Private tailor-made tours of Turkey: itinerary, pace and hotel category chosen by the client

A private tour is made of the same services as a published programme, booked for the passengers in the request and for nobody else:

Outside the base are international flights, travel insurance (recommended), tips, drinks and optional activities such as the balloon flight in Cappadocia or a boat excursion, which are quoted separately when the client asks for them.

A private tour is quoted within 24 business hours from the moment we have the complete details. The agency receives the proposal net and sets its own selling price; a traveller who asks directly receives the price of the trip. In both cases the proposal carries the day-by-day programme, the services included and not included, the price per person in a double room, the single supplement and the payment and cancellation terms.

The details that let us quote right the first time:

• Who travels: number of adults and the age of each child.
• Dates of arrival and departure or, if flexible, the month and the number of nights.
• Cities or regions the client wants to include, and those they rule out.
• Hotel category and room arrangement.
• Pace: whether they prefer full sightseeing days or free time, and whether they want a guide every day or only on the main visits.
• Guide language, meal plan and any special dietary or mobility needs.

The price of a private tour moves with the number of passengers (a vehicle and a guide are shared between two or between six), with the season, the hotel category, the domestic flights and the meals included. That is why we do not publish amounts for private tours: each proposal is calculated for your request.

Requests are sent through the quotation form, by e-mail or by WhatsApp. An individual traveller chooses "Individual traveller" in the first step of the same form.

Once the proposal is accepted in writing, we confirm hotels, domestic flights, guide and vehicle, and send the final programme and the vouchers with the confirmed services and the contacts on the ground. The person who prepared the quotation follows the file to the end of the trip, and the emergency phone line is answered around the clock.

What sets the operation of a private tour apart:

• The client sets the order of the day. The guide proposes and the passenger decides: start later, stretch a visit, swap a museum for a neighbourhood. The content of the programme stays the same, but the timetable is theirs.
• Closures are easier to work around. Museums have a weekly closing day, working mosques close during prayer times and Hagia Sophia has visiting rules that may change without notice. With a single vehicle, the day is reordered on the spot.
• Domestic flights are issued in each passenger's name, exactly as it appears in the passport, in economy class; the baggage allowance is the one on the ticket. The day's programme adapts to the confirmed flight.
• Religious holidays (Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı, on moving dates) change opening hours and fill flights and roads; the quotation flags it when the dates coincide.
• The balloon flight in Cappadocia is optional, is confirmed in the early hours and is cancelled for wind or visibility. On a private tour there is usually room to try a second sunrise if the first morning is cancelled; the quotation says so.

A private tour can go to any destination we operate. Istanbul and Cappadocia are the usual starting point; Ephesus and Kuşadası and Pamukkale are added by air or by road; the Turquoise Coast fits when there is time for the sea. Southeast Turkey, with Göbeklitepe and Nemrut, and Eastern Turkey, with Kars and Ani, are destinations where the private format is the norm, because distances and seasons call for a programme made for each traveller. Extensions to Egypt, Jordan or the Greek islands are operated only attached to a Turkey tour.

The commercial terms of a private tour are the ones published on the agents page, and they apply in the same way when the request comes from an individual traveller:

• Deposit of 30% of the total when the booking is confirmed; for bookings made 30 days or less before departure, the full amount at confirmation.
• Balance of the remaining 70% no later than 31 days before departure.
• Cancellation: more than 90 days before departure, handling fee only plus penalties on services already issued; 25% between 89 and 61 days; 50% between 60 and 31; 100% at 30 days or less and in case of no-show. Refunds are made within 10–14 business days of written cancellation.
• Payment by bank transfer or credit card, with a 3% surcharge on card payments.

Each proposal repeats these terms and adds the specific ones of the services it carries, such as those of a domestic flight already issued.