Istanbul, Cappadocia and Bodrum

Eleven nights between May and October, with a private guide and driver and short flights between regions. Four nights on the Bosphorus, with dinner in an Ottoman mansion with its owner; two in Cappadocia, with a tasting in a cave cellar of more than 22,000 bottles; four on the Aegean at Bodrum, whose castle holds a museum of ancient shipwrecks; and Ephesus on the way home.

Length: 11 nights
Pace: Four stays
Style: Culture, private guided, balloon, Aegean
Route: Istanbul to Cappadocia to Bodrum to Ephesus and Alaçatı

IstanbulFour nights
CappadociaTwo nights
BodrumFour nights
Ephesus and AlaçatıOne night

A domed mosque on a hill above the old city, with ferries along the waterfront.

Days 1 to 5 · four nights

Istanbul

Met at the aircraft gate. Two full days with a private guide in the old city, from the Hippodrome to Hagia Sophia, with a behind-the-scenes visit to Topkapi Palace for the harem and the palace kitchens, an hour and a half on the Bosphorus by private motor yacht, and dinner in an Ottoman mansion with its owner, an expert on its art. Another day by private boat between the villages of both shores, stepping off at Bebek and at Emirgan, where the Sakıp Sabancı Museum has opened the family rooms of the Atlı Köşk and its Ottoman calligraphy, then across to Kanlıca and Kandilli. On request, a personal tour inside one of the historic yalıs, the waterfront mansions of the Bosphorus.

Where you stay

Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus

Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus occupies Atik Pasha, a 19th-century Ottoman palace built as a secondary residence near the Sultan's summer palace, and opened as a hotel in 2008. It sits on the water in Beşiktaş, with indoor and outdoor pools, a spa with Turkish hammams, and seafood at AQUA.

Dozens of hot air balloons rising at dawn over a town and rocky valleys.

Days 5 to 7 · two nights

Cappadocia

A short flight to Kayseri, with sightseeing on the drive in. An hour aloft by hot air balloon, lunch in a family home, and a whirling dervish ceremony in an old caravanserai. In the evening, a private tasting with the sommelier in Bezirhane, the hotel's cellar in the old caves, with wines from its own 21 hectares above the Kızılırmak; by day, if you wish, ebru marbling or pottery.

Where you stay

Argos in Cappadocia

Argos sits in the village of Uçhisar, looking over Pigeon Valley to Mount Erciyes beyond. Its two restaurants, Seki and Nahita, cook with produce from within 60 kilometres and from the hotel's own garden, and a heated outdoor pool, open all year, overlooks the whole valley.

The hotel's beach from the air, rows of parasols along a curved bay, a yacht at anchor and wooded hills behind. — Photo: Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum

Days 7 to 11 · four nights

Bodrum

Flights by way of Istanbul to the Aegean. A full day on a private gulet with lunch on board, and two days left free for the beach and the spa. One of the free days can instead go inland, for a full day at little-visited Carian sites: the sanctuary of Zeus at Labranda, the Gümüşkesen Mausoleum in Milas, the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos at Euromos and the coastal city of Iasos. In Bodrum Castle, built by the Hospitallers of St John, the Museum of Underwater Archaeology shows the Uluburun wreck of the 14th century BC and a hall of medieval glass raised from the seabed.

Where you stay

Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum

Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum looks over the bay of Cennet Koyu on the northern coast of the Bodrum Peninsula, with private white sand beaches and 130 rooms, suites, apartments and villas. The spa covers 2,700 square metres over two floors, and the restaurants include Gigi, GAIA, Hakkasan and ROKA.

A marble-paved street of ancient ruins leading to a two-storey library facade.

Days 11 to 12 · one night

Ephesus and Alaçatı

North by road, about two and a half hours, to ancient Ephesus with a guide, including the terrace houses of wealthy Roman families. In the evening, a candlelit dinner inside the Library of Celsus, for your party alone, can be arranged. Then on to Alaçatı on the İzmir Peninsula for a last night before the flight home from İzmir.

Where you stay

Alavya

Alavya stands in Alaçatı, a town of cobblestone streets and old stone houses on the İzmir Peninsula, in an orchard that was once the town's open-air cinema. Its rooms are individually styled, Mitu Lokanta cooks the food of the Aegean, and the Miboso spa is on site.

Arranged on request

Bezirhane, the cave cellar

Private tastings with a sommelier in Argos's cellar in the old caves, which holds more than 22,000 vintages, including wines from the hotel's own 21-hectare vineyard.

The Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology

In the castle the Hospitallers of St John built, the Uluburun shipwreck of the 14th century BC, the Serçelimanı Glass Wreck Hall and one of the largest amphora collections in the world.

Caria beyond Bodrum

A full day inland at Carian sites few visitors reach: the sanctuary of Zeus at Labranda, the Gümüşkesen Mausoleum in Milas, the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos at Euromos and the coastal city of Iasos, arranged on request.

The Atlı Köşk at Emirgan

At the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, the mansion built in the 1920s for a prince of Egypt's Khedival family opens its family rooms of Gobelins sets and Persian carpets, with Ottoman calligraphy and manuscript Qur'ans from the late 14th century on the floor above.

Dinner in the Library of Celsus

At Ephesus after dark, a candlelit dinner held inside the Library of Celsus, for your party alone, arranged on request.

Topkapi Palace behind the scenes

A visit beyond the public rooms of Topkapi Palace, into the harem and the palace kitchens.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A longer gulet charter along the coast from Bodrum.
Ephesus after sunset, when lighting picks out the Library of Celsus, or in summer a performance in the Great Theatre during the International Ephesus Opera and Ballet Festival.
A day on foot around Bafa Lake, from the ruins of Herakleia to Yediler Monastery, past caves, rock dwellings and frescoed interiors, ending with a traditional meal in a village.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.