Christmas & New Year Tours & Trips in Turkey

Our trip to Turkey was absolutely unforgettable and exceeded every expectation. We were so fortunate to have the most knowledgeable and professional guide, Tamir. His depth of historical knowledge was incredible, but what truly set him apart was his strategic planning. He adjusted our daily schedule by just 10–15 minutes at key sites — and it made all the difference. We would literally be finishing at major attractions just as the large tour buses started rolling in. It felt like we had these iconic places almost to ourselves. That level of foresight and experience is priceless. Tamir was organised, calm, flexible, and genuinely passionate about ensuring we had the best experience possible. We also experienced an air-conditioning issue with our van during the trip. Without hesitation, management organised a replacement overnight. A new driver travelled approximately eight hours to deliver a new van to us the very next day. That level of commitment and service truly impressed us. The entire experience was seamless, professional, and incredibly well managed. We felt looked after every step of the way. We highly recommend this team to anyone considering a trip to Turkey — you will be in the best hands.

The tour was great! Very well timed. We enjoyed that it was guided but we also had free time to discover. We got a great sense of what turkey has to offer and what we could go back to visit further. We enjoyed the air conditioned van for our group of six. The driver and the guide in Spanish were very attentive and patient and always on time!

Iglesias does a nice job of integrating regional travel experiences, nearly seamlessly. There was only one extended wait for a connecting bus, by the side of a highway, on our way to an airport. You are not traveling with the same group, as you are with other tour co's like Intrepid or G Tours, for better or worse. In our case, that was completely fine. 2 out of the 3 tourguides we had in Cappadocia and Ephesus were outstanding - very knowledgeable, great communicators, and very organized. Unfortunately the 3rd tourguide we had for Pamakkule was a disaster - disorganized, inexperienced, and immature (she was all of 22 yrs old). We were left largely in the dark as to where we were, where we supposed to be, and what the history of the area was. She even criticized us for reading placards instead of listening to her, when she hadn't even told us where we could find her to hear her pearls of wisdom. She walked much faster, ahead of most of the group, leaving us behind, and talking only to those walking right beside her. Her voice was also so soft, half the group couldn't hear her on the bus at all. Interestingly, she mentioned that her family owned Iglesias, which may explain why she was entrusted with a tour group. When we complained to Iglesias that this tour was very substandard, we were assured our concerns were taken seriously, but offered no compensation of any sort. Also, Iglesias was also oddly inflexible on moving the included airport transfers one day forward and back, which I highly recommend if you want to have any time to explore the many sights in Istanbul. They wanted to charge us $60US for each transfer. We met other tourists who reported they had much more accomodating tour companies. Still the hotels and food were very good, and the transportation fairly coordinated, so rounding up to 4 stars. We will choose a different company in the future, though.