Day 1: Kalkan, Kas or Fethiye - Pamukkale - Ephesus (L, D)
Leave your hotel in Kalkan, Kas or Fethiye in an air-conditioned minivan and drive inland on your way to Pamukkale.
If time allows, stop for lunch on route, then continue to the UNESCO-listed site, a series of petrified, calcium-rich terraces whose name means ‘Cotton Castle’ in Turkish. As you travel, hear how Pamukkale is formed from hot springs flowing down a cliff and then petrifying into snow-white terraces, waterfalls and basins that look like they're carved from cotton candy.
Admire the terraces and then visit Hierapolis, where the relics of a Greco-Roman spa city lie above Pamukkale. Enjoy free time to explore Hierapolis' ruins, including the main street, city gates, necropolis and impressive amphitheater.
You can also use your time to walk on Pamukkale’s terraces or bathe in Cleopatra’s Pool (own expense), a spring pool lined with broken Roman pillars. Alternatively, visit the Hierapolis Archaeology Museum (own expense) to see some of the incredible treasures unearthed at the site.
Leave Hierapolis and, after a stop at a textile workshop to see local weavers at work, continue to Sel uk, a town near Ephesus. On arrival, check in to your hotel in time for dinner.
Overnight: 4-star hotel in Sel uk
Day 2: Ephesus - Kalkan, Kas or Fethiye (B, L)
After breakfast, check out of your hotel and drive to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage site of Ephesus.
Enter the ancient site, one of the Mediterranean’s best-preserved Roman cities, and explore the timeworn streets of what was once a thriving outpost of the Roman Empire.
Walk the marble roads past shops and buildings that once filled with people and noise. Be sure to see highlights such as the baths, Great Theatre and stunning Library of Celsus, and if you wish, visit the Terrace Houses (own expense) where excavated houses show how wealthy Ephesians lived.
After your visit to Ephesus, drive to the House of Virgin Mary, said to stand on the site of the last home of Mary. Then, after lunch in Sel uk, take a look around the nearby, ruined Temple of Artemis, once one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Finally, travel back to Kalkan, Kas and Fethiye, where your tour ends at the original departure point.
