How to get back to Istanbul from Izmir at end of tour?

Look at the top of this, or most every page on this web site and there is a grey area with "Search" in it along with a magnifying glass.
Enter whatever you are looking for and see what comes up.

How far in advance are you looking. If you check Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines for October it seems you can get a one way flight for $50 or less. These seats go fast so if you decide to book the tour you should try to book your flight from Izmir to Istanbul as soon as the seats open up. We have flown on both of these airlines within Turkey and have had good experiences with them.
https://online.turkishairlines.com/internet-booking/availability.tk

https://book.flypgs.com/Common/MemberRezvResults.jsp?activeLanguage=EN

Ha! Just goes to show how I can miss the obvious, which is contributing to my lack of enthusiasm for getting myself from Izmir to Istanbul. I'll be traveling solo, and that makes the inevitable travel hiccups a lot less fun.

It sounds like the simplest way will be to fly, since then I won't have to deal with getting from bus/train stations to the airport. I find it puzzling not to bring the tour full circle, as I would think many people who chose escorted tours are the same people who would like to avoid the hassle of arranging independent transportation.

On Kayak, I'm getting quote of $300 one-way, but when I use the Turkish Airline site, I get $60. More confusion!

That difference in cost is a good thing as it's always better to book on the airlines site, rather than Kayak or whatever other site you use to look up fares. Also I would recommend that as soon as you decide on dates of the tour you check the airline booking sites for open-jaw flights into Istanbul and out of Izmir. Most (if not all) of the return flights from Izmir will route through Istanbul anyway and then you don't have to worry about linking up the flight from Izmir with your outgoing flight from Istanbul, it would all be on one ticket.

Hello,

Yes, $60 for a one-way from Izmir to Istanbul seems about right. It's only an hour flight and there a few airline options. FYI, when I was in Turkey a few years ago I took two separate one-way flights and I had trouble paying online with the smaller airlines (such as Pegasus) with my credit card. You may need to call the airline to book if this happens.

You will have a great time! Turkey was so much fun!

After the tour, a lot of folks continue on to Greece by ferry. On our tour, the driver headed for Istanbul after dropping us in Izmir (probably to have a couple of days off before the next tour) and we had local bus and driver for the last day or two.

I had no trouble buying a separately ticketed flight online on Turkish Air from Izmir to Istanbul. In Izmir they even routed my luggage through to Tel Aviv and gave me a boarding pass for the int'l flight. That gave me a few luggage-free hours to enjoy Istanbul and some of my new RS friends before going home.