Other tour company recommendations for Turkey?

I have done 13 programs with Road Scholar although I have not been to Turkey with them. They have a similar model to Rick's where there is no tipping, it's included in the price. Although you always get some who insist on publicly tipping the guide and others who want to start a collection but I usually squash that idea and remind them that Road Scholar states tipping is included.

I'm on a couple of FB pages for Road Scholar (Women of Road Scholar and Friends of Road Scholar) which you might want to join. There have been some posts about trips to Turkey so you might get some information there from people who have actually gone.

Thanks for the suggestion Pam. I looked at their Turkey tour, and I like the itinerary, but it is almost twice the price of RS. In Canadian dollars, that’s pretty significant. Still, might be worth saving for.

Oh yikes...that is a LOT of difference! Road Sch does have more meals than Rick's tours provide BUT not enough to be twice the price!

You could look at tours by Odysseys Unlimited or Gate One (be sure to look at Gate One’s “small group” or “ discovery” tours that are limited to 22 people and include almost everything. Their “classic” and other tours can have as many as 40 people and often have a lot of optional tours that must be paid for separately.) Unfortunately, almost all tour companies besides Rick require tipping, but I’ve never had a guide who wasn’t perfectly happy to accept local currency, easily obtainable from an ATM. My experience with optional tours was that the company accepted credit cards. I’ve never had a tour “require” me to have large amounts of US cash. In fact, I’ve rarely used US cash in my travels to some 38 countries. The exceptions were Cambodia and Ecuador where they use US dollars as their currency.

However, don’t get too discouraged about the waitlist. It’s not unusual for people to drop out just before the final payment is due (60 days before the tour begins). You might want to ask RS where you are on the waitlist - if you’re number one, there may be hope. If you’re a much higher number, maybe not.

My first trip to Turkey was with Smithsonian/Odysseys. (Smithsonian tours to Turkey are basically rebadged Odysseys tours. The itinerary and accommodations are identical.) Smithsonian includes all tips, except for the gulet cruise, in the price. (There is some kind of cultural thing about not including the gulet tips.) I am not sure whether Odysseys has the same policy.

Anyhow, the itinerary was perfect. A representative from Odysseys, who called with a question about our sleeping arrangements shortly before the trip, told me that the Odysseys tour of Turkey is one of the crown jewels of their offerings. Evidently, the Turkey tour was the first tour the company offered, and the president of the company still takes the tour once a year. The itinerary and activities have been honed over decades.

Our tour guide was hands down the best tour guide I have ever had on a tour. (Sadly, he had to move to the US after the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.)

The accommodations were all first rate. If anything, they may have been a bit more high end than I would have preferred.

My neighbors took a G-Adventures tour to Turkey last year, and they enjoyed it. The accommodations are definitely at the lower end, and a lot of the meals are on your own. I think that G-Adventures is very good if you want to experience more of a local flavor, and approach the tour with a sense of independence and adventure.

Thanks Renee, I don’t think I have looked at Gate 1 before. They have a Turkish treasures tour that looks similar to RS. The difference is that you do pay extra for several optional activities, and that puts the price up by about $700, putting it in a similar price range to RS. Might be worth a closer look.

Hi Anita - I just returned from an Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) tour of Turkey 2 days ago and just loved it. It is slightly longer than the RS tour and includes 3 nights in Istanbul, 3 nights in Cappadocia (we were in Ugurp), 3 nights in Antayla, 4 nights on a gulet which motors along the mountainous Mediterranean coast, dropping anchor in bays with turquoise water. We had daily trips ashore via dinghy for some hiking (not too strenuous) to see ruins, visited a nomad family, explored an abandoned village Karakoy, etc. And 2 nights in Kusadasi. Price also includes 2 internal flights - from Istanbul to Kayseri (Cappadocia region) and from Izmir to Istanbul at end of the tour. Group limited to 14 because of the number of cabins on the gulet. Hotels were well situated. Travelers were slightly older and less fit compared to the 3 RS tours I have been on. Great guide. Tipping of guide done at end of the trip. Once outside of Istanbul, we traveled on a full sized bus. Optional balloon ride was $300 extra but so worth it. If you book early enough you can get a 'solo' spot (meaning room to yourself) without paying a supplement. Make sure if you are comparing prices that you indicate that you don't want to include airfare in the quoted price. Oh, I just checked their website and the solo spots are pretty much booked up for 2024 and 2025.

Sloo, that sounds like a wonderful trip! I will take a look at the website and if things don’t work out this year maybe I will use them in the future.

One of my concerns with waiting for someone to cancel just two months before is that I may pay a lot more for airfare, and I might not be able to book extra nights in the hotel pre-trip. So I’m not really sure how long to wait before making other plans. When I last emailed RS I was told that if a spot opens up they email everyone on the list, but would try to contact me first. No guarantee. The last spot on the tour was booked end of December, and I added myself to the waitlist two weeks later so I might be the first one on the list, but they don’t seem to go in order.

When I went to Turkey in 2022 I worked with Turkey Insiders (https://turkeyinsiders.com/). They don't run tours as such; rather, they put together a personalized itinerary that consists of different tours you take based on your interests. They will also take care of hotel bookings and all transportation within Turkey. They do have some packaged itineraries, but you can use those as a starting point and they'll work with you to customize the exact itinerary you want.

If you're interested in knowing more, send me a PM. I can give you all the details about my itinerary, but it's too much to include in this post.

I've also done a number of OAT tours, though not their Turkey tour, but I would definitely recommend them as well.

Thanks Lane, that’s a good site. There is some great information on the top sight etc. They do have a couple of longer tours, but they don’t list prices. I might email them as I am curious how their prices compare to other companies since they are based in Turkey. They also don’t mention the size of group.

Anita, they don't do group tours. They put together custom itineraries. Then each day, you might have a tour with a small group. You won't be with the same tour group the entire time. (I did share three tours with the same couple, and we became good friends by the end.) The smallest tour I had was three (that couple plus me); the biggest was about 12 (group van tour from Kusadasi to Pamukkale). And they don't list prices because everything is custom. But I found them to be extremely reasonable.

I have done a couple of G Adventures. I usually do the National Geographic ones which have better hotels that are well located and top guides are used on these. For tips, I’ve often just contributed a sum to a kitty and the guide takes care of it all and the tip for the main guide is at your discretion.

Many companies have optional extras or don’t inline every meal because it allows for more flexibility and for everyone’s budgets. If you don’t want a meal, you aren’t losing on something you already paid for.

I’ve also used Exodus travels and really like them. The tours are smaller group the RS. I spent a week in a villa in the Italian countryside on one walking through untouristed towns an jour one so outside Venice. It was fabulous.

Thanks for clarifying that, Lane, so when I see a 15 day tour they are just putting together several short tours in a row. That’s an interesting way to do it, and it does make it more customizable.

Thanks for the suggestion of Exodus KB, I will take a look.

This is sooooo disappointing. I have been holding off on making other travel plans, hoping a spot would open on the Turkey tour I’m waitlisted for. Today I went out for about an hour to do some errands, and when I came home there was an email that spots had opened up. I was so excited, and quickly clicked the link to book the tour only to get a message saying it was full!!. Thinking it might be a mistake, I called RS tour office and explained. She checked and confirmed it was full. I told her I had been advised that I would be prioritized (I have been on the waitlist since mid Jan.). But, she said that since two spots opened up they sent the email to everyone on the list. I am so upset! Why do they do it this way? It almost feels like they don’t want solo travellers.