Traveling to Turkey Right Now (2026)??

Hi, Sue.
I haven't taken that particular tour, and we aren't traveling to that area this year, but we have taken several RS tours. Here's what I can assure you of: if the company learns that travel in the area won't be safe, they will cancel the tour. They have a high interest to keep their customers safe.
The other thing for you to think of is, what is your comfort level with risk? If the war situation will cause you anxiety about flying to Europe, getting home, etc, then you may want to postpone or select a different tour. Only you can make that choice, and no one knows the future.

We haven’t been on this tour but it is on our shortlist. On the RS tours we’ve taken, several of the multi-tour alumni have singled the Turkey tour as one of their favorites.

If we were booked on it, we’d too be a bit anxious given events. (With that said, we might be less worried about hostile stares and more worried challenging stairs. Ah, aging is a challenge.) If you are worried and that worry would take the fun of it, maybe a different tour isn’t such a bad idea. As for actual safety, we trust the RS team to cancel dangerous tours. Good luck!

Happy travels

September is 6 months away. Why do you need to make the decision now? Have you already put a deposit down? If so, the final payment for the tour wouldn’t be due until 60 days prior to the tour and RS lets you change to a different tour up until that time.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/tour-conditions

FWIW, I took the RS Turkey tour in 1991. A couple of months after signing up for the tour, the Persian Gulf War broke out. RS offered to refund our deposits if we were uncomfortable traveling. I was nervous and I had my deposit refunded. When the war ended, I signed up again for the tour. It was an excellent tour.

I took this tour and loved it but it was a different time and situation from now. Regardless, you will have to make the decision based on your personal risk tolerance and the imperfect information available at this time. That decision is as individual as the number of humans on this planet. No one knows what will be happening in September.

As noted, RS will cancel tours if the situation is dangerous. Read their tour conditions for information about their obligation to you if that occurs. I believe you can also transfer to a different tour with seats available but check the details for timeframes. If you decide to stick with it, consider travel insurance that covers the situations you concerned about (read fine print some do not cover conflicts or military actions) and book airfares that can be adjusted in your favor.

HI we are booked on this Best of Turkey tour starting May 4, and have airline tickets booked to leave home on April 27. We are of course watching the developments with close attention. We've contacted RS Tours too, and they are monitoring the situation. We made our final payment in February, so the only way we can get a refund (besides illness of us) is for RS to cancel the tour. We are thinking of Plan B of going elsewhere in Europe in the event the tour is cancelled on short notice, as our air tickets are booked and could possibly be modified. We have cancellation insurance but it wouldn't apply in this event. We are 4 Canadians, so the world's view on our travel companions' nationality and how that might affect us hadn't been on my radar..... If I were you I would look at the RS options to move your deposit to another tour over the coming months.

For what it's worth- we have a holiday booked to Turkey in September and I am not currently worried about it at all. Of course we can't predict the future and circumstances can certainly change but as things currently stand I would go.

I've made some light edits to ensure that this thread can stick to the intended topic and avoid politics. Thank you all.

I see this is one of 2 places you have asked " Is Turkey safe?"

So as to not develop an ulcer or endure mental anguish for 6 months you can:
a) trust that RS won't go there if it's not safe in Sept
b) cancel or transfer to another tour that goes somewhere that you feel comfortable with.

I see all the Sept tours have "wait lists", so I suspect the RS office would be willing to accommodate a change for you.

Thank you, Webmaster. I too made edits before seeing that you did. I don't want to stir anything up. I appreciate everyone's comments, too. Thanks! All of it will help us decide what to do.

Yes, it is a ways out and I could wait and try to transfer to another trip. We aren't wealthy so getting our deposit back matters to us. I did book flights and the hotel in Istanbul, but I believe those are able to be changed without too much cost. (I book with air miles on UA, anyone with experience changing those?)

I was/am still looking forward to visiting Turkey, whether this year or later on. And yes, if I am beset with worry (not like me) or at all anxious (more like me) I won't enjoy it. So ...

Hi, Marta here from the Rick Steves' Europe customer support team. Our leadership, including Rick, is monitoring the situation carefully with input from our local partners on the ground, as well as guidance from the US State Department and trusted international authorities. As of now, based on the information that's available, we plan to continue all 2026 tours as scheduled, including in Turkey. We're happy to discuss your specific tour scenario if you reach out to our team in Edmonds, WA at [email protected].

I have on multiple occasions in recent years canceled frequent-flyer flights on United and then rebooked them on a somewhat different schedule. The miles were redeposited without issue (though I think not instantly--I had enough in my account that I didn't need to worry about that), and the taxes were refunded to my credit card. I think the taxes came back faster than the miles.

One thing I will say for your future consideration when booking with miles: I am glad I decided to book my flights as individual, one-way mileage tickets rather than roundtrips. On United, the miles required do not vary. Booking each leg individually has allowed me to change the outbound flight without touching the return flight. I think--but am not sure--that if you just wanted to change the outbound flight on a roundtrip booking, that would open up the entire roundtrip and possibly mean the mileage cost could go up on the return flight, even if you weren't changing it.

Important caveat: United has a deal (the name of which I don't recall) that gives you a free ticket within Europe if you book a roundtrip or multicity itinerary with miles. In other words, you can book NYC-Rome, Rome-Paris and Paris-NYC while paying only for the two transatlantic segments. Your ability to take advantage of that nice deal evaporates if you book NYC-Rome and Paris-NYC separately. It is an intriguing perk for those with mileage accounts. I don't think there's any limitation on that middle leg, other than that it must be within Europe and available for miles as well as dollars. So in the example I gave, I think the free middle leg could be Istanbul-Madrid. Mind you, I've never taken advantage of this deal, for the simple reason that I don't get my itineraries figured out early enough to do so.

On the original topic: I'm flying to Bosnia on April 30. For me that is no cause for worry. If I had a trip planned to Turkey in September, I really wouldn't be worried at all. To be really callous about it (sorry), Iran is likely to run out of missiles long before September. For more imminent trips to Turkey, I'd be thinking about options and watching the news, but I wouldn't be in a rush to cancel. The reason Turkey is different from Bosnia (for me) is that Iran has missiles that can reach most of Turkey; Bosnia is farther away.

I book with air miles on UA, anyone with experience changing those?

Last year I cancelled two United flights booked with miles. I did this online. In both cases, the miles were redeposited to my account almost immediately. The taxes took about a week to be credited back to my card.

Laura's probably right; believe her rather than me.

Just adding a couple of points on UA award tickets:

• It doesn't matter if you booked one way or RT, the UA app or online will allow you to easily change the segments you desire
• It isn't necessary to cancel the ticket and start from scratch (this way if you just need to change the outbound the booking engine will handle it). In this sense, the UA app is far superior to almost any other airline app
• Keep in mind that it pays to play with your tickets as frequently better routes/direct flights open up that you can easily switch too sometimes for less miles and less taxes (the latter if you avoid connecting in London or Frankfurt)

The free middle segment that acraven referred to was known as the "excursionist perk". Unfortunately, UA did away with it last August

Thanks for the new-to-me information, Arnold. At least I no longer have to feel like I'm wasting money/miles by not taking advantage of the excursionist perk.

Thanks Marta for the info. I will continue to monitor this thread, and may reach out a bit later. Like you all I am watching and waiting. And thank you all for the great feedback, it's very useful, I appreciate it!

Thank you for posting this. We are booked for a RS Turkey tour in May. We haven’t made final payment yet and are debating whether we should go or not. I appreciate the thoughtful comments. Turkey is a NATO member and I am guessing the one missile launched was more of a warning. The bigger concern for me is targeting US tourists in Turkey. My trust in state department advisories is limited at this point.
Anyone else booked for Turkey in next 3 months with similar concerns?

I count 30 departure dates for the 13 day Turkey tour.

There are 20 available slots in total. . ( 820 of 840 are taken)

Only 9 tours have any open slots.

I suspect people are paying attention, but planning on going.