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 / Museum
İshak Paşa Palace
Rising from the slopes of eastern Anatolia, this 18th-century palace blends Ottoman, Persian and Seljuk styles across its courtyards, harem and elaborately carved stone facades.
İshak Paşa Palace rises from a rocky hillside on the edge of the town of Doğubayazıt, in far eastern Türkiye near the Iranian border. Its cream-coloured stone facades, punctuated by rows of arched windows and intricately carved balconies, make it one of the most distinctive Ottoman-era buildings in Anatolia. The palace complex grew over several decades in the 18th century, combining residential wings, administrative chambers and a mosque into a sprawling ensemble that reflects the architectural tastes of the era.
Architecture and Layout
The palace is arranged around a series of courtyards that climb the hillside in tiers. The lower courtyards once served practical purposes — stables, storage rooms and kitchens — while the upper levels held the formal reception areas and private quarters. The facade facing the approach road is the most striking: a long terrace of arched windows and ornate stonework that curves gently with the slope of the hill. Carved relief panels depicting flowers, geometric patterns and calligraphic inscriptions decorate the window surrounds and door frames throughout the building.
Inside, rooms open off narrow corridors and broad halls. Many retain their original painted ceilings and the tilework borders that once lined the lower walls. The throne room, elevated above the main courtyard, has a high dome lit by windows set deep in the walls — a feature that fills the space with a particular quality of light in the afternoon. The harem wing, separated from the public areas, contains smaller rooms arranged around a private courtyard, giving a sense of how the household was organised.
The Setting
The palace sits at the foot of a dark volcanic ridge, with open steppe stretching away to the south. On clear days Mount Ararat rises in the distance to the north-east, its twin summits visible on the horizon above the plain. The town of Doğubayazıt clusters around the base of the hill, its streets built from the same pale stone that gives the palace its colour. The elevation means there is little shelter from the wind, and the building can feel exposed to the sky — a quality that adds to its sense of solitary grandeur against the vast eastern landscape.
Visiting
Today the palace operates as a museum. The rooms that can be entered are spread across several levels, connected by stone stairways and ramps. Visitors move through the public wing first, then the harem section, before emerging onto the upper terraces where the view extends across the plain. Information panels inside describe the different functions of each area and the families who built and lived in the palace over its decades of construction.
On the map
Find it on the map
- İshak Paşa Palace Museum
Tours that visit İshak Paşa Palace
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.
