5 Nights / 6 Days
Eastern Anatolia & Ancient Kingdoms
5 Nights | 3 Mardin · 1 Van · 1 Kars — honey-colored limestone, Akdamar Island and the haunting ruins of Ani.
Turkey / Town / village
Anıtlı
A quiet Anatolian village where the rhythm of rural life plays out through ancient lanes, local gardens, and encounters with the people who call it home.
Also part of The Monasteries of Tur Abdin
Nestled into the landscape of central or southern Anatolia, Anıtlı presents itself as a village where time moves at its own pace. Stone houses cluster along lanes worn smooth by generations of footsteps, and the call to prayer drifts across a landscape of dry hills and cultivated fields below.
A village shaped by the land
Agricultural terraces and orchards mark the boundaries between the village and the surrounding countryside. Depending on the season, wheat fields catch the wind, apricot and pomegranate trees bloom in gardens behind stone walls, and the sound of water moving through irrigation channels marks the path between plots. Walking here means passing through a landscape that has been tended in roughly the same way for centuries.
The pace of village life
Morning begins early, with light, smoke rising from low chimneys, and the sounds of animals moving in the outer lanes. A visitor walking through encounters a daily rhythm built around tending crops and livestock, conversations in village tea gardens, and children making their way along lanes between stone walls. The small mosque, an old building with a modest courtyard, anchors the village centre, with a tea garden nearby where older men gather and observe the quiet passing of the day.
Walking through Anıtlı
The lanes move between cobblestone and packed earth, past low whitewashed houses with wooden shutters, fig trees spilling over courtyard walls, and quiet corners where the main sound is wind moving through the trees. This is not a place of famous sights. It is a place to walk slowly, to notice the texture of daily life, and to sit with a cup of tea while the afternoon passes. The mosque courtyard becomes a gathering place as the day cools. Evening brings the smell of bread or stew from somewhere nearby, and the sky turning deep above the dark silhouette of the hills.
A visit to Anıtlı offers the experience of a village that has kept its own character, a place with its own pace that has not been shaped by the demands of mass tourism.
On the map
Find it on the map
- Anıtlı Town / village
Tours that visit Anıtlı
8 Nights / 9 Days
From Mesopotamia to the Caucasus
8 Nights | 1 Gaziantep · 1 Şanlıurfa · 1 Diyarbakır · 3 Mardin · 1 Van · 1 Kars — Göbeklitepe, Mardin and the haunting ruins of Ani.
11 Nights / 12 Days
The Ultimate Eastern Turkey Expedition
11 Nights | 3 Cappadocia · 1 Gaziantep · 1 Şanlıurfa · 1 Diyarbakır · 3 Mardin · 1 Van · 1 Kars — fairy chimneys, Mount Nemrut, Mardin and the haunting ruins of Ani.
14 Nights / 15 Days
The Ultimate Journey Across Turkey
3 Nights Istanbul | 3 Nights Cappadocia | 1 Night Gaziantep | 1 Night Sanliurfa | 1 Night Diyarbakir | 3 Nights Mardin | 1 Night Van | 1 Night Kars
Good to know
Before you book you should know
-
Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
-
Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
-
Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
-
Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
-
Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
