Top Konya Half-day Tours

Absolutely fantastic tour. Khadija was a phenomenal guide - so friendly and easy to spend time with. She was very knowledgeable about not only Catal Hoyuk but about Konya, Anatolia and other sites in Turkey. It was so valuable having her guide us, she worked to our timetable and interests. Through her we met one of the site managers for Boncuklu Hoyuk as well as someone excavating at Catal Hoyuk. Pick up was easy and everything very straightforward. Highly recommend

This tour should be compulsory for all us Westerners. Evidence that people can and did live in harmony with others. This is evidence that civilisation existed well before we claimed the honour. In fact in the face of this you'll wonder why we call ourselves civilised at all.

One of the first human settlements is enhanced by a woeld class modern museum. A journey back to one of the first known human settlements 9000 years ago. A short distance from Konya with direct bus transportation via Konya's red buses. A world treasure.

A fantastic tour, with Çatalhöyük as the highlight. The well-planned itinerary allows plenty of time to explore the site. It also includes the Archaeological Museum in Konya, which displays several artifacts from Çatalhöyük. The guide, Hussein, was excellent—knowledgeable and full of stories that brought the tour to life. Highly recommended!

I always wanted to understand Sufism. Our tour guide Mehmet was amazing. Our 4 hours walking tour with him made me to understand crisp clear. It was very well organized. Mehmet was very attentive. When he felt we got tired he gave us a break took us a coffee shop even. I highly recommend this tour.

I was privileged to have Fatima as my guide. She is also an English teacher, so her English is excellent. She is friendly and extremely well-informed on both the history of the site and the culture of the area. I found the site very interesting and would recommend a visit.

My tour guide Musam Ayaz and driver Mete were far beyond my expectations. There was never any rush. And always patient with any question. Musam’s historical insights wonderfully came full circle to Turkish contemporary culture.

A fantastic tour, with Çatalhöyük as the highlight. The well-planned itinerary allows plenty of time to explore the site. It also includes the Archaeological Museum in Konya, which displays several artifacts from Çatalhöyük. The guide, Hussein, was excellent—knowledgeable and full of stories that brought the tour to life. Highly recommended!

While we were worry how to get to Çatalhöyük Archaeological Excavation Site, we found trip through Cool Destinations. The price is good and the starting time matches our need. All the tour support staff are nice and supportive. We enjoy much. Thank you.

Our visit to Çatalhöyük was an extraordinary experience, far exceeding expectations. The site's rich history and meticulous preservation captivated us from start to finish. The exceptional archaeological exhibits, coupled with profound insights into ancient human civilization, made this experience truly unique. We highly recommend Çatalhöyük for anyone seeking an enlightening and unforgettable journey into the past, as it offers unparalleled engagement with history.

hussein was fantastic, knowledgeable, funny and friendly. he made sure the trip was memorable for our group and went beyond to make it extra special.

The best way to reach and explore Kilistra is with the wonderful, knowledgeable folks from Selene Travel. You will be glad you let the professionals take care of the logistics - Saint Paul wished he had their assistance when he was walking this "Royal Road." Kilistra is a vast ancient city, carved out of the volcanic tuff. Enjoy amazing views, intriguing design, and a "hidden" church. Take your time to explore the lookouts, the wine-making room, and the other spaces. You will most likely be the only people there - with working farms alongside the site and goats and sheep in the distance. Enjoy it.

In this write-up, I will not talk about the historical aspects of this Kilistra ancient site. You can read about this on the internet. I will try here to shed light on a few areas that might be important to prospect visitors.1. This place is about a 50-minute drive southwest from Konya. The road is paved. It consists of a good highway until you take the Kilistra Exit (14.5 Kms before reaching the destination) where it becomes a 2-way rural road, still well paved but unlit at night. You will also find that you’re the only one on this road, hardly encountering another moving vehicle even in broad daylight on a working day. Please use a car having good conditions with a good spare tire and tire changing kit. It will be very difficult if you face a car breakdown on this road where traffic is scarce, particularly if you don’t speak Turkish. Have a working GSM phone anyway and leave before dark. 2. Follow the Google Maps instructions and drive slower as you get closer if you want to reach the destination without difficulty. It took me a long time to reach it because there are no pertinent road signs and the last 200 meters consist of a narrow road (a right-turn exit) that can be hardly noticed. I went by it several times, noticed it, but thought it is a private road for livestock or agricultural equipment. 3. This particular type of settlement (i.e. ancient habitats carved in rocky wall-shaped formations) can be seen at other nearby locations as well. You can see them when you look around or climb on top of the rocky walls using the existing old staircase. I visited only this spot named “Kilistra Tarihi Yer” (it is the same site appearing in a nearby Maps pin called "Ancient City of Lystra") but if you have time you may wish to visit a couple more. I can see that there is a “Kilistra Katır İni” on the map, not far from here. 4. If you are fond of historical places like me, you will love this one. Thinking about how life was in those dug holes and experiencing the feeling is intriguing. I went up the stairs and visited each room. Among the carved rooms you will find a very small church, perhaps 3 x 3 meters, with a tiny burial chamber annexed to it. The place resembles Cappadocia but on a smaller scale. 5. It is sad that the place is not getting attention from the tourism authorities. It is unguarded, thus open to vandalism and defacement. I could notice the remains of barbecue fires, food leftovers, etc.In my view, visiting this historical place is not to be missed if you happen to be in Türkiye.

It is by far the easiest way to get out to Catalhöyük from Konya. However, it only leaves you 2 hours at the site. The digital exhibition is brilliant but we only had time to see a third of it with the pressure of the departure time. It is in English and Turkish so speakers of other languages would take longer to read all the information and interactive displays.The archaeological site itself is not as well displayed yet, but you can get a feel for how they lived so long ago.

This guided tour was excellent. We were picked up from our hotel promptly and taken to Catalhoyuk in a comfortable vehicle. We had a guided tour of the museum and ancient ruins. Our guide was both knowledgeable and entertaining and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. We then visited Boncuklu Hoyuk, an even older settlement, which was also fascinating. The third trip was to Konya Archeological museum, which was also very interesting to visit. Our guide was very informative and brought the exhibits to life. We were dropped back at our hotel at the end of the tour. I can thoroughly recommend this tour to others.

It's very convenient to come and go, two hours stay is good. It's amazing to see scenes of the lives of our ancestors from 9,000 years ago at the archaeological site.