# The places we take you

Every city, ancient site and village on our itineraries, with the tours that visit them.

## Turkey

- [Aegean Region](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/aegean-region/): Olive groves, Greek ruins and a coastline of bays, from İzmir down to Bodrum.
- [Akdamar Island](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/akdamar-island/): A forested island in the highlands of eastern Türkiye, crowned by a medieval Armenian chapel renowned for its intricate stone carvings and panoramic views across Lake Van.
- [Amasya](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/amasya/): A historic city carved into a river valley where Pontic kings built tombs, Seljuk princes raised mosques and Ottoman architects lined the Yeşilırmak with handpainted konaks.
- [Ancient City of Ani](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ani/): Once a thriving medieval capital of the Armenian Kingdom, Ani's stone ruins now stand on a dramatic plateau overlooking the Türkiye-Armenia border.
- [Ancient City of Dara](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/dara/): Carved into a rust-red gorge in southeastern Türkiye, Dara was a Byzantine fortress city guarding ancient trade routes. Its rock-cut tombs and massive walls still stand.
- [Ancient City of Perre](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/perre/): Perre's limestone cliffs hold centuries of history in their carved facades, from Commagene royalty to early Christian monks, all set above the ancient road that once linked Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean.
- [Antalya](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/antalya/): Antalya blends Roman grandeur, Ottoman charm and Mediterranean ease along Türkiye's sun-drenched southern coast.
- [Anıtlı](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/anitli/): 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.
- [Artvin](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/artvin/): Artvin sits where the Black Sea coast meets steep green mountains, a gateway between Türkiye's highlands and the Georgian border, with ancient stone churches above tea gardens and the Çoruh River below.
- [Avanos](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/avanos/): Avanos sits beside the Kızılırmak River in the heart of Cappadocia, a town whose clay-rich banks gave rise to one of Anatolia's oldest craft traditions.
- [Balıklıgöl](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/balikligol/): Balıklıgöl in Şanlıurfa is a cluster of sacred pools where, according to Islamic tradition, Abraham was cast into fire by Nimrod — the fire became water and the burning brands turned into fish that swim here still.
- [Bartın](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/bartin/): A provincial capital on a calm river, Bartın preserves Ottoman wooden houses, an old stone bridge and easy access to the Black Sea coast.
- [Basilica Cistern](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/basilica-cistern/): An underground Byzantine water reservoir from the 6th century, with forest-like columns and famous Medusa heads, beneath the streets of Sultanahmet.
- [Bayburt](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/bayburt/): Nestled in high plateau and river valleys, Bayburt ranks among Türkiye's least-visited provincial capitals — where mountain air, historical layers, and local life intersect quietly.
- [Beyoğlu](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/beyoglu/): Istanbul's most animated district unfolds across a steep hillside of 19th-century facades, from the Galata Tower to Taksim's buzz.
- [Black Sea Region](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/black-sea-region/): Green, wet and steep: tea terraces, cloud forest and monasteries built into cliffs.
- [Blue Mosque](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/blue-mosque/): Istanbul's Sultan Ahmed Mosque, called the Blue Mosque for its tilework, holds six minarets and a prayer hall lined floor to ceiling with hand-painted İznik ceramics in blue and white floral patterns.
- [Bodrum](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/bodrum/): Bodrum layers ancient ruins, a medieval castle, and a working Aegean port into one town where the past and present occupy the same streets.
- [Bolu](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/bolu/): A Black Sea city of cedar forests and alpine lakes, Bolu rewards those who linger with fragrant kebab shops, steaming stone pots, and trails through wildflower meadows.
- [Bosphorus Strait](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/bosphorus/): On the Bosphorus, you feel the city breathe differently — two continents separated by a sliver of swift, dark water that has shaped Istanbul for millennia.
- [Cappadocia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/cappadocia/): Cappadocia's soft volcanic rock, shaped by millennia of wind and water into fairy chimneys and cliff-side caves, invites you to walk between worlds — above and below, ancient and alive.
- [Cendere Roman Bridge](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/cendere-bridge/): A well-preserved Roman bridge of ashlar limestone spanning the Cendere River, built under Emperor Septimius Severus and once flanked by sphinx statues.
- [Central Anatolia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/central-anatolia/): The high steppe at the middle of the country — Cappadocia's valleys, Konya's dervishes, Hittite capitals.
- [Church of the Apostles (Kars)](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/church-of-the-apostles-kars/): A 10th-century Armenian stone church in Kars, now serving as a museum displaying regional archaeological finds from northeastern Türkiye.
- [Church of the Holy Cross (Akdamar)](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/church-of-the-holy-cross/): A 10th-century Armenian church on an island in Lake Van, celebrated for its intricate exterior stone reliefs depicting biblical scenes and interior frescoes.
- [Deyrulzafaran Monastery](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/deyrulzafaran-monastery/): A 5th-century Syriac Orthodox monastery near Mardin, once seat of the patriarchate, with honey-coloured limestone churches, ancient olive groves and underground chambers.
- [Diyarbakır](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/diyarbakir/): Ancient walls, mesir-dusted kebabs and tea overlooking the Tigris: Diyarbakır is southeast Türkiye's most compelling city, layered with Armenian, Kurdish, Ottoman and early Islamic history.
- [Diyarbakır City Walls](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/diyarbakir-city-walls/): Diyarbakır's ancient basalt walls form one of the world's longest intact fortification circuits, enclosing a historic city at the edge of the Mesopotamian plain.
- [Dolmabahçe Palace](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/dolmabahce-palace/): Once the Ottoman Empire's seat of power, Dolmabahçe Palace blends Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical styles across 45,000 square metres on the European shore of the Bosphorus.
- [Düzce](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/duzce/): Düzce stands at the crossroads of Türkiye's western Black Sea coast and its forested mountain interior, a transit city whose green surroundings, river valleys and access to both coastal and highland landscapes make it a quiet gateway between two very different faces of the region.
- [Eastern Anatolia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/eastern-anatolia/): High, cold and enormous — Lake Van, Ararat, and the Armenian and Urartian kingdoms that were here first.
- [Ephesus](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ephesus/): Ephesus is among the best-preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean, its marble streets and monumental facades revealing the scale of daily life in a great Roman provincial capital.
- [Fethiye](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/fethiye/): Carved Lycian tombs watch over a working fishing harbor, a lively market, and tree-shaded promenades in this coastal town that is also a gateway to the Turquoise Coast.
- [Galata Tower](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/galata-tower/): Rising above the historic Genoese quarter, this 14th-century stone tower offers sweeping views across the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn and the domes of the Old City.
- [Gaziantep](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/gaziantep/): Gaziantep blends ancient history with one of Türkiye's most vibrant food cultures, where Roman mosaics, copper workshops and pistachio-studded pastries meet in the old city's winding lanes.
- [Giresun](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/giresun/): On Turkey's Black Sea coast, Giresun blends mountainous green landscapes with a working port city, rooted in ancient Greek heritage and famed for hazelnut production.
- [Göbekli Tepe](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/gobekli-tepe/): The world's oldest stone sanctuary rises from the Şanlıurfa steppe — T-shaped pillars carved with foxes, snakes and aurochs, erected eleven millennia before the first Egyptian pyramid.
- [Göreme Open Air Museum](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/goreme-open-air-museum/): Rock-cut Byzantine churches and monasteries carved into Cappadocia's volcanic cliffs, decorated with centuries-old frescoes in a dramatic landscape of fairy chimneys.
- [Gümüşhane](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/gumushane/): A compact Black Sea city cradled in a forested valley, Gümüşhane rewards unhurried visitors with Ottoman stonework, mountain trails and the unhurried rhythms of a region far from mass tourism.
- [Hagia Sophia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/hagia-sophia/): Rising above the Istanbul skyline for fifteen centuries, this colonnaded monument holds the layered memory of a Christian cathedral, an imperial mosque, and a museum — all visible in one interior.
- [Harran](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/harran/): Harran sits at a crossroads where silk road caravans once rested, its ancient beehive houses and ruined mosque bearing witness to millennia of trade and pilgrimage through southeastern Türkiye.
- [Hasan Paşa Han](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/hasan-pasha-han/): A 16th-century Ottoman caravanserai in Diyarbakır's historic bazaar, where traders once rested beneath vaulted stone ceilings with goods stored below and animals stabled in the lower galleries.
- [Hevsel Gardens](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/hevsel-gardens/): Where the Tigris meets the basalt walls, centuries of terraced gardens create a lush green corridor across the Mesopotamian plain — a living landscape woven into Diyarbakır's identity.
- [Hierapolis](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/hierapolis/): Hierapolis is a Roman-era archaeological site in southwestern Türkiye, built around thermal springs and famed for its restored theater, colonnaded streets and necropolis of carved tombs.
- [Hippodrome of Constantinople](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/hippodrome/): Where Constantinople once cheered for chariot races, ancient monuments now stand in a sun-warmed square at the heart of Istanbul's historic peninsula.
- [Istanbul](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/istanbul/): Where continents collide, Istanbul layers Byzantine grandeur, Ottoman palaces, and waterfront promenades into a city that has always faced two directions at once.
- [Kahramanmaraş](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/kahramanmaras/): Kahramanmaraş, at the foot of the Taurus foothills in southeastern Türkiye, is known for its ancient hilltop castle and a distinctive sticky ice cream made with salep.
- [Karabük](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/karabuk/): A modern industrial city in western Türkiye's Black Sea highlands, with nearby Safranbolu's Ottoman architecture a short drive away.
- [Karakuş Tumulus](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/karakus-tumulus/): A towering burial mound from the Commagene Kingdom, Karakuş Tumulus rises from the plains near Kahta with weathered stone columns and ancient reliefs visible against the sky.
- [Kars](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/kars/): A northeastern Turkish city with stone-built streets and a fortress skyline, shaped by Russian imperial history and its position on the high Anatolian plateau.
- [Kars Castle](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/kars-castle/): A fortified hilltop stronghold watching over Kars, a city shaped by centuries of overlapping cultures at Türkiye's northeastern edge.
- [Kastamonu](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/kastamonu/): A historic Black Sea city where Ottoman architecture lines cobblestone streets and the Turkish flag was first raised — Kastamonu rewards slow wandering.
- [Kasımiye Madrasa](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/kasimiye-madrasa/): A 12th-century stone madrasa in Mardin's old quarter, with carved portals, a shaded courtyard and traces of centuries of Islamic learning.
- [Konya](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/konya/): In central Anatolia's steppe heartland, Konya preserves the spiritual legacy of the 13th-century poet and mystic Rumi in the domed mausoleum that draws pilgrims from across the Muslim world.
- [Lake Van](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/lake-van/): Lake Van is Türkiye's largest lake, a vast alkaline sea ringed by volcanic peaks where turquoise shallows fade to deep cobalt and the famous white Van cats wander freely.
- [Laodicea](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/laodicea/): An ancient city of banking and black wool, Laodicea's colonnaded streets, vast theatre and early churches stand on a plateau above the Lycus Valley.
- [Love Valley](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/love-valley/): Love Valley in Cappadocia features striking phallic tuff formations shaped by millions of years of volcanic activity and erosion.
- [Mardin](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mardin/): A ancient hilltop city where limestone buildings glow amber at sunset and minarets rise alongside Syriac Christian monasteries in one of Türkiye's most culturally layered landscapes.
- [Mardin Old Town](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mardin-old-town/): Steep stone streets, ancient Mesopotamian plains below, and centuries of languages carved into limestone — Mardin is a hill town where every wall tells a story.
- [Marmara Region](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/marmara-region/): Where Europe and Asia meet — İstanbul, the Dardanelles and the inland sea between them.
- [Mediterranean Region](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mediterranean-region/): The long warm shore under the Taurus mountains, from Fethiye to the Syrian border.
- [Midyat](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/midyat/): Midyat's old town rises in grey-black stone, its narrow lanes threading past centuries-old facades into a market still shaped by artisan crafts and Syriac tradition.
- [Mor Gabriel Monastery](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mor-gabriel-monastery/): One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited monasteries, Mor Gabriel sits on a rocky outcrop in southeastern Türkiye's Tur Abdin highlands, its dark stone buildings a landmark of an ancient Christian landscape.
- [Mount Nemrut](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mount-nemrut/): Ancient stone heads atop a 2,134-metre summit in southeastern Türkiye — Mount Nemrut is a UNESCO World Heritage site built by the Commagene Kingdom.
- [Ordu](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ordu/): A Black Sea port city where hazelnut groves meet the sea, Ordu rises from a coastal promenade to hillside tea gardens with views from Boztepe across the water.
- [Ortahisar](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ortahisar/): Ortahisar rises from the Cappadocian plain as a natural rock citadel, its ancient fairy chimney hollowed into centuries of cave living, tunnels and churches.
- [Pamukkale](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/pamukkale/): Cotton-white travertine terraces cascade down a hillside in southwestern Türkiye, their mineral-rich pools reflecting the sky above ancient Hierapolis.
- [Paşabağ (Monks Valley)](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/pasabag/): Fairy chimneys and ancient cave chapels mark Paşabağ, where early Christian monks carved spiritual retreats into Cappadocia's volcanic rock formations.
- [Pergamon](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/pergamon/): Pergamon's acropolis crowns a steep hill above Bergama — ancient theater, temple ruins and the vanished altar of a great Hellenistic kingdom.
- [Philadelphia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/philadelphia/): Philadelphia was one of the Seven Churches of Asia, founded in the 2nd century BC by Attalos II. Ancient ruins and Byzantine walls stand near modern Alaşehir.
- [Pigeon Valley](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/pigeon-valley/): A quiet valley carved through Cappadocia's surreal landscape, where centuries of carved dovecotes line honeycombed cliffs above a winding path between Göreme and Ürgüp.
- [Red Valley](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/red-valley/): The Red Valley is one of Cappadocia's most striking landscapes — a maze of red-rock formations, quiet hiking trails and vine-draped valleys near Göreme.
- [Rize](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/rize/): Rize is a rain-soaked, tea-thick port city where green mountains fall straight into the Black Sea and the pace of life is shaped by the harvest.
- [Samsun](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/samsun/): Samsun rises from the Black Sea coast where Atatürk first stepped ashore in 1919, beginning the nation's independence movement. Today, the port city blends maritime life with tea gardens and a forward-looking energy.
- [Sardis](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sardis/): Sardis reveals the Lydian kingdom's royal past through a temple, Roman baths and Türkiye's largest ancient synagogue, set in a fertile valley.
- [Sinop](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sinop/): At Türkiye's northernmost tip, Sinop blends a sheltered harbour, a walled old quarter of Ottoman wooden houses, and a working fishing port that anchors a rich regional cuisine.
- [Southeastern Anatolia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/southeastern-anatolia/): Upper Mesopotamia: the oldest temple in the world, Mardin's stone terraces, and the two rivers.
- [Spice Market](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/spice-market/): Istanbul's 17th-century covered bazaar where sacks of saffron, cardamom and cinnamon line the aisles and vendors slice Turkish delight to order.
- [Sultanahmet](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sultanahmet/): Sultanahmet blends layered history with the everyday rhythms of a living Istanbul neighbourhood, where Byzantine stone meets the morning call to prayer.
- [Taksim Square](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/taksim-square/): Istanbul's modern nerve centre, Taksim Square sits above the Bosphorus with the grand Republic Monument as its focal point, opening onto the long pedestrian sweep of İstiklal Avenue.
- [The Aegean Coast](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/aegean-coast/): Bays, olive terraces and harbour towns from İzmir down to Bodrum, with a Greek or Roman city behind almost every one.
- [The Kingdom of Commagene](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/commagene/): A small Hellenistic kingdom between Rome and Persia that left colossal stone heads on a mountain top and little else.
- [The Monasteries of Tur Abdin](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/tur-abdin-monasteries/): The Syriac Orthodox heartland on the plateau east of Mardin, where Aramaic is still sung in monasteries founded in the fourth century.
- [The Seven Churches of Revelation](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/seven-churches/): The seven congregations the Book of Revelation addresses, all of them within a few days' drive of the Aegean coast.
- [The South Coast](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/south-coast/): Türkiye's Mediterranean edge, where the Taurus mountains come down to water warm enough to swim in from May to October.
- [Thyatira](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/thyatira/): Among the ruins of one of the Seven Churches of Asia, discover a city where purple dye once perfumed the air and Lydia sold her famous cloth.
- [Tokat](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/tokat/): A city of layered histories and stone-lined streets where Ottoman merchant houses stand beside ancient monuments, and pastırma and local wines arrive at table with unhurried ceremony.
- [Topkapi Palace](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/topkapi-palace/): Once the seat of Ottoman power for nearly four centuries, Topkapi Palace unfolds across Istanbul's historic peninsula in a series of courtyards, pavilions and gardens overlooking the Bosphorus.
- [Trabzon](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/trabzon/): A historic Black Sea port where Byzantine churches stand beside Ottoman mosques, tea gardens climb the surrounding mountains, and the cliffside Sumela Monastery watches over forested valleys.
- [Troy](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/troy/): Winding through layers of myth and stone, Troy's archaeological ruins spread across a hillside overlooking the Aegean plain where heroes once fought.
- [UNESCO World Heritage in Türkiye](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/unesco-world-heritage/): The places on the World Heritage List that our trips reach, from the oldest temple ever found to a walled city on the Armenian border.
- [Ulu Mosque (Diyarbakır)](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ulu-mosque-diyarbakir/): An early mosque of Anatolia with Seljuk roots and a tiled minaret rising above Diyarbakır's black basalt walls, part of a historic city with deep layers of history.
- [Upper Mesopotamia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/upper-mesopotamia/): The plain between the two rivers and the limestone ridge above it, where settled life and the first temples began.
- [Uçhisar Castle](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/uchisar-castle/): A towering rock-cut fortress at Cappadocia's highest point, with centuries of defensive history written into its chambers and tunnels.
- [Van](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/van/): At the eastern edge of Anatolia, Van opens onto one of Türkiye's largest lakes, ringed by mountains and dotted with the ruins of a civilization that shaped this land 2,500 years ago.
- [Van Castle](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/van-castle/): On a volcanic hill above Lake Van, the stone walls and rock-cut chambers of an ancient Urartian fortress look out over eastern Türkiye.
- [Zeugma Mosaic Museum](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/zeugma-mosaic-museum/): One of the world's finest collections of Roman mosaics, rescued from the ancient city of Zeugma before it vanished beneath a dam reservoir, now displayed in Gaziantep's award-winning museum.
- [Zinciriye Madrasa](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/zinciriye-madrasa/): A medieval stone madrasa on MARDİN's hillside, where carved portals frame quiet courtyards and centuries of learning linger in cool, shadowed rooms.
- [Zonguldak](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/zonguldak/): A Black Sea port city built on coal mining, with steep streets descending to a working harbour, sardines sizzling on waterfront grills, and a landscape so green it feels Atlantic rather than Mediterranean.
- [Çatalhöyük](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/catalhoyuk/): Neolithic Settlement
- [Çeşme](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/cesme/): A coastal town on the Aegean where whitewashed buildings meet clear water, thermal springs, and the slow rhythm of a port that has drawn visitors for centuries.
- [Çorum](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/corum/): Çorum blends Hittite archaeology, Ottoman bazaars and robust regional cuisine, anchored by a well-regarded museum and proximity to ancient Boğazkale.
- [Özkonak Underground City](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ozkonak-underground-city/): Explore Özkonak's ancient underground city — carved tunnels, rolling stone doors and centuries of shelter beneath Cappadocia's surface.
- [Ürgüp](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/urgup/): Ürgüp anchors the Cappadocian plateau with cave-hewn architecture, a working bazaar quarter and easy access to Göreme Valley's painted churches and the Dervent Valley's surreal rock formations.
- [İshak Paşa Palace](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ishak-pasa-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.
- [İzmir](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/izmir/): An Aegean port city with layers of ancient Greek, Roman, Ottoman and modern Turkish history, where waterfront promenades meet covered bazaars and Byzantine hilltop ruins.
- [Şanlıurfa](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sanliurfa/): A city where ancient prophecy meets archaeological discovery — Şanlıurfa sits at the roots of civilisation, home to Göbekli Tepe and sacred pools associated with Abraham's birthplace.
- [Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sanliurfa-archaeology-museum/): Home to the world's oldest temple carvings, this museum in ancient Edessa holds one of Türkiye's richest collections of Neolithic artifacts from the Fertile Crescent.
- [Şirince](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sirince/): Şirince sits on a scrub-covered hillside above the Aegean lowlands, a village of whitewashed walls and red-tile roofs where olives and wine have shaped daily life for centuries.

## Greece

- [Acropolis of Athens](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/acropolis-of-athens/): Rising above modern Athens, this ancient citadel crowns a limestone outcrop with temples built for Athena over 2,500 years ago.
- [Athens](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/athens/): Athens layers five millennia of history into one walkable city — from ancient temples to vibrant neighborhoods still alive with the scent of olive wood smoke.
- [Crete](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/crete/): Crete's dramatic gorges, coastal lagoons and mountain landscapes offer some of the Mediterranean region's most varied terrain for walkers.
- [Cyclades](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/cyclades/): The ring of islands around sacred Delos — Santorini's caldera, Mykonos, Syros and whitewashed villages above the sea.
- [Delos](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/delos/): The sacred island of Delos, birthplace of Apollo, where millennia-old temples, mosaic-floored houses and the iconic Lions' Terrace stand amid near-silence.
- [Delphi](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/delphi/): Ruins on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, where ancient Greeks consulted an oracle and competed in the Pythian Games — Delphi remains one of the most evocative archaeological sites in the world.
- [Dodecanese](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/dodecanese/): Rhodes, Kos and Patmos: knights' castles and monasteries strung along the Turkish shore.
- [Ionian Islands](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ionian-islands/): Corfu, Kefalonia and Zakynthos: green, Venetian-tinged islands on Greece's western sea.
- [Knossos](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/knossos/): The ruins of Europe's oldest city sit on a low hill south of Heraklion, their labyrinthine corridors and painted columns hinting at a civilization that flourished here four thousand years ago.
- [Mainland Greece](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mainland-greece/): Athens, Delphi, Meteora and the Peloponnese — the classical heartland, from the Acropolis to Olympia.
- [Meteora](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/meteora/): Meteora's towering sandstone pillars crown six cliff-top monasteries. Hike ancient trails between these extraordinary spiritual retreats and look out over the pine-cloaked valleys of Thessaly.
- [Mykonos](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mykonos/): A town of whitewashed lanes, blue-domed churches and windmills — Mykonos Town unfolds as a series of surprises, each turning revealing a different shade of the Aegean.
- [North Aegean Islands](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/aegean-islands/): Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Lemnos — big, quiet islands off the Anatolian coast.
- [Northern Greece](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/northern-greece/): Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus — Thessaloniki's Byzantine churches, Mount Athos and the gorges of the Pindus.
- [Santorini](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/santorini/): A volcanic caldera, dramatic sea-filled crater and mineral-rich soil that gives Santorini its distinctive character — a landscape shaped by fire and centuries of cultivation.
- [Syros](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/syros/): Syros blends Cycladic island life with the grandeur of a 19th-century maritime capital — neoclassical Ermoupoli rises above the Aegean with a character unlike anywhere else in the islands.

## Egypt

- [Alexandria](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/alexandria/): Alexandroupoli is a coastal port city on the northern Aegean coast of Greece, where a historic lighthouse, a Byzantine fortress and a waterfront promenade define daily life.
- [Aswan & Nubia](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/aswan/): Granite cataracts, Philae and Abu Simbel — the Nile at its most beautiful, in Nubian country.
- [Cairo](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/cairo/): A working district on Istanbul's Golden Horn where Ottoman-era workshops, tea gardens and centuries of layered urban life meet along the water's edge.
- [Giza Pyramids](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/giza-pyramids/): The Giza plateau holds the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, three monumental tombs built for pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty.
- [Luxor](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/luxor/): On the east bank of the Nile, Luxor conceals millennia of pharaonic civilisation beneath its surface and within its standing monuments.
- [Luxor & Upper Egypt](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/upper-egypt/): Ancient Thebes: Karnak, the Valley of the Kings and the temples of Dendera and Abydos.
- [Nile Delta](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/nile-delta/): The fan of farmland between Cairo and the sea, and the Suez Canal on its eastern edge.
- [Nile River](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/nile-river/): The Nile River is not located in Türkiye — it flows through northeastern Africa, primarily Egypt, Sudan, and their neighbors.
- [Nile Valley](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/nile-valley/): Middle Egypt along the river — Fayoum, Beni Hasan's tombs and Amarna, Akhenaten's lost capital.
- [Red Sea Coast](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/red-sea/): Hurghada, Marsa Alam and some of the world's best reefs along the desert shore.
- [Sinai](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sinai/): Mount Sinai, St Catherine's Monastery and the Red Sea reefs of the peninsula's southern tip.
- [Western Desert](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/western-desert/): Siwa, the White Desert and the oases of the Sahara west of the Nile.

## India

- [Agra](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/agra/): Agra sits along the Yamuna River in northern India, home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites and four centuries of Mughal court life.
- [Central India](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/central-india/): Khajuraho's temples, the tiger forests of Kanha and the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi.
- [Delhi](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/delhi/): A lesser-known district of Istanbul on the Asian shore, Delhi blends residential calm with historic waterfronts and quiet cultural discovery away from the city's main tourist routes.
- [Delhi & the Golden Triangle](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/golden-triangle/): Delhi, Agra and the road to Jaipur — Mughal India and the Taj Mahal.
- [Eastern India](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/eastern-india/): Kolkata, Darjeeling's tea gardens, the temples of Odisha and the hills of the Northeast.
- [Indian Himalayas](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/himalayas/): Ladakh, Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand — monasteries, hill stations and the sources of the Ganges.
- [Jaipur](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/jaipur/): Jaipur, India's Pink City, dazzles with terracotta hues, grand forts, intricate palaces, and bustling markets where textiles and gems glitter.
- [Kerala](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/kerala/): Kerala's interconnected backwaters, winding through a network of lakes, canals and rivers, form one of India's most distinctive natural landscapes.
- [Rajasthan](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/rajasthan/): The land of the Rajputs: desert forts, palace cities and Jaipur's pink bazaars.
- [Southern India](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/southern-india/): Kerala's backwaters, Tamil temple towns and the ruins of Hampi.
- [Taj Mahal](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/taj-mahal/): The Taj Mahal in Agra, India, is a 17th-century white marble mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, a masterpiece of Mughal architecture combining Persian, Islamic and Indian styles.
- [Varanasi](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/varanasi/): One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, Varanasi is a living tapestry of Hindu devotion, where ancient ghats line the sacred Ganges and every alley holds centuries of spiritual tradition.
- [Western India](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/western-india/): Mumbai, Goa and Gujarat — the cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora and the Arabian Sea coast.

## Morocco

- [Atlas Mountains](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/atlas-mountains/): The Atlas Mountains stretch across Morocco like a spine of stone and snow, where ancient trails link Berber villages to valleys of almond blossom and cedar forest.
- [Aït Benhaddou](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ait-benhaddou/): A fortified ksar of sun-dried mud brick rising from the Ounila Valley, Aït Benhaddou is one of Morocco's most complete historic earthen settlements and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- [Chefchaouen](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/chefchaouen/): Tucked into Morocco's Rif Mountains, Chefchaouen's blue-washed streets and stairways, Spanish colonial square, and artisan workshops make it a memorable mountain town.
- [Essaouira](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/essaouira/): A wind-buffeted Atlantic port where coloured fishing boats crowd the harbour and a whitewashed medina spills down to the sea, Essaouira blends Portuguese fortifications, Andalusian lanes and a living artisan tradition.
- [Fes](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/fes/): Fes is one of Morocco's imperial cities, its medieval medina unchanged for centuries, where traditional crafts and age-old rhythms persist behind ancient walls.
- [Fes & the Imperial Cities](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/imperial-cities/): Fes, Meknes and Volubilis — the medieval medina and the Roman ruins below it.
- [Jemaa el-Fnaa](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/jemaa-el-fnaa/): Marrakech's ancient square at the heart of the medina, where storytellers, musicians and smoke rising from food stalls create a nightly theatre unlike anywhere else.
- [Marrakech](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/marrakech/): Marrakech wears its centuries in rose-pink terracotta. Within the medina, craftspeople still work at traditional trades while the call to prayer marks the rhythm of days and nights, and beyond the walls, gardens and palms soften the desert edge.
- [Merzouga](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/merzouga/): At the edge of the Sahara, the dunes of Erg Chebbi rise like frozen amber waves. Merzouga is a place of sand, silence and star-filled nights, where a slow walk to the dune crest changes everything.
- [Rabat](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/rabat/): Morocco's elegant capital blends Islamic, French colonial and Art Deco architecture along the Bou Regreg River, with a peaceful medina and ancient ruins to explore.
- [Rabat & the Atlantic Coast](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/atlantic-coast/): Rabat, Casablanca and Essaouira — ocean-front medinas and the kingdom's modern capital.
- [Sahara & the South](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sahara-desert/): Kasbahs, the Draa valley and the dunes of Erg Chebbi beyond the High Atlas.
- [Tangier & the North](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/northern-morocco/): Tangier, the blue town of Chefchaouen and the Rif mountains above the Mediterranean.

## Türkiye

- [Ephesus Archaeological Museum](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/ephesus-archaeological-museum/): A museum housing artifacts from ancient Ephesus and surrounding sites, with highlights including a many-eyed Artemis statue and frescoes from Roman-era residences.
- [Kuşadası](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/kusadasi/): A coastal town on Turkey's Aegean shore with a working marina and covered bazaar, Kuşadası looks toward the Greek islands and serves as the gateway to ancient Ephesus.
- [Mevlana Museum](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/mevlana-museum/): The former lodge of the 13th-century poet and Sufi mystic Rumi holds his tomb beneath a green dome, with centuries of manuscripts and Mevlevi ceremonial objects on display.
- [Temple of Artemis](https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/temple-of-artemis/): One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus drew pilgrims for centuries before falling silent—today only one column marks its vanished grandeur near Selçuk.

---
Full page: https://www.smallvoyage.com/destinations/