Ancient Troy Full-Day Tour from Istanbul with Lunch

Ancient Troy: nine cities on one mound

Troy is a mound called Hisarlık on the plain of the Troad, a few kilometres from the Dardanelles, where settlement began before 3000 BC and continued, city on top of city, into Roman times. Archaeologists count nine main layers, from the small Bronze Age fortress of Troy I to the Roman town of Troy IX; the city of the Trojan War, if the epic has a historical core, is usually placed in the late Bronze Age layers Troy VI and VIIa, around 1300 to 1180 BC.

The site was identified and dug from the 1870s, at first roughly, which is why a great trench still cuts through the middle of the mound. Troy became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. Your guide explains the layers as you climb from the entrance, so that the jumble of walls makes sense as a sequence of towns, each destroyed by fire, earthquake or war and rebuilt on the rubble of the last; the visit takes about two hours.

What you see on the walk: walls, ramp and the wooden horse

The guided circuit begins at the wooden horse replica by the entrance, which children can climb, and moves to the sloping limestone walls of Troy VI, the best-preserved stretch of the citadel, with their fine cut blocks leaning inward against earthquakes. Beyond them the guide points out the paved stone ramp of Troy II, the house foundations where a famous treasure was found, the sanctuary with its altars and the small Roman theatre and council house of the last city.

The paths are gravel and wooden boardwalks with steps and no shade, so comfortable shoes, a hat and water are essential from May to September; in spring the mound is covered in wild flowers and in winter it can be windy and wet. The Troy tour from Istanbul gives you the two hours most visitors need; the modern Troy Museum beside the site is not included in this programme.

Eceabat and the Dardanelles ferry

The route from Istanbul follows the north shore of the Sea of Marmara and then the Gallipoli peninsula to Eceabat, a small ferry town on the European side of the Dardanelles that stands on the site of ancient Madytos. Here, after about five hours on the road including a breakfast break, you sit down to lunch at a local restaurant: grilled meat or fish, meze, salad, bread and rice, all halal, with drinks at your own expense.

After lunch the group boards the car ferry across the Dardanelles Strait to Çanakkale on the Asian shore, about 20 to 25 minutes on the water. The crossing is one of the pleasures of the day: the strait is only a little over a kilometre wide here, ships pass on their way between the Aegean and the Black Sea, and the hills of the Gallipoli battlefields fall away behind you. Seagulls follow the ferry, and the open deck is the place to be.

Çanakkale and the film-set horse

Çanakkale is the lively university and port city on the Asian side of the strait and the base for every visit to Troy, which lies about 30 kilometres further south. On the way back from the ruins the vehicle makes a short stop on the Çanakkale waterfront by the large wooden horse that was built as a prop for a film about the Trojan War and given to the city afterwards; it stands in a small park by the ferry pier and makes the second horse photo of the day.

The waterfront promenade, with its cafés, the old clock tower and the view across to Kilitbahir castle on the opposite shore, is pleasant for the few minutes before the return ferry. If you were wondering how to get to Troy from Istanbul on your own, the answer is this same route of road, ferry and road again, which is why a guided day trip with everything timed and included is the practical choice for a one-day visit.

The long day from Istanbul and back

This is an 18-hour day door to door, and our Istanbul team says so plainly because the people who enjoy it most are those who expect it. Pickup is at about 06:00 from hotels in Sultanahmet, Sirkeci, Taksim, Galata and Karaköy; the vehicle is air-conditioned and non-smoking, and the two legs of about four and a half hours each are broken by a 30-minute rest stop where breakfast and snacks are bought at your own expense.

You are back at your hotel around midnight, so plan a light day either side. In return you see, in a single day, a site that otherwise needs an overnight stay in Çanakkale, with the guide, the ferry tickets, the entrance fee and lunch all taken care of. Spring and autumn are the best times for Troy: mild weather on the exposed mound, green plain, clear light on the strait. Bring your passport or ID, which is required for the ferry and the site.