Ancient Turkish Wine & Ruins | 4-Day Tours
Based around Izmir, the Turkish Aegean wine route is a fantastic experience on so many levels. You can add one of our Aegean wine tours (complete with ancient Ephesus) to the wineries in Thrace, and maybe even Cappodocia. Our Turkish wine experiences will not disappoint.
As you can see from the video and the photos below, there are some very picturesque and often highly impressive wineries, plus plenty of lovely countryside scenery to enjoy. Read our Blog on the recent Aegean recce here.
The wine tasting experience in Sirince is a little different
For this tour, we would fly from Istanbul to Izmir where you would be picked up at the airport to start your wine experience. It is just a one-hour flight from Istanbul to Izmir so we can use the afternoon of your arrival for a winery visit. Below is just a suggestion of what can be done on a 3-night stay, so please talk to us about your preferences. If you would like less or more wine-related activity then just let us know, everything is flexible and can be custom-fit.
Aegean Wine Route – Tour Overview:
Day 1 | Arrival in Izmir – transfer to hotel your hotel, check-in – spend the afternoon visiting a winery close to the city of Izmir, Nif winery for example, for a tour and tasting. A lunch stop will be made to try some traditional Turkish food.
Note: The option to stay at a winery hotel exists – please ask us to explain.
Day 2 | Full day of ancient ruins and wine. Drive just over an hour to the historic and beautiful Ephesus and have a guided tour of this ancient site – Then we visit the excellent Lucien Arkas winery for a tasting of their superb wine and also enjoy something to eat.
Day 3 | Visits to three wineries on the Aegean wine route, the lovely Urla will be one of them along with USCA and one other, plus a winery lunch. Too much to tell you about in a short paragraph, you can read some extra details below.
Day 4 | What you do today will depend on your flight time – whatever we do we will then take you to the airport to fly to Istanbul.
You can see from the overall plan above that there are many wineries to choose from in the region. Whichever places we choose to visit we highly suggest to include the tour of ancient Ephesus. This is an incredible ancient site and luckily is very easily combined with the Lucien Arkas winery on our Aegean wine tours.
Some of the wineries are new-builds and with high investment; Urla and Lucien Arkas are such places for example. The properties are beautifully appointed and the wine is very well made. A number of native varieties will be tasted over your three days down here, Foca Karasi and Bornova Misketi are two of these unusual grapes. Of course, Okuzgozu and Bogazkere will also be in evidence.
Some of the wineries will be smaller, more boutique-style places. USCA is a nice example of this. Some places you can choose to tour the production areas or walk the vineyards and in some places, we will enjoy eating something with great views. At ALL places we will taste some good wines.
In common with all of our wine experiences, our Aegean wine tours are totally flexible and can be custom designed to suit you. If you want more wineries, or some non-wine activities – no problem. Want to stay in Izmir at an urban hotel? Or perhaps in a vineyard or at the beach? Just speak to us and let us help you plan.
