Turkey: Which tour to do first?

I would suggest just doing the Best of Turkey. Get to Istanbul a couple of days early and visit the sites that it does not over such as the Basilica Cistern and the wonderful archeological museum near Topkapi Palace. The Best of Turkey is a wonderful tour

If you do both back to back, I’d suggest taking the city tour last. That way you can decide on revisiting things on the Turkey tour or using that time to see something not covered by either tour. These are great tours with so very much to see and absorb.

Hi, I’ve gone on both tours- but not back to back. The Best of Turkey in 2019 and Istanbul last year.
I would agree with the other respondents- If Possible, I would go on the Best of Turkey tour first. There are some repeats- but great to see them again.
Hope you get Yaren for a tour guide- she is fantastic and led both of my tours.
Happy planning. Turkey is wonderful.
Cheryl

I’ve only taken the Best of Turkey tour. We came in several days early and went to several sites not visited as part of the city tour. Your tour ends in Kuşadası where you can fly from Izmir to Greece, back to Istanbul, or you name it… If you don’t need to backtrack, I would suggest doing the city tour first.

I took the tours back to back, Istanbul then Turkey. We only had a couple of back to back combos to choose from, so our decision was driven by time of year of the options rather than order.

If you have lots of back to back options that fit your schedule, then I'd look next at flights. By having the Istanbul tour first, we didn't need to return there, so we flew open jaw: in to Istanbul for the start of both tours and out of Izmir after the Turkey tour. In the other tour order, you'll need to catch a flight from Izmir back to Istanbul. If you're flying Turkish Airlines, that may be your route anyway. We flew United.

If neither schedule nor flights drives your decision, then for variety, you might like the Turkey tour first so that you'll get a taste of Istanbul first and a longer stay after you return from Izmir.

Another consideration, and the reason I'm glad we did Istanbul then Turkey - where might you like to spend a few days after the tours? After our pre tour time plus tour time in Istanbul, we were happy to end in Kuşadası and spend extra time in a new place, enjoying the slower pace of the seaside town and relaxing by the pool atop the tour hotel, watching the sunsets.

Some of our Best of Turkey tour mates continued on to Greece, and your onward destination might also lead to a decision.

Either way, you can't go wrong!

I have only done the Best of Turkey tour, but spent three extra nights in Istanbul ahead of the tour. Istanbul is a big, bustling city, and that was enough time there for my tastes. A tourmate did Best of Istanbul just prior and she said there was some overlap between the two tours, but not a ton, and she was happy to repeat the experiences again with a different guide. And as always, you can opt out of activities you don't want to do, just tell the guide.

I agree with CWSocial's comment that your transportation options might drive the decision of which to do first. Izmir airport has tons of flights to Istanbul every day, but some international service to most Europe hubs (Munich, Amsterdam, etc.). Since you're in Chicago, I think Turkish air has a direct flight to Istanbul, so that might be the deciding factor.