Expertise and Specialisation
We specialise in delivering the very best cruising and land-based sightseeing tours in Turkey.
Using both traditional gulets and new yachts we offer you the ability to join a set departure sailing itinerary around the Greek islands and beautiful Turkish coast, to charter a yacht on a bareboat basis, or charter a fully staffed gulet or yacht for your own holiday of a lifetime.
On land we are known for our high quality tailor-made sightseeing tours, walking trips and special interest holidays that reveal the wonderful history, landscapes and culture of Turkey and its people to the traveller.
We can provide ground services such as arrival transfers as well as offering a choice of select, hand-picked properties that can be booked individually for a day, a week or longer.
As we are tailor-made specialists and given our long history we have relationships with the best suppliers around Turkey - we can command and pass on the best rates for ground services. Choose from our suggested itineraries or allow us to use our experience to create the perfect trip for you.
Licences and Associations
Arya holds a group 'A' tour operator license with the Turkish Tourism Authority (TURSAB), so we and our clients have the security of endorsement from Turkey's governing tourism body. In line with TURSAB standards, our clients are fully insured. In addition, we are committed to upholding high industry standards.
Responsible Travel
Arya Yachting and Tours is locally owned and operated and we employ a majority of Turkish nationals in both our office and on-board our boats.
In accompanying us you are directly providing employment to countless people, from the office staff and crew, to all the people you meet in bars and shops on-shore during your time with us. This is complimented by the associated employment your travelling with us provides to the service teams who maintain and look after out gulets in the winter months, again providing an income at a time when work is traditionally low.
Gulet Tours in Turkey and Greece
Season: Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct
Our tours are made with our fleet of traditional Turkish wooden boats known as "gulets" and are sold on a cabin basis, with you joining a group of like-minded travellers – the perfect, cost-efficient way of exploring!
Generally boats have 6 cabins for 12 persons, but upon request boats with 4 cabins for up to 8 persons, and even 9 cabin boats for up to 18 persons maybe used. The boat's name will not be made available prior to the day of embarkation, as numbers will dictate which boat is best allocated.
We don’t charge for tea, coffee or water on our Cabin Charter programmes. Each guest is provided with a booklet in their own language about the specific sailing region, and a couple of land excursions are included in the price.
Our Gulets generally motor from place to place, raising the sails only when the wind is favourable. Your captain will see to it that your cruise moves along at a good pace. He decides on departure times, excursion times and meal times according to the composition of the group, and weather conditions. The captain has the right to alter the itinerary when necessary.
On of the highlights of these trips is that you share your yacht with a number of different nationalities. Meal times will provide you with a good opportunity to get to know one another and you will find that strangers who share a love of the sea and an interest in nature and history quickly turn into friends.
The crew aboard our gulets and yachts often do not have a foreign language mastered, but they almost always know enough 'everyday' phrases and are able to understand all requests.
Private Gulet Charter in Turkey
Season: Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct
A gulet charter is a cruise offered on a traditional or luxury gulet with accommodation for 2 to 24 persons. The boats are chartered with captain and crew. You will be charged on a daily rental basis regardless of the number of people who join your group. As you will have rented the whole yacht for your party, you will be able to decide on the route and the dates of your trip yourselves (normal arrival/departure day is Saturday).
Traditional gulets blends practicality and tradition in a relaxed style that embodies the Blue Voyage. The interior design and style is generally simple and clean, perfect for the Mediterranean climate and being on the sea.
Luxury gulets offer you a higher standard of equipment and services. These gulets are fully air-conditioned and have a richer choice of water sports and leisure possibilities than the traditional yachts. The price and the gulet services also differ from our traditional gulets. These gulets can be chartered for periods of less than a week only during the off-season.
Meals and drinks on board are not included and can be offered on enquiry depending on the desired standard of gulet.
Sightseeing and Tailor-Made Tours of Turkey
Season: Year round
Arya offer a tailor-made tour service - let your imagination run free and then contact us to help tailor make your holiday, completely tailored to your needs and desires.
You can plan your own, unique holiday by choosing the places and/or activities which are of interest to you, and let us use our in-depth local knowledge to create and put together an exclusive tailor-made itinerary just for you.
You can combine any of the programs we offer in any way you choose. If you would prefer to discover Turkey escorted by a professional guide then we have a choice of tours to choose from, the guides who usually lead these tours are knowledgeable people who know and love their country and the routes they are travelling. A number of them have been working in this sector for more than a decade, and they have helped to assemble these programs.
We can assist with all areas of your holiday, including domestic flights, transfers, coach tours, accommodation, guides and gulets.
We hope that we can have the pleasure of accompanying you as you visit Turkey.
Turkey Hotels and Accommodation
Season: Year round
Arya has selected a range of hotels, villas and holiday cottages for you. Each meets our exacting requirements and can be booked either alone or with each other to make a tour. It could be a night or two in a hotel in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul, before your connecting flight to Bodrum where you are to meet your private gulet chartered for a weeks Blue Cruise. Or perhaps you have chosen to take a hiking tour in Cappadocia followed by a stay in a traditional cottage in the midst of the Mandarin groves in Bitez.
Let us recommend the right property for you.
Classic Sightseeing Tours of Turkey
Season: Year round
We offer a several set-itinerary tours to allow you to discover Turkey:
On The Way To The Coast
This tour is intended for our guests who want to visit Istanbul and the classical sights of Western Turkey before or after their gulet cruise. Normally this tour is carried out with one of our licensed guides; but you can also follow this program on you own, driving a rented car.
West Anatolia & Cappadocia
A tour combining aspects of western and central Anatolia. We have operated this tour frequently in recent years, and we would be glad to send you the detailed program on request.
North-Eastern Turkey
This tour is more of a cultural journey with hiking thrown in. The unusual route will allow you to glimpse at the more charming, non-touristic side of Turkey. The program we favour is arranged for flights from/to Istanbul, with onward travel by bus. The same program can also be covered in 9-10 days with internal flights from Istanbul to Erzurum and Trabzon to Istanbul.
South-Eastern Turkey
Tours starting from Adana proceeding on to Antakya, the Nemrut Dag, Urfa, Diyarbakir, Mardin and finally Van. If you wish to extend your visit to the east for another week, you may continue towards the north via Dogubeyazit, Kars, Erzurum and Artvin-Rize, leaving the region from Trabzon.
Please see our holidays or contact us for more details.
Biblical Tours of Turkey
Season: Year round
Asia Minor has served as a bridge between the East and the West and has a rich legacy in Christian history. After Israel, the lands of present day Turkey host the greatest number of the most frequented locations in the Old and New Testaments.
2000 Years of Christianity
Departing from Ankara, this 14-day program takes you to the famous rock churches of Cappadocia, Tarsus the birthplace of St. Paul, Konya and centres such as Perge, Derbe, Lystra, Kolosse, Laodiceia, Milet, Ephesus, Izmir (Smyrna), Pergamon, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardes in Western Anatolia. The tour ends in Istanbul and can be shortened to 10-12 days depending on your group's time limitations.
Churches of Istanbul
A trip of 3 to 7 days walking the paths of the Christian faith in Istanbul with a combination of Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Syrian, Bulgarian and even Turkish Orthodox churches along with Roman Catholic and Protestant churches of the Levant.
In addition, we will of course visit the essential spots of the city like the Topkapi Palace, Mosques, The Grand Bazaar and a cruise on the Bosphorus.
7 Churches and Christian Sites of West Anatolia
A week-long tour which covers the seven cities of Laodiceia, Milet, Ephesus, Izmir (Smyrna), Pergamon, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Sardes in St. John's letters.
Tur Abdin Monasteries & Christian sites of East Anatolia
A journey from Antioch (Antakya) to Van in 7-10 days. Highlights include: Antioch, one of the most essential Christian centres in the establishing centuries of Christianity, Nemrut Dag, Tur Abdin, Urfa, Diyarbakir and Van.
The Georgian Athos and Black Sea Coast
7 to 10 days in north eastern Turkey (Trabzon - Artvin - Erzurum) with hikes in a marvellous landscape. Mainly Georgian churches and monasteries are visited, but also examples of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox faith in the nearby surroundings can be added to the program.
Drawing, Painting and Photography Holidays in Turkey
Season: Year round
Sights like the extraordinary silhouette of Istanbul or the amazing natural formations in Cappadocia invite the perceptive onlooker to capture those visions in some form such as drawing, painting or photography.
However the pace of normal tours are designed to cover a lot of ground in as short a time as possible not allowing such leisurely artistic endeavours.
By a slower rhythm and lengthened stops at places of interest for your party we hope to offer you a more flexible program and the opportunity to record what you see in whichever technique you choose.
Contact us for details.
Food and Beverages
On our Cabin Charters we provide accommodation on a full-board basis, with all meals included in the price. It’s no exaggeration to say that we provide some of the best floating cuisine in Turkey, with a wide range of local delicacies provided, including fresh fish. Vegetarians and other specialist diets can be accommodated if we are advised of your specific needs a reasonable time in advance. We stock a wide range of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, available at very reasonable prices.
Land-based tours can be arranged on any basis you choose. We generally recommend that we make arrangements for our guests on a bed and breakfast basis, allowing you to explore and discover local restaurants in each location.
Accommodation
On board our boats
Facilities on board our gulets depends on the category of gulet or yacht chosen.
All cabins have their own en suite bathroom (shower & WC). Showers vary in style, some have a pull-out shower hoses from the hand basin and some gulets have shower cubicles. Luxury gulets have shower cubicles, some bathrooms have hair dryers, jacuzzi massage shower and / or hydro-massage and steam bath.
Electricity supply on most of the boats runs over 12 or 24 volt. Please consider this if you want to take battery-run or electric shavers, video cameras etc. - be sure to leave your hairdryer back home, as it is better to dry your hair under the sun. On most of the traditional yachts (and on all Luxury category boats) are generators for 220 volt supply which runs a few hours during the day-time and on the evening for charging the batteries, refrigerators, deep freezers, and also for air-conditioning.
Gulets have an indoor saloon, a quarterdeck for dining and lounging in the shade of a sun awning and a foredeck with numerous sun beds which can be shaded by a canopy when the yacht is not sailing.
There are a small selection of board games and cards on the boats and on most of the traditional yachts there is a TV and CD/DVD player in the saloon.
On luxury yachts there is normally satellite TV, HD televisions/DVD players/CD players in the saloon and in the cabins.
On most of the traditional yachts there are canoes, snorkelling and fishing equipment on board whilst our Luxury gulets offer many varieties of water sports such as kayaks, wind-surfers, water-skiing, canoes, wake-boarding, knee-boarding and scuba diving.
Water sport activities requiring the use of fuel and the Zodiac tender are at extra cost which can be paid to the crew locally.
On land
Arya has selected a range of hotels, villas and holiday cottages for you. Each meets our exacting requirements and can be booked either alone or with each other to make a tour. It could be a night or two in a hotel in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul, before your connecting flight to Bodrum where you are to meet your private gulet chartered for a weeks Blue Cruise. Or perhaps you have chosen to take a hiking tour in Cappadocia followed by a stay in a traditional cottage in the midst of the Mandarin groves in Bitez.
Transport
We operate both land-based and sailing itineraries and thus transport differs for each. On land we use a variety of air-conditioned vehicles from sedan cars to minibuses and larger midi-coaches depending on the size of your group. All are maintained to the highest international standards and are driven by smartly-dressed, qualified and responsible personnel who will assist with luggage, all just as you would expect.
On the water the Arya sailing fleet offers traditional wooden yachts, new steel yachts, and bareboat charter yachts. Each of our boats, be it a traditional gulet or luxury yacht, are lovingly cared for and maintained to the highest standards.
Our gulets are all crewed and offer a variety of styles of accommodation, the traditional gulet offering a more simple accommodation and design, whilst the luxury gulets offer an opulent style and a higher standard of service. Whatever your budget we have a gulet to suit your requirements, whether it be a romantic special occasion for two or a party of twelve, just let us know your wishes and we’ll recommend the best value for money gulet.
The gulets and boats we offer are categorised into 4 groups to give variety and choice. These categories consider the technical specifications, equipment on board, luxuries and current condition of the gulet and are:
Gulets
The “gulet” blends practicality and tradition in a relaxed style that embodies the Blue Voyage , the interior design and style is generally of simple, clean, and perfect for the Mediterranean climate and being on the sea.
Luxury Gulets
For those guests who want to discover the enchanting region of Mediterranean without having to abandon a sense of style and luxury, Arya offers the best selection of luxury gulets, yachts with higher standard of equipment and services. All boats are fully air-conditioned and have a wider range of water sports and leisure possibilities like kayaks, water skiing, wake boarding, mono skiing, knee-boarding, windsurf, jet ski and scuba diving.
Bareboat / Sailing yachts
Those who have sailing experience and would like to sail a yacht themselves are also welcome. The home port of our bareboats is Marmaris where we offer you a good standard of yachts from European manufacturers like Bavaria, Benetteau, Jeanneau und Dufour.
If you wish, we can assist with: finding a skipper, organising transfers to your yacht and purchasing provisions prior to your arrival. On enquiry we can also offer bareboats from Göcek or Bodrum.
Local Guides
All our crewed vessels are staffed by experienced crew who know the waters intimately. A Captain takes charge of the overall running of the vessel, assisted by a Mate. The Cook will ensure all your gastronomic needs are catered for, and assist elsewhere as necessary. A feature of our holidays is the opportunity, should you wish, to explore Turkey’s stunning archaeological sites on-shore. Clients often explore alone, however at your request we can provide expert local guides during your visits.
Age Restrictions
Accompanied by adults, children of any age are welcome and will positively thrive in the warm waters of the Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
What to Bring
Swim-suit, towel, lightweight / sheet sleeping bag or duvet cover for sleeping on deck; snorkelling equipment, sun protection, sun hat and a beach towel. Remember that you will probably spend most of the time in your bathing suit!
For land trips a pair of long and light trousers and a shirt or T-shirt is advisable. You will also need shoes that can stand with stony paths.
Evenings especially in the early and late seasons are cooler, so you may also need a pullover.
Bring your belongings in a bag rather than a suitcase, because it is easier to store bags in the cabins.