Ankara, Hattusa, Amasya, Sinop, Safranbolu, Yedigöller, Konya and Gordion on one fully guided journey through Anatolia’s layered history. Choose a scheduled group departure or a private tour.
This 11-day Central and Northern Turkey heritage tour is a guided cultural journey for travellers who want the Türkiye that lies beyond the coastal resorts. It begins and ends in Ankara and links Hittite archaeology, Black Sea heritage, Ottoman architecture, mountain lakes and the spiritual traditions of Central Anatolia in one carefully paced route.
Your first anchor is historical Ankara: Anıtkabir, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Castle District. From there you reach Hattusa and Yazılıkaya, the UNESCO-listed Hittite capital, then follow the Yeşilırmak to Amasya, where Pontic kings’ tombs overlook Ottoman riverside houses. The road continues through Samsun to Sinop, a fortress harbour on the Black Sea.
Inland, Safranbolu, a UNESCO-listed Ottoman town, shows the architecture of caravan trade. Yedigöller National Park and Lake Abant bring forest and lake scenery, and Mudurnu and Eskişehir’s Odunpazarı show Ottoman timber houses both rural and revived. The tour then turns to Konya and the legacy of Mevlana Rumi, crosses the white plain of Tuz Gölü and visits Beypazarı before finishing at Gordion, the Phrygian capital of King Midas and the Gordian Knot.
Whether you want a scheduled group tour with a maximum of 30 guests or a flexible private tour for family and friends, every day pairs expert English-speaking interpretation with time to explore. It is an ideal Turkey cultural tour for history lovers, archaeology enthusiasts, photographers and repeat visitors who have already seen Istanbul and Cappadocia.
Most Turkey itineraries rush between Istanbul and Cappadocia. This route instead follows the empires of Anatolia in sequence: Hittites, Pontic kings, Ottomans, Seljuks and Phrygians, so each place builds on the last.
Distances are covered by comfortable coach with sightseeing at an unhurried pace, and overnight stays in towns such as Amasya, Safranbolu and Eskişehir let you feel the places after the day visitors leave.
From Ankara through Hittite Boğazkale, the Black Sea coast and Ottoman towns, then Konya and Phrygian Gordion, every stage is a two-night rhythm of sightseeing and rest, linked by comfortable coach travel.
Days 1–3Begin in Ankara with Anıtkabir and the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, then drive to Boğazkale to walk the Lion Gate, Great Temple and Yazılıkaya sanctuary in a landscape that still feels like an empire’s capital.
Days 3–6Pontic royal tombs, a harbour fortress, Ottoman mansions and mirror-like lakes make the north the journey’s most scenic chapter, with every stop offering a different shade of old Anatolian town life.
Days 7–10Creative Eskişehir, Rumi’s Konya, the white salt plain and legendary Gordion close the route with a rich contrast of living culture, Seljuk spirituality, wide landscapes and Phrygian archaeology.
This 11-day Turkey heritage itinerary starts in Ankara, reaches Hattusa and Amasya, follows the Black Sea to Sinop, explores Safranbolu, Yedigöller, Lake Abant, Mudurnu and Eskişehir, then visits Konya, Tuz Gölü, Beypazarı and Gordion. Every full touring day includes at least four places, listed under each day below.
Tap any day to see what you will visit, where you will sleep and what is included. Timings may change with traffic, weather and opening hours.
Meet your representative at Esenboğa Airport and transfer to your hotel. An optional evening stroll through Kızılay and along Atatürk Boulevard introduces Türkiye’s modern capital before the ancient story begins.
Your representative meets you at Esenboğa Airport and drives you to the hotel. In the evening, Kızılay’s cafés and Atatürk Boulevard’s wide avenues give a first, relaxed picture of the Turkish capital before the ancient story begins.
Begin at Anıtkabir, the monumental resting place of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, then travel back thousands of years in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, whose Hittite and Phrygian collections prepare you for the days ahead. Finish among the lanes of Ankara Castle.
Anıtkabir’s ceremonial avenue leads to Atatürk’s monumental mausoleum, then the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, set in an Ottoman bazaar, unfolds Neolithic, Hittite and Phrygian treasures that explain every site you will meet in the following days.
Drive to Boğazkale, once the capital of the Hittite Empire. Walk beneath the sculpted guardians of the Lion Gate, trace the Great Temple foundations and meet carved processions of gods at Yazılıkaya before continuing to Amasya.
Hattusa was the Hittite empire’s capital, a Bronze Age city of lion-guarded gates, giant walls and temples. Nearby Yazılıkaya shows twelve marching gods carved into natural rock chambers, one of the best-preserved religious sanctuaries of ancient Anatolia.
Explore Amasya, where royal tombs are carved into a cliff above Ottoman timber mansions. Continue to Samsun, where Atatürk landed in 1919, then onward to the sheltered harbour town of Sinop.
The Pontic kings’ tombs are cut into a vertical cliff above Amasya’s river and Ottoman mansions. After Atatürk’s Samsun, Sinop’s fortress and sheltered harbour show why this peninsula was a Black Sea trading and naval outpost for millennia.
Revisit Sinop’s fortress and its austere historical prison, take time at the harbour, then travel inland to Safranbolu, where timber-framed mansions, tiled roofs and bazaar lanes still shape everyday life.
Safranbolu’s merchant mansions of whitewashed walls, timber frames and tiled roofs climb its valley slopes. Evening wandering through craft shops and saffron stalls shows how Ottoman caravan trade shaped the town’s architecture, food and daily rhythm.
Walk Safranbolu’s historic centre, then climb into the forests of Yedigöller, the Seven Lakes, before settling beside Lake Abant. Scenery varies by season and weather: autumn colour, spring green or winter snow.
Yedigöller’s seven lakes sit in dense beech, pine and oak forest, while Lake Abant’s still waters mirror the surrounding hills. Walks and viewpoints offer fresh air and photography in a season-shaped landscape of green, gold or snow.
Wander Mudurnu’s quiet streets of wooden façades, then discover Eskişehir, where the restored houses of Odunpazarı, small museums, galleries and Porsuk riverside cafés show heritage living inside a modern university city.
Odunpazarı’s restored Ottoman houses now hold museums, glass studios and cafés, a living neighbourhood rather than an open-air museum. The Porsuk River promenade adds bridges, gondola-style boats and the youthful energy of a university city.
Spend the day in Konya, the Seljuk capital and home of the poet and mystic Rumi. The turquoise-domed Mevlana Museum is the heart of the Mevlevi tradition. The exact Day 8 schedule and hotel are subject to final confirmation.
Beneath its turquoise fluted dome, the Mevlana Museum holds the tomb of the 13th-century poet Rumi, whose verses on love and compassion are loved worldwide. Konya’s Seljuk monuments and the Mevlevi dervish tradition give the city a calm spiritual depth.
Cross the Anatolian plateau to Tuz Gölü, a vast shallow salt lake whose white surface changes with the seasons. Arrive in Beypazarı for timber mansions, silverwork and its famous layered baklava. This is a long driving day.
Turkey’s second-largest lake becomes a white mirror of salt crust and shallow water, changing colour with season and light. After this open landscape, Beypazarı offers silverwork, timber mansions and its famous layered baklava.
Visit Gordion, the Phrygian capital. Step into the passage of the Midas Tumulus, hear how Alexander the Great cut the Gordian Knot and see Phrygian craftsmanship in the museum before returning to Ankara.
Gordion was the Phrygian capital of King Midas, where a vast burial mound hides a timber tomb chamber about 2,700 years old. The Gordian Knot legend, in which Alexander cut the impossible knot, completes your story of Anatolia.
Enjoy a relaxed breakfast and a little free time before your transfer to Esenboğa Airport, carrying eleven days of Hittite, Pontic, Ottoman, Seljuk and Phrygian memories.
Take a slow breakfast, a final souvenir stroll or a last rest, then transfer to Esenboğa Airport for your onward flight with eleven days of layered Anatolian memories.
Read ahead about the history, culture and reason each stop earns its place on this Central and Northern Turkey tour.
A ceremonial avenue of lion statues leads to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and the museum below tells the independence story in documents, uniforms and photographs.
The Republic’s founding story
Housed in a restored Ottoman bazaar, its galleries run from Neolithic Çatalhöyük to the Hittites and Phrygians, and prepare you for Hattusa and Gordion.
Essential context for the route
Byzantine walls, Ottoman houses and craft workshops cluster around the hilltop citadel, and its viewpoints show how old Ankara sits within the modern city.
Old Ankara and city views
Two stone lions guard the entrance to the Hittite capital, and nearby are the King’s Gate and giant ramparts that show the engineering of a Bronze Age superpower.
Icon of Hittite power
The foundations of this huge sanctuary show storerooms, courtyards and the green stone of its shrine, a vivid picture of Hittite religion and administration.
Hittite religion in stone
Open-air rock chambers hold carved processions of gods and a rare sculpted underworld scene, still sheltered by the natural cliffs where Hittite festivals took place.
Rock sanctuary of the gods
Royal tombs are carved high in a cliff above the Yeşilırmak, and the climb to the castle rewards you with views over the river, bridges and mansions.
Kings carved into the cliff
Sinop’s sea walls and harbour recall a Black Sea trading port, while the historical prison offers a stark chapter of social history within the old peninsula.
Black Sea harbour history
Cinci Han, the Clock Tower and the Arasta Bazaar anchor a wonderfully preserved Ottoman townscape where merchants’ mansions climb narrow cobbled lanes.
Ottoman townscape in full
Seven small lakes lie inside deep forest with wooden bridges and quiet trails, and the colours change dramatically between spring green, autumn gold and winter snow.
Seasonal forest scenery
A mountain lake ringed by forested hills offers a gentle lakeside stroll, fresh air and a peaceful evening after the busy days of sightseeing.
A calm lakeside evening
Mudurnu’s timber houses and Eskişehir’s colourful Odunpazarı quarter show two faces of Ottoman domestic architecture, one rural and one revived as a creative city district.
Two Ottoman timber towns
The turquoise-domed tomb complex of Rumi preserves dervish lodge cells, calligraphy and manuscripts, in the spiritual heart of the Mevlevi order.
Rumi’s resting place
The sema ceremony is a disciplined act of worship, and attendance depends on availability and final confirmation of the Day 8 programme.
Subject to availability
A vast shallow lake shines with salt crust under open sky, and its look changes with season, water level and light, so access follows local guidance.
Wide white horizons
Timber mansions, silver filigree workshops and layered baklava give this town a distinctive Ottoman identity, and it is an ideal place for an unhurried evening stroll.
Silver and sweet traditions
Walk into the 2,700-year-old Midas Tumulus tunnel, one of Anatolia’s largest burial mounds, and explore the Phrygian citadel’s remains.
Phrygian royal burial mound
Phrygian pottery, bronzes and textiles tell stories of craft and burial, and the museum retells how Alexander the Great met the Gordian Knot.
Home of the Gordian Knot
Anıtkabir, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Castle District give you the Republic and the Bronze Age in a single day, with an expert guide connecting every layer of the story.
Stand beneath the Lion Gate, walk the King’s Gate and Great Temple, and follow processions of carved deities at Yazılıkaya, one of the great archaeological landscapes of the ancient world.
Rock-cut Pontic tombs hang above the Yeşilırmak, while Ottoman mansions mirror in the river below. Few towns in Türkiye combine natural drama and architecture so beautifully.
Timber mansions, caravanserai courtyards and the Arasta Bazaar show how merchants and families lived, and the old quarter is walkable at an unhurried pace.
Forest trails, mirror-like lakes and mountain air give the journey a calm, scenic chapter between historic cities, with colours that change from season to season.
Enter the great Midas Tumulus, discover the Phrygian capital and hear the Gordian Knot legend on the very ground where Alexander the Great is said to have cut it.
Please note: entrance fees, room categories and meals beyond breakfast are confirmed in writing before any deposit is taken.
Choose the scheduled group departure or travel privately. Prices are per person in euros and exclude flights.
A 25% deposit secures your place, about €572.50 per person on the group tour.
The remaining balance is due 30 days before departure.
Full refund up to 30 days before the tour, subject to the applicable booking terms.
Practical suggestions based on the route, the season and the pace of the itinerary.
May, June, September and October balance mild weather with forest colour at Yedigöller, while winter may bring snow to the lakes and cold plateau nights.
Plan for Hattusa’s Lion Gate in morning light, Amasya’s river at dusk, Safranbolu’s rooftops and the reflective Tuz Gölü at golden hour.
Days 4, 5, 8 and 9 include longer transfers, so bring snacks, a charged phone and a light layer for the coach.
Local tip: dress modestly for mosques and the Mevlana Museum, and carry small change for village toilets and craft shops.
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