- Clear sustainable travel policy
- Social / Environmental Impact
- Tourism Dispersal
- Behavioral Awareness Education
- Small Group Travel
Slow travel through the coastal gem of Izmir on this food and wine adventure that will take you through the province of ancient Smyrna. Experiment with, and learn about, the local cuisine, stay in charming hotels, and visit the world’s most impressive ancient sites.
This trip is designed for foodies who are interested in cultural experiences and love a relaxed and slow approach to travel. You won’t encounter long drives, big tourist attractions, and rushing from one place to another on this leisure adventure. Instead, you will taste organic wines & olive oil, partake in cooking classes, and learn about Turkish cuisine and ancient history. If you enjoy comfortable and charming accommodations, visiting cozy towns, and are also into arts and music, you will love this trip.
Highlights:
- A diverse range of quality food
- Local markets
- 3 Wine-tastings and 1 olive oil tasting
- 2 cooking classes
- Epic historic sites
- Charming accommodations
Aegean cuisine of Western Türkiye is best known for wild greens, seafood, vegetables, and wine. Our food & wine adventure deliberately balances rustic, traditional food, and top-of-the-line restaurants. You will experience street food, fine dining, and enjoyable cooking classes. We will visit the wineries of the Urla Wine Route and the Ephesus area, and go to colorful farmers’ markets.
This trip is not only about gastronomy and wine. We’ll also explore some of the world’s top archaeological and historic sites. These will include Smyrna, Asclepion, and the Museum of Ephesus. We’ll travel as little as 40-45 miles per day so we can spend more time experiencing Türkiye rather than on a bus. This form of slow travel is also better for reducing our impact on the environment. We drive less, and experience more.
Izmir province is not only a cultural and historical hotspot but also the best area with charming and authentic accommodation choices. It would be fair to say that this is the best food trip in Türkiye and the best value for your holiday budget. Izmir is Türkiye’s 3rd largest city, after Istanbul and Ankara, and sits along the Aegean coast.
Seasonal Notes: We would like to encourage you to travel in the shoulder season, which is a good way of reducing our impact on the environment and avoiding over-tourism. Also, it is a good way of traveling with fewer risks of being infected by viruses (COVID and otherwise). You will appreciate the tranquility and have time to discover and enjoy the area without the crowds. We know that some people don’t have much liberty in choosing vacation times, but if you do, it is much better to look at alternative times and types of travel. We believe beautiful places are beautiful all year round. That’s why our Izmir Food & Wine Adventure is available at any time of the year.
Western Türkiye is famous for fertile river deltas which brought prosperity for centuries to the region and have a great impact on the food culture. Depending on the time of the year, your experience will be slightly different. But no matter the season there will be a diversity of wild greens, vegetables, fish, and fruits.
Related Trips:
[8 days] Lycian Way Multi-Sport
[8 days] Hike & Sail the Turquoise Coast
📋 Itinerary
This itinerary is customizable. Contact Yūgen Earthside for more information.
Day 1: Izmir [Turkiye] (arrival day)
Day 2: Izmir, Antalya
Day 3: Urla, Izmir
Day 4: Urla, Izmir
Day 5: Şirince Village, Izmir
Day 6: Şirince Village, Izmir
Day 7: Şirince Village, Izmir
Day 8: Izmir (departure day)
🌱 Sustainability
We are the only active member of ATTA (Adventure Travel Trade Association) from Turkiye and we have signed the Travel’s Climate Action Agreement powered by ATTA.
We are a signatory of Tourism Declares Climate Emergency and have published a Climate Emergency Plan.
We worked with ATTA-South Pole to calculate the carbon emissions for each of our itineraries. As a result, we modified some itineraries to reduce our carbon footprint. We're also proud to say that we're a "carbon neutral" company.
We reported our 2020 emissions and will offset them at the end of 2021. We will also add 25 USD/person to our bulk carbon offset for this trip to be used in planting trees.
We are designing our new itineraries with a "Slow Travel" perspective so that we spend at least two nights at each location and our new trips are more local.
We can't emphasize enough the importance of tourism dispersal in terms of season and areas. This trip is in the less-traveled parts of the Aegean region of Turkiye. We pick up our guests at Izmir Airport and immediately drive out of the heavily touristic region to small villages and towns. Please take this trip in the shoulder season!
We believe that the most fulfilling experiences occur spontaneously. We create the time and opportunity for such spontaneous interactions. The nature of our trips allows our guests and hosts and random locals to engage, in farmer's markets, artisan workshops, a cooking class, or at the local cafe over a cup of coffee.
We expect our clients to bring their own water bottles and we provide refills from big containers during the day. If you forget to bring your own bottle, please purchase a small bottle of water and keep it.
We optimize our driving distances to reduce the total distance we cover. Food & Wine Adventure covers only 400 miles of driving for the entire 8 days.
We offer low carbon impact activities on this trip such as hiking, walking, street food, and wine-tasting.
Our trips embrace all diets. Turkish cuisine has great diversity and we understand that our guests have various preferences and restrictions about food. This trip is particularly great for vegetarians and vegans.
On this trip, we cover most of the Izmir province. In addition to the big city center, we'll also visit the most rural areas where tourism income is crucial - especially during the shoulder season.
We believe our tours are helping gender equality as most of our accommodation hosts and providers on this trip are women.
We understand that we have the responsibility to sustain our activities and support the local population. We choose to use the services of local accommodation providers, family-run restaurants, and woman-owned businesses. Most or all of our accommodations are small, serve local & organic food, and use energy-saving lights. Eco-friendly hotel certification is new in Turkiye and we are monitoring it. We promise to support and include them in our itineraries when possible.
- Green Transportation
- Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurants
- Local/Organic Restaurants
- Participate in Certified Carbon Offsetting
- Focused on Minimizing Waste
- Energy-Saving Lights
- Provide Local Employment
- Fair Wages / Fair Trade
- Ensures Good Working Conditions
- Supports Local Businesses
- Tours Benefit Local Community
📌 Location
Use the Google map to orient yourself about where in the world this trip is. The location indicates the starting point for this trip.
A specific route map is included in the downloadable detailed itinerary.
🏷️ Pricing
Prices exclude flights to/from the destination.
See the full list of price inclusions and exclusions in the downloadable detailed itinerary.
For groups of travelers in numbers not specified below, contact us for pricing.
ℹ️ Other Info
If you're ready to book this trip, or if you still have some questions, contact us to let us know!
Book with confidence: To reserve your spot on a tour, a $500/person deposit will be required. However, you can book with complete peace of mind as this deposit will be 100% refundable until 60 days prior to the trip start date.
- Cancellations 59-30 days prior to departure will receive a refund of the deposit paid minus $300 per person administration fee and minus any non-refundable paid fees (e.g. non-refundable airfare, cruise, or hotel deposits).
- Cancellations 29–15 days prior to departure will be eligible to receive 50% of deposits paid, and minus any non-refundable deposits paid on your behalf.
- Cancellations 14 days or less prior to departure will be subject to loss of 100% of the total package price.
No refunds will be provided for any unused portion of a tour once the tour begins, including if you leave a tour for any reason or have to be removed from a tour. There are no exceptions to this cancellation and refund policy, including for reasons related to weather, terrorism, civil strife, personal, family, medical emergencies, or any other circumstances beyond our control. For this reason, we strongly encourage you to purchase trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
If you book this as a Private (Guided) tour rather than a Small-Group (Guided) tour, you can reschedule your trip depending on availability without any charge.
This trip has a variable start date, so you can plan a departure date for when it is safe to travel. It's also a private tour, meaning you will only be traveling with those you book the trip with.
Be sure you have traveler's insurance.
Please be fully vaccinated and boosted before traveling. You may also need proof of a negative Covid test before arrival to the country. Keep a mask and hand sanitizer with you at all times.
Special precautions:
- Indoor Places – Van transportation is likely to be the only time you will be indoors with other people. Even if you are vaccinated we will ask you to keep your mask on during the ride and we will keep air vents open. We will have a short break every 45-60 minutes and ventilate the van properly. We plan our trips to avoid driving long distances.
- Dining - We are making our meals as flexible as possible, providing options for larger or separate tables whenever we can, and dining al fresco if possible!
- Slow Travel - We have started to design our itineraries to fit the slow travel principles even before COVID-19. We stay in small or remote places, plan to stay more than 1 night at each location, travel in the shoulder season, and cover a small region, rather than traveling long distances. This travel format is not only safer but also helps to absorb and enjoy the experience even better.
- Additional Precautions - We will clean and disinfect all surfaces of the various equipment we use, including kayaks, door handles, surfaces on vans, and boats. Our staff will make hand sanitizer available to you. We encourage you to bring your own hand sanitizer as well.
Q: What does the Physical Rating of "Easy" mean?
A: "Easy" for this trip means that this is an easy hike that is generally suitable for novice hikers, or it is an urban walk.
Q: What are the accommodations like?
A: Special class boutique hotels.
Q: Is this trip recommended for women, solo travelers, LGBTQ+ travelers, and POC travelers?
A: This trip runs in the most laid-back, worldly part of Turkiye. Most of our hosts are women. The Izmir area is known to be very pro-secularism and pro-women and LGBTQ rights.
Q: Do I need a visa?
Please click here to find out the passport, health, and visa conditions for any country.