Turkey / Region
Marmara Region
Where Europe and Asia meet — İstanbul, the Dardanelles and the inland sea between them.
Straddling the boundary between Europe and Asia, the Marmara Region takes its name from the Sea of Marmara — the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the north with the Aegean to the south. It is the smallest region in Türkiye by area, yet holds the country's largest concentration of people, history and urban energy.
Istanbul and the Bosphorus
No introduction to the region sidesteps Istanbul. The old city carries Byzantine layers — the aqueducts of Valens, the walls of Constantinople, the carved marble of Hagia Sophia — beneath an Ottoman skyline of domes and minarets. Across the Golden Horn, the Genoese fortifications of Galata still mark the old foreign quarter. The Bosphorus Strait, a narrow stretch of water where cormorants fish alongside commuter ferries, has always been the region's defining image: a city defined by the act of crossing.
Thracia and the Western Shore
West of Istanbul, European Thrace stretches toward the border with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne, once the capital of the Ottoman Empire before Istanbul, preserves a cluster of major monuments — the Selimiye Mosque, the Üç Şerefeli Mosque and the old covered bazaar over the river. The Gallipoli peninsula, on the Aegean coast, holds the memorials and trenches of the First World War campaign, now tended as a historical site among pine forests and coastal views. Around Tekirdağ and the Thracian wine country, the landscape softens into rolling vineyards and small port towns.
The Princes' Islands and the Aegean Coast
South of Istanbul, the Sea of Marmara scattered the Princes' Islands — Büyükada, Heybeliada and several smaller ones — where pine groves shade Ottoman-era wooden mansions and horse-drawn carriages still outnumber cars. The southern shore of the sea runs toward the Yalova peninsula and the mountain-ringed Gulf of Izmit, a region of hot springs and coastal ease. Across the water, the Aegean coast near Çanakkale guards the approach to Troy's archaeological layers and the windswept Dardanelles.
Food, Trade and the Land Between
The region's tables reflect its position between continents. Thracian cheese and grape molasses appear on breakfast tables. In Istanbul's markets, spices from the east meet Black Sea anchovies and Aegean olives in the same stall. The region's manufacturing ports and trade routes have long made it Türkiye's economic engine — but the land itself, where Thracia's plains meet the forested slopes above the Sea of Marmara, retains a rural calm that sits easily alongside the capital's intensity.
Places in Marmara Region
Tours that visit Marmara Region
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
8 Nights / 9 Days
Turkey's Golden Triangle
8 Nights | 3 Istanbul · 3 Cappadocia · 1 Pamukkale · 1 Kuşadası — Hagia Sophia, fairy chimneys, white travertines and Ephesus.
9 Nights / 10 Days
Turkey's Grand Cultural Journey
9 Nights | 3 Istanbul · 3 Cappadocia · 1 Gaziantep · 1 Şanlıurfa · 1 Diyarbakır — imperial capitals, surreal landscapes and the cradle of civilization.
6 Nights / 7 Days
Turkey's Timeless Classics
6 Nights | 3 Istanbul · 3 Cappadocia — imperial palaces, Byzantine churches and the surreal fairy chimneys of Cappadocia.
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.
