Start your tour with a hotel pickup from central Istanbul and travel to the Airport in time for your flight. Board the plane on your own, and relax on the 1.5-hour flight southeast to Kayseri, a city deep in mainland Turkey. On arrival, meet your guide who will take you to your transfer and travel a little further into Cappadocia to see its wondrous sights. Your first stop is Göreme Open-Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to the fairy chimneys and a collection of rocky monuments that attest to Byzantine days in Cappadocia.

Explore with your guide, and then continue to the small town of Avanos, which is famous for its pottery production.

After a quick look around the pretty town, enjoy a stop nearby in Pasabag (Monk’s Valley), and take a walk through the area’s cone-like rocks to see where monks and hermits once lived in isolated seclusion.

Continue travelling through Dervent Valley, where the fairy chimneys pepper the landscape and then travel back to your hotel in Cappadocia in time for dinner.

Spend the morning at your own time and enjoy breakfast in your hotel, meet with the guide mid-morning for another tour of Cappadocia. Begin with a walk through Rose Valley, a gorgeous stretch of land which gets its name from its red-hued rock. In between the villages of Göreme and Çavuşin, the valley is dotted with rock-carved churches and tunnels, where your guide will show you the best ones as you walk. Finish up in Çavuşin where you will see its cave mosque before enjoying some free time for lunch (own expense).

Continue your tour to the town of Ortahisar where you will see its crowning glory, Ortahisar Castle.

Travel to Kaymakli Underground City, one of Cappadocia’s best-preserved sites. Discover its maze of passages where you will see underground stables and cellars and learn about the early Christians who hid here to escape persecution.

Return to your transport, pass through Pigeon Valley before returning to your hotel. Check out late afternoon, and travel to Kayseri Airport for your 90 minutes evening flight to Izmir. Arrive at Izmir Airport on your own, and enjoy a transfer to your hotel in Kusadasi. You will receive a late-evening meal of sandwiches laid on by the hotel and enjoy a good night’s sleep before you continue your tour the following day.

Have breakfast in your hotel before travelling to Ephesus where an important archaeological site that is one of Europe’s best-preserved ancient cities awaits. Explore the ruins on a walking tour where you will see sights such as the Temple of Hadrian, a monument built to celebrate Emperor Hadrian’s visits to the city.

Enjoy lunch in the main town of Selcuk (own expense), before travelling to Ephesus where an important archaeological site that is one of Europe’s best-preserved ancient cities awaits. Finally, return to your transport and travel back to your hotel to check out. Your 3-day tour finishes with a drop-off at the Izmir airport, for your flight back to Istanbul.