Turkey Itinerary: 5 Days for a First Visit (2026)

Historic & Cultural

Topkapı Palace

The Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1853, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans. Construction, ordered by the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, began in 1459, six years after the conquest of Constantinople.

Plan 3 hoursClosed every Tuesday

Religious Sites

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. It was formerly a church (360–1453) and a museum (1935–2020). The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537, becoming the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture". From its dedication in 360 until 1453, Hagia Sophia served as the cathedral of Constantinople in the Byzantine liturgical tradition, except for the period 1204–1261 when the Latin Crusaders installed their own hierarchy. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as a mosque, having its minarets added soon after. The site became a museum in 1935, and was redesignated as a mosque in 2020.

Plan 1 hour

Religious Sites

Sultan Ahmed Mosque

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as the Blue Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I. It attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.

Plan 45 minutes

Historic & Cultural

Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Today it is a square in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square. The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos, horse, and dromos, path or way.

Historic & Cultural

Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The cistern, located 150 metres southwest of the Hagia Sophia on the historical peninsula of Sarayburnu, was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Today, it is kept with little water for public access inside the space.

Plan 45 minutes

Museums

Istanbul Archaeology Museums

The Istanbul Archaeology Museums are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace. These museums house over one million objects from nearly all periods and civilizations in world history.

Plan 2 hours

Historic & Cultural

Galata Tower

The Galata Tower, officially the Galata Tower Museum, is a medieval Genoese tower in the Galata part of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey. Built as a watchtower at the highest point of the mostly demolished Walls of Galata, the tower is now an exhibition space and museum, and a symbol of Beyoğlu and Istanbul.

Plan 45 minutes

Religious Sites

Rüstem Pasha Mosque

The Rüstem Pasha Mosque is an Ottoman mosque located in the Hasırcılar Çarşısı in the Tahtakale neighborhood of the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey, near the Spice Bazaar. Named after Rüstem Pasha, who served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman I, it was designed by the Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan and completed in around 1563. The mosque is noted for the many different designs of İznik tiles that cover almost every vertical surface both in the interior and under the entrance porch.

Plan 30 minutes

Shopping

Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world.

Plan 2 hoursClosed every Sunday

Historic & Cultural

Column of Constantine

The Column of Constantine is a monumental column commemorating the dedication of Constantinople by Roman emperor Constantine the Great on 11 May 330 AD. Completed c. 328 AD, it is the oldest Constantinian monument to survive in Istanbul.

Historic & Cultural

Obelisk of Theodosius

The Obelisk of Theodosius is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III, first erected during the 18th dynasty of Egypt. It was re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD.

Museums

Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum is a museum in Sultanahmet Square in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey which first opened in 1914 and in 1983 moved into the palace of Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, the second grand vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent. The building was constructed in 1524. The collection includes notable examples of Islamic calligraphy, tiles, and rugs as well as ethnographic displays on various cultures in Turkey, particularly nomad groups.

Plan 1.5 hours

Historic & Cultural

Ephesus

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, a city-state that was also the capital of Arzawa, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

Plan 3 hours

Historic & Cultural

Library of Celsus

The Library of Celsus is an ancient Roman building in Ephesus, Anatolia, located near the modern town of Selçuk, in the İzmir Province of western Turkey. The building was commissioned in the years 110s CE by a consul of the Roman Empire, Tiberius Julius Aquila Polemaeanus, as a funerary monument for his father Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, former proconsul of Asia, and completed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, sometime after Aquila's death.

Historic & Cultural

Temple of Hadrian

The Temple of Hadrian is a historic site located in the ancient city of Ephesus, in Selçuk, Aydın. It was built in the 2nd century AD in honor of Emperor Hadrian and features Corinthian order architecture. The temple is notable for its rich reliefs depicting the founding legend of Ephesus and mythological stories. It is within walking distance of Ephesus (425 m), the Celsus Library (119 m), and the Church of Mary (795 m).

Historic & Cultural

Prytaneion (Ephesus)

The Prytaneion is a historic site located in Selçuk, Aydın. It served as the religious and administrative heart of the ancient city of Ephesus. Built during the 3rd century BCE under Lysimachos, the Prytaneion housed the sacred eternal flame, which symbolized the city's existence and was crucial to keep lit. The Prytaneion is within walking distance of Ephesus (624 m), the Celsus Library (373 m), and the Temple of Hadrian (254 m).

Religious Sites

Church of Mary

The Church of Mary was an ancient Christian cathedral dedicated to the Theotokos, located in Ephesus. It is also known as the Church of the Councils because several councils of importance to the history of Early Christianity are assumed to have been held within, although only the first one is accepted by Chalcedonian Christians. The church is located in the south stoa of the Olympieion next to the harbor of Ephesus.

Religious Sites

İsa Bey Mosque

The İsa Bey Mosque, constructed in 1374–75, is one of the oldest and most impressive works of architectural art remaining from the Anatolian beyliks. The mosque is situated on the outskirts of the Ayasluğ Hills at Selçuk, İzmir.

Historic & Cultural

Temple of Ephesian Artemis

The Temple of Artemis or Artemision, also known as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to a localised form of the goddess Artemis. It was located in Ephesus, near modern-day Selçuk in Turkey. In antiquity, it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Historic & Cultural

Basilica of St. John

The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian was a basilica in the city of Ephesus. It was constructed by Justinian the Great in the 6th century, at a site where John the Apostle was said to have been buried. It was modeled after the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

Museums

Ephesus Archaeological Museum

The Ephesus Archaeological Museum is an archaeological museum in Selçuk near the Ancient Greek city of İzmir, Turkey. It houses finds from the nearby Ephesus excavation site. Its best-known exhibit is the ancient statue of the Greek Goddess Artemis retrieved from the temple of the goddess in Ephesus.

Plan 1 hour

Historic & Cultural

Isa Bey Hamam

İsa Bey Bath or Grand Bath is an old bath in Selçuk. A bath inscription found in the garden of a house near the bath is thought to belong to this bath. According to the five-line construction inscription written in Thuluth script, the structure was built by Hacı Hoca Ali, son of Salih, in October or November 1364.

Museums

Kent Belleği Müzesi

Located in Selçuk, Aydın, the Kent Belleği Museum is housed in a former tobacco warehouse built in the second half of the 19th century. The museum serves as a time capsule, showcasing Selçuk's 8600-year history and cultural heritage. It can be visited Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 17:30 and on Saturdays from 10:00 to 15:00. It is 139 meters from Selçuk train station.

Closed every Sunday