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 / Region
Eastern Anatolia
High, cold and enormous — Lake Van, Ararat, and the Armenian and Urartian kingdoms that were here first.
Arriving in Eastern Anatolia, the first thing that registers is the scale. The plateau stretches between ranges of jagged mountains under a wide sky, the air thin and sharp, especially in the spring months when snow still clings to the high passes. This is Turkey's largest and highest region, a landscape that has shaped the character of its people as much as its history.
The Land and Its Scale
Mount Ararat rises at the border — a symmetrical double peak, the highest in Turkey, visible from many directions across the plateau. Between the mountain ranges lie broad valleys, glacial lakes and rivers that carve deep gorges. Lake Van, one of the largest soda lakes in the world, sits at the eastern edge, its mineral-rich turquoise waters ringed by volcanic hillsides. The altitude means cool summers and cold winters that arrive early and stay late. Villages cluster in sheltered valleys, their stone and timber houses built low against the wind.
Layers of History
The region sits at the crossroads of ancient Anatolia and the Iranian plateau, and the land carries the weight of many passages. Rock reliefs carved by Hittite rulers stand near mountain roads. Medieval Georgian churches, some still in use, rise from valleys near the borders with Georgia and Armenia. The stone caravanserais that dot the plains speak to centuries of trade between Persia and the Black Sea coast. In Doğubayazıt, Ishak Paşa Palace sits on a hillside — an eighteenth-century Ottoman outpost with elaborate stone carving, its domed interiors looking out over a sweeping valley.
The Taste of the Plateau
Food here is shaped by the demands of altitude and hard winters. Pastırma — paper-thin slices of heavily spiced, cured beef — originates from this region, as does sucuk, the garlicky dried sausage spiced with cumin and fenugreek. In the markets of Kars and Erzurum, pastırma hangs in long rows, the air dense with its particular cured-meat scent. Tea is poured at every opportunity, from small glasses, and ayran — the salted yogurt drink — accompanies most meals. Flatbreads baked in clay tandır ovens are thick and chewy, built to stick with you through a cold day. In Erzurum, the local cağ kebabı — meat carved directly from a rotating spit onto bread — gives a straightforward taste of the grill culture of the highlands.
Tours that visit Eastern Anatolia
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
