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.

We are going on the Istanbul tour that starts March 29th. We are going and excited to go. After Istanbul, we fly to Cappadocia on our own and then we are taking a private transfer to Antalya. I’m not worried.

Hi Tammy, I know you are going to love Turkey.

Sue (and everyone). As you can imagine, I am "monitoring" (aka living) the situation minute by minute. It is my understanding that the Iranian ballistic missiles have a range of about 1000 km. Istanbul and the RS tour destinations are all in Western Turkey, about 500 km beyond that range. So far, though hundreds of Iranian missiles have been fired at us (Israel) and various Gulf states, only 2 have headed to eastern Turkey. Turkey is a big country. The sense here is that Turkey is very very unlikely to become actively involved in the war.

Chani, thinking of you, stay safe and I hope this war ends soon.

pdxgarden, We are on the May 4 Best of Turkey tour, and are extremely concerned. These are uncharted times, no one can predict what will happen. Does everyone agree on that?

We're on the Best of Istanbul tour next month. Regarding the impact of the war...on a scale of 1 (meh) to 10 (extremely worried), we're at a 3. Paying attention to the news and registered with the State Deparment Step travel plan. Unless the tour is canceled, or the airline cancels our flight, we are going. Istanbul is in the far western part of the country...no where near the border with Iran in the southeastern part of the country. I refuse to live in fear.

It’s a great tour. You will enjoy it immensely. Turkey is a NATO country so I wouldn’t be too worried. I fly into Istanbul in October.

Here's my update almost a week later. It feels like Iran is directing most of its missiles to us and hardly any to the Gulf States. Turkey hasn't been in the news at all for the last week. There's no sense here that Turkey has any interest at all in getting involved.

And I reiterate - western Turkey is well out of range of Iranian missiles.

I understand your concern and share your age group +. I visited Turkey in 2022 and loved it so much I took a grandchild in 2023. I planned to take another grandchild this year, but have decided to forego Turkey for somewhere a little less "iffy." Two things affected my decision - the missiles sent to Turkey and the fact we are American. Make no doubt about it, all things being equal, Americans are always vulnerable in other countries, and they can always be spotted.
That being said, I always felt safe in Turkey among the people, and the people are wonderfully warm and welcoming. I do plan to go back, but not this year. If this is your "trip of a lifetime," you deserve to travel without fear and the feeling of insecurity. I believe RS tours makes safety a priority and would trust they never put their economics ahead of safety. It is a hard choice. If you choose to go, relax and enjoy....don't spend time worrying.

Thank you all for your considered opinions! I am still monitoring the situation and the discussion and weighing options. We'd still really like to go, but it's also a little bit concerning to me. I am not so worried about missiles, though I guess that could happen, even if less likely. I am more concerned about terroristic actions. Or about not being able to get flights out, or things getting cancelled, etc.

The Canadian and UK travel advisories go into more detail than our own US State Department does, and seem to take it more seriously. All are saying use extra caution. They state that terrorist acts have occured in Istanbul and Ankara, so anything could happen. Air travel seems to be a mess everywhere, and the global oil situation is making that an issue for the foreseeable future. Tomorrow is the last day for us to just cancel, and early July to try to transfer to another tour.

I guess I could waitlist a couple of other destinations departing in 2026 in the meantime? (Just thinking out loud).

jstraveler I am wondering which other tour you decided to take instead?

You can get a quick education on past terrorism in Turkey by reading Wikipedia. They have a good page dedicated to it. Tge question is, are attitudes towards the West and Jews improving or getting worse. Improving, go. Worse. Stay home. Dont know? Hmmmm

Having said that I would go in a heart beat.

I just returned from Best of Turkiye tour 3/28/26 .It is a great tour led by a affable host,Mert Taner,and there was not a moment when I felt unsafe. The Turkish people are warm and friendly and it seems most of them can separate our President,who is not popular, from most Americans, who are well received. The tour is interesting, beautiful,gives you an insight to a different world. Different but delicious food, and, as with all travel, it opens your mind and fills your senses. Istanbul, Cappadoccia, Pamukkale,Ephesus are world sites that should be experienced. Turkiye is larger than Texas and at the tours' closest we were 400 miles from Syria 500 miles from Lebanon and 800 miles from the Iran border.No one can guarantee your safety, but I did not feel less safe than I do in at home. If you are going to worry about it constantly, it will ruin your trip.But there is a big difference between perception and reality. I was in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1983, the middle of "the Troubles" . Walking down the main steet , we were passed by soldiers in armored cars, the police station had 20 foot fence topped with barbed wire with a machine gun turret at each corner,a building was still smoking from last nights' bomb. We stepped into a pub and the barman asked where were we from. I said"New York". he answered, "Jees, I could never live there, it's too dangerous!" He knew New York from movies and cop shows where people are routinely murdered. The familar seems more manageable than the new. I say go, tomorrow is never guaranteed. You are more likely to be hit by a car than a missile. Keep your eyes open. The only potential bad thing was when we finally returned ,the passport control line at Newark had 1,000 people in it. But we had Global Entry and were through in 60 seconds. Worth getting. JIm Krazit