kadıköy.

5. 05

   Day 5: Fly to Cappadocia, North Cappadocia tour

   Morning flight to Kayseri or Nevşehir and transfer to your cave hotel. Tour Uçhisar Castle, the Göreme Open-Air Museum with its painted rock churches, Devrent Valley, Paşabağ (Monks' Valley) and a pottery workshop in Avanos.

6. 06

   Day 6: Balloon at dawn, South Cappadocia tour

   An optional hot air balloon flight at sunrise, then the South tour: Red Valley, Pigeon Valley, Çavuşin village and the Kaymaklı underground city, carved deep into the rock. Free evening, or a Turkish night show.

7. 07

   Day 7: Fly home

   Transfer to Kayseri or Nevşehir airport for the flight to Istanbul and your connection to Abu Dhabi or Dubai.

For five nights, we keep three in Istanbul and drop the Galata day. For eight nights, we add Antalya after Cappadocia, described below. We book the balloon for your first Cappadocia morning where possible, so that a flight cancelled for wind can move to the second.

Adding Antalya? Here is how the last days of our 8-night Istanbul, Cappadocia and Antalya route have run:

1. 01

   Day 6: Cappadocia to Antalya by road, via Konya

   A long but varied drive south. Stop in Konya for the Mevlana Museum, which holds the tomb of the poet Rumi, then Alaaddin Hill and its mosque, with lunch, before continuing over the Taurus Mountains to Antalya.

2. 02

   Day 7: Antalya city and waterfalls

   Lower Düden (Karpuzkaldıran) waterfall where the river drops into the sea, lunch by the falls, then the Kaleiçi old town, the clock tower, Hadrian's Gate from AD 130, and the old harbour lined with boats.

3. 03

   Day 8: Fly home

   Flight from Antalya to Istanbul and your connection to Abu Dhabi or Dubai, or a direct flight to the UAE where one runs that season.

Free time in Istanbul is easy to fill. Take the public ferry from Eminönü to Kadıköy or Üsküdar for a Bosphorus view at the price of a bus ticket. Walk up to the Süleymaniye Mosque for the view over the Golden Horn. See the Basilica Cistern, an underground hall of columns from the Byzantine era, or spend an afternoon at Dolmabahçe Palace on the shore. In the evening, the fish restaurants under the Galata Bridge and the cafes of Karaköy are a short walk from most old city hotels.

In Cappadocia, stay at least one night in a cave hotel. Rooms are cut into the soft rock, cool in summer and warm in winter, and many have terraces where you can watch the balloons rise at dawn without flying. Other optional activities include a sunset ATV ride through the valleys, a horse ride and a pottery class in Avanos, where potters have worked the red river clay for thousands of years.

A few tips for the old city. Mosques close to visitors at prayer times, so tours plan around them. Women need a headscarf and covered arms and legs in mosques; men need long trousers. Queues at Hagia Sophia and Topkapi are longest at midday in summer, which is one reason the tours start early.

For couples, the same route works with different hotels: a boutique hotel with a Bosphorus view in Istanbul, a cave suite in Cappadocia, and a private balloon basket or a sunrise photo shoot. Couples who want a beach finish usually add Antalya; those who want quiet add a night in a smaller Cappadocia village such as Ürgüp.

Summer is the main family season for Turkey, when the weather is warm and the days are long. For more trips planned around children and school holidays, see our family tours from Abu Dhabi.

Arrive at the airport three hours before an international flight from Abu Dhabi or Dubai, especially in the summer holidays. On the way home, Istanbul Airport is large and the walk to the gate can take 20 minutes, so allow time after security for duty-free.

Booking the flight inside a package usually costs less than buying flights and hotels separately, and you have one contact if a flight time changes.

1. 01

   Send your dates and passports

   WhatsApp your travel dates, the number of adults and children with ages, and a photo of each passport and residence visa.

2. 02

   We check the visa and quote

   We confirm what each traveller needs for Turkey and send a day-by-day plan with the price, inclusions and exclusions.

3. 03

   Adjust and confirm

   Change the hotels, add Antalya or a balloon flight, or switch to private tours.

4. 04

   Get your travel pack

   E-tickets, hotel vouchers, tour times, the visa approval and an emergency contact in Turkey, a few days before you fly.

You can also book in person at Office 329A, 3rd Floor, Mushrif Mall, Abu Dhabi, next to du and opposite Spinneys, with free parking. We have been open since 20 May 2020 and are rated 4.6 on Google from about 280 reviews. We take cards and NFC mobile payments. Looking at other places too? Browse all our holiday packages from Abu Dhabi.

باقات تركيا من الإمارات: نرتب رحلتك إلى إسطنبول وكابادوكيا وأنطاليا من أبوظبي ودبي، مع الطيران والفنادق والجولات والتأشيرة.