Private 12-Day Eastern Turkey Odyssey: Trabzon, Kars & Ani, Mount Ararat, Lake Van, Mardin & Mount Nemrut

A private 12-day overland journey through Turkey’s least-visited and most dramatic region – from Sümela Monastery on the Black Sea to the stone heads of Mount Nemrut. You travel with one private driver from Trabzon to Adıyaman, crossing high plateaus, volcanic lakes and the edge of the Mesopotamian plain.

Your own licensed guide every day: every departure includes a private, licensed English-speaking guide plus a private vehicle and driver – only your group, never strangers. Prices are per person and get lower the more people travel together (1 to 8 travellers).

This route is designed for experienced travellers, photographers and history lovers. Departures are daily from mid-May to mid-October, when mountain passes are open.

Highlights

• Ani – the ruined medieval Armenian capital on the border with Armenia (UNESCO).
• İshak Pasha Palace in Doğubayazıt, with Mount Ararat (5,137 m) behind it.
• Lake Van – Turkey’s largest lake and the 10th-century Church of the Holy Cross on Akdamar Island.
• Hasankeyf and Mardin – stone towns above the Tigris and the Mesopotamian plain.
• Göbeklitepe and Mount Nemrut (UNESCO) – from the Neolithic to the Commagene kings.

Entrance fees: not included, so you only pay for the sites you want. We recommend the Museum Pass Türkiye (about €165 per person), which covers most museums and archaeological sites on this route.