Istanbul and Beyond

The Real Deal: Round-trip airfare, 10 nights' accommodations, sightseeing tours, meals, and local transportation from $2,299 per person.

When: Depart Mar. 1, 2007; add $100 for departures on Feb. 15, Mar. 11; $400 for Apr. 11; $500 for Apr. 21; $570 for Apr. 1, May 1.

Gateways: Boston, New York City; add $50 for Chicago; $130 for Philadelphia, Washington, D.C.; $220 for Los Angeles, San Francisco.

The Fine Print: Airport/hotel transfers, hotel taxes, 28 meals, and fuel surcharges are included. Additional airport taxes total $125 per person. Add $35 per person each way for weekend travel. Based on double occupancy; single supplement $399. For general guidelines on evaluating deals, click here.

Book By: No deadline; based on availability.

Contact: Foreign Independent Tours, 800/248-3487, fittours.com.

What Makes This a Deal: In comparison, the lowest round-trip fares we've found to Istanbul in early March are $641 per person from New York City (Iberia) and $696 per person from Boston (multiple airlines). Foreign Independent Tours includes the international airfare and, for about $1,650 more (or about $165 per person per night), it also covers 10 nights' accommodations, all meals, sightseeing tours, and regional flights and bus travel.

Trip Details: The package includes round-trip airfare to Istanbul on Turkish Air and a 10-night stay. When you arrive in Istanbul, you'll change planes and fly on to Antalya, where you'll spend two nights at the 238-room Marmara Antalya, overlooking the Mediterranean. While in Antalya, you'll visit the Archeological Museum and head to the nearby ancient cities of Perge--home to a well-preserved Greco-Roman stadium and the remains of a theater and thermal baths--and Aspendos, famous for its Roman theater.

Then you travel to Cappadocia, the central region dotted with striking natural formations, "fairy chimneys," caves, and subterranean dwellings, where you'll spend three nights at the Vera Kaymakli hotel. You'll explore Konya, whose Mevlana Museum holds the tomb of the Turkish mystic Rumi and traces the history of the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes. Visits to the open-air museum of Goreme, to Avanos known for its reddish ceramic pottery, to the underground city of Kaymakli, and to Soganli Village are also on the program.

The following morning you'll set out by private bus to the capital, Ankara, where stops include the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations within the 15th-century domed Mahmud Pasha Bazaar and the Ataturk Mausoleum, the resting place of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic.

After one night at the Radisson SAS Ankara, centrally located in the Old City, you'll proceed to Gordion, the ancient seat of King Midas, and then stop in Bursa for one night at the Almira. A sightseeing tour of Bursa covers the Grand Mosque, the Green Mosque, the Green Mausoleum, and a covered market where you'll find cotton and silk goods. A drive to Yalova and a ferry ride will bring you to Istanbul.

The trip culminates with a three-night stay at Istanbul's Marmara Pera in the hip Beyoglu neighborhood. You'll explore blockbuster city sights such as the Sultanahmet Square, the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia, and go on an evening cruise along the Bosporus, which separates the continents of Europe and Asia. There are tours of Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar and time left over to sightsee independently. Add extra nights in Istanbul before or after the trip for about $119 per person per night.

Before you go, check the State Department's Turkey Information Sheet on travel safety and read the Avian Influenza Fact Sheet. You can look up weather conditions, the exchange rate, and local time on BudgetTravelOnline.com.

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