Acts 13–21 · 15 days · Hatay – Istanbul

The Complete Paul – every Pauline site in Turkey in 15 days

“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”Acts 13:2

15 days14 nights

HatayStart

IstanbulEnd

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More than half of the Book of Acts takes place on the soil of present-day Turkey. Anyone who wants to understand Paul’s three missionary journeys has to experience the distances for themselves: the passes of the Taurus, the high plateau of Lycaonia, the river valleys of the province of Asia. This tour follows him over some 3,100 kilometres – from the church that sent him out to the coast from which he crossed over to Europe.

The first part belongs to the East: Antioch with the Grotto of St Peter, the port of Seleucia, Tarsus and the road through the Cilician Gates to the churches in Derbe, Lystra and Iconium. By way of Pisidian Antioch you descend to Perga and Attalia, where the first journey ended. Then the letters open up: Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colossae and the house of Philemon.

In the West await Ephesus, where Paul taught for more than two years, the farewell address at Miletus together with Priene and Didyma, Smyrna, Assos and Alexandria Troas. At the end, in Istanbul, stands the warning inscription from the Temple in Jerusalem, where Paul was arrested. A state-licensed tour guide opens up every site, and the Bible passages are read on the spot. Christians of all denominations are welcome.

The Bible reading path

Passages you will read on site

Acts 11:19–26Antakya (welcome evening)

Those scattered from Jerusalem preach to the Greeks as well – Barnabas fetches Saul from Tarsus.

Gal 2:11–14Grotto of St Peter

The dispute over table fellowship – read in the city where it took place.

Acts 13:1–4Seleucia Pieria

The sending out by the Holy Spirit and the departure from the harbour for Cyprus.

Acts 22:3Tarsus

Paul on his origins: born in Tarsus, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.

Acts 14:8–22Lystra

The healing of the lame man, worship as gods, the stoning – and the strengthening of the disciples.

Acts 14:1–7Konya (Iconium)

Jews and Greeks come to faith, and the city is divided.

Acts 13:14–48Pisidian Antioch

Paul’s first recorded sermon and the light for the Gentiles.

Acts 14:24–27Antalya (harbour)

The return from the first journey: God has opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

Rev 3:14–22Laodicea

The letter to the lukewarm church – in front of the limescale-encrusted water pipes.

Phlm 8–20Colossae

The plea for Onesimus: no longer a servant, but a brother beloved.

Acts 19:23–40Theatre of Ephesus

The riot of the silversmiths over the goddess of the city.

Acts 20:17–38Miletus

The farewell address to the elders of Ephesus.

Acts 16:6–11Alexandria Troas

The call to Macedonia – the gospel goes to Europe.

2 Tim 4:6–8Istanbul (closing)

The course finished, the faith kept – thanksgiving at the end of the road.

Tip: bring your own Bible – at each place we open the relevant passage together.
Bible quotations: King James Version.

Day by day

Itinerary

Day1

Arrival in Hatay – where the disciples were first called Christians

Hatay Airport → Antakya

Your tour guide meets you at Hatay Airport and brings you to Antakya in half an hour. The city on the Orontes was once Antioch, the third-largest city of the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria. The earthquake of February 2023 struck it hard; much is being rebuilt, and you encounter a city making a fresh start. In the evening you gather for a welcome. Your guide presents the three missionary journeys and the route that will lead you all the way to Istanbul. Then you read how believers scattered from Jerusalem brought the gospel to the Greeks here as well, and how Barnabas fetched Saul from Tarsus – for a whole year the two of them taught in this church.

Acts 11:19–26Overnight: Antakya

Day2

Antioch – the church that sent Paul out

Antakya → Grotto of St Peter → Daphne → Antakya

On the slope of Mount Starius lies the Grotto of St Peter, a cave church with a façade from the Crusader period. Local tradition sees it as a meeting place of the first church; the Bible attests Peter’s presence in Antioch in the letter to the Galatians. Here you read how Paul withstood him to the face when he withdrew from sharing meals with the Gentiles. In the Archaeological Museum, if open, the mosaics show life in the great city in which the church grew. In the afternoon you visit Daphne, the place of springs with its once-famous grove of Apollo. In the evening the focus is on the sending out: the church fasted, prayed and laid hands on Barnabas and Saul.

Gal 2:11–142 Macc 4:33–34Acts 13:1–3Overnight: Antakya

Day3

From the harbour of the sending out to Paul’s home town

Antakya → Seleucia Pieria → Tarsus

Near Çevlik on the Mediterranean lay Seleucia Pieria, the port of Antioch. From here Paul and Barnabas, “being sent forth by the Holy Ghost”, sailed to Cyprus. You walk through the Titus Tunnel, the channel that the emperors Vespasian and Titus had cut through the rock, and see the rock tombs of Beşikli. Then the road leads over the Belen Pass and through İskenderun across the Cilician plain to Tarsus. On the excavated Roman street, at the traditional St Paul’s Well and in the 19th-century Church of St Paul you hear his own words: born in Tarsus, a citizen of no mean city. He returned here after his conversion, until Barnabas came to fetch him.

Acts 13:4Acts 21:39Acts 22:3Acts 9:30Acts 11:25Gal 1:21Overnight: Tarsus

Day4

Through the Cilician Gates to Derbe and Lystra

Tarsus → Cilician Gates → Derbe → Lystra → Konya

Early in the morning you leave Tarsus and reach the Cilician Gates, the narrow gorge through the Taurus. Paul passed through here on his second journey, “through Syria and Cilicia”, to the churches he had founded with Barnabas. Via Pozantı and Ulukışla the road climbs to the plateau. At Kerti Höyük, north of Karaman, you stand on the mound that scholars, on the basis of inscriptions, identify as Derbe; it has not yet been excavated. In the afternoon comes Lystra, near the village of Hatunsaray. Here Paul healed a lame man, was worshipped as a god and shortly afterwards stoned. Timothy came from Lystra. In the evening you reach Konya, biblical Iconium.

Acts 15:41Acts 16:1–3Acts 14:8–222 Tim 1:5Overnight: Konya

Day5

Iconium and Sille – Jews and Greeks come to faith

Konya (Iconium) → Sille → Konya → Eğirdir

The day begins on Alaeddin Hill, the acropolis of ancient Iconium. Here Paul and Barnabas preached for a “long time”, and many Jews and Greeks came to faith, until the city was divided and the apostles fled to Lystra and Derbe. In the Church of St Paul, built in 1910, a devotion is possible on request. In nearby Sille you see rock-cut chapels and the Church of St Helena, whose founding by the empress is local tradition. Your guide also tells the story of Thecla of Iconium – from the 2nd-century Acts of Paul, not from the Bible. In the afternoon you drive via Beyşehir to Lake Eğirdir.

Acts 13:51–14:7Rom 1:16Overnight: Eğirdir

Day6

Pisidian Antioch – a light to the Gentiles

Eğirdir → Pisidian Antioch → Antalya

From Lake Eğirdir you drive to Yalvaç and up to the Roman colony of Pisidian Antioch. Between the Temple of Augustus, the theatre and the arches of the aqueduct you read the sermon that Paul preached here on the sabbath in the synagogue – from the fathers through David to the resurrection of Jesus. On the next sabbath “almost the whole city” came together, and Paul turned to the Gentiles. An inscription of the family of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, leads scholars to suspect why he headed for this very place. In the Yalvaç Museum you see finds from the colony. In the afternoon the road leads via Isparta down through the Taurus to Antalya.

Acts 13:14–482 Cor 11:26Overnight: Antalya

Day7

Perga and Attalia – the end of the first journey

Antalya → Perga → Antalya

Perga lies only half an hour from Antalya. Through the Hellenistic city gate you enter the colonnaded street, down the middle of which water once flowed. Paul and Barnabas came here from Cyprus, and here John Mark parted from them – a break that later led to the dispute between Paul and Barnabas. Yet at the end of his life Paul writes that Mark “is profitable to me for the ministry”. In the Antalya Museum you see the statues from Perga. In the afternoon you walk through Hadrian’s Gate down to the old harbour. From Attalia the apostles sailed back to Antioch and reported how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

Acts 13:13Acts 14:24–27Acts 15:37–392 Tim 4:11Overnight: Antalya

Day8

Laodicea – the church to which Paul wrote

Antalya → Laodicea → Pamukkale

From Antalya the road leads across the Taurus and through the lake district of Burdur into the valley of the Lycus. Paul probably never came here himself; his co-worker Epaphras had founded the churches. Yet Paul writes how greatly he strives for those in Laodicea, and asks that his letter be read there too – and that they read the epistle “from Laodicea”, which has been lost. In Laodicea you walk along the Syrian Street to the 4th-century church. By the water pipes with their limescale crusts, the letter in the Book of Revelation becomes tangible: neither cold nor hot. Here you read the word of the Lord who stands at the door and knocks. In the late afternoon you reach Pamukkale.

Col 2:1Col 4:13–16Rev 3:14–22Overnight: Pamukkale

Day9

Hierapolis, Colossae and Aphrodisias – the letters in the Lycus valley

Pamukkale → Hierapolis → Colossae → Aphrodisias → Pamukkale

Early in the morning you walk through Hierapolis above the white travertine terraces. Paul mentions the city in Colossians; on the hill stands the Martyrium that early church tradition associates with the apostle Philip. Then you drive to Colossae, a mound at the foot of Mount Honaz that has hardly been excavated yet. Here lived Philemon and his runaway slave Onesimus, whom Paul sent back as “a brother beloved”. You read the entire letter to Philemon at its destination. In the afternoon you reach Aphrodisias with its Sebasteion and stadium. In the museum a donor inscription lists Jews, proselytes and “God-fearers” side by side – the very people to whom Paul spoke in the synagogues.

Col 4:13Col 1:1–8Col 1:15–20Phlm 1–25Acts 13:16, 26Overnight: Pamukkale

Day10

Via Nysa and Tralles to Ephesus

Pamukkale → Nysa → Tralles → Ephesus → Kuşadası

You travel west through the fertile Meander valley. At Nysa, high above a gorge, the geographer Strabo studied; at Tralles your guide recalls the letter that Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the church there around AD 110. At midday you reach Ephesus. You walk down Curetes Street to the Library of Celsus. Paul taught here for more than two years, “so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus”. In the Great Theatre you read how the silversmiths led by Demetrius stirred up the crowd. In the late afternoon you stand in the Basilica of St John above the tomb that tradition ascribes to the apostle John.

Acts 19:8–10Acts 19:20Acts 19:23–40Overnight: Kuşadası

Day11

Priene, Miletus and Didyma – farewell to the elders

Kuşadası → Priene → Miletus → Didyma → Dilek → Kuşadası

The day begins in Priene, the Hellenistic city on the hillside above the Meander plain. From Priene comes the calendar inscription that celebrates the birthday of Emperor Augustus as the beginning of the “good tidings” (gospels) for the world – Mark begins his book with “the gospel of Jesus Christ”. In Miletus you sit in the theatre on whose steps the “Place of the Jews, who are also called God-fearers” is carved, and read the farewell address to the elders of Ephesus. At Didyma stands the gigantic Temple of Apollo, once one of the great oracles. In the afternoon you look across from the Dilek Peninsula to Samos, past which Paul’s ship sailed on its way to Miletus.

Mark 1:1Acts 20:15–38Acts 17:242 Tim 4:20Overnight: Kuşadası

Day12

Smyrna – the word throughout the province of Asia

Kuşadası → Izmir (Smyrna)

After a good hour’s drive you reach Izmir, ancient Smyrna. The Book of Acts does not name the city, but it reports that during Paul’s years in Ephesus “all they which dwelt in Asia” heard the word. In the agora, with its massive vaulted basements, there are early Christian graffiti. From the citadel hill of Kadifekale you look out over the bay. In the Church of St Polycarp you remember the bishop of Smyrna who died a martyr around AD 155; his death is recorded in a non-biblical account. Here you read the letter to Smyrna: “Be thou faithful unto death.” The late afternoon is free – a time to rest before the long travel day.

Acts 19:10Rev 2:8–11Overnight: Izmir

Day13

Assos and Troas – the call to Europe

Izmir (Smyrna) → Edremit → Assos → Alexandria Troas → Çanakkale

You leave Izmir early and drive north along the coast to the Gulf of Edremit, ancient Adramyttium. On a ship from this city Paul, as a prisoner, began his voyage to Rome. Then you climb up to the Temple of Athena at Assos and look down on the harbour where Paul went on board after walking from Troas. In Alexandria Troas, between the baths and the silted-up harbour, you read of the vision in the night: “Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” Here the “we passages” begin, here Paul raised Eutychus, and here he left his cloak and books with Carpus. In the evening you reach Çanakkale.

Acts 27:2Acts 20:13–14Acts 16:8–11Acts 20:6–122 Tim 4:13Overnight: Çanakkale

Day14

Across the Dardanelles to Istanbul – the stone from the Temple

Çanakkale → Eceabat → Istanbul

In the morning the ferry takes you across the Dardanelles, the ancient Hellespont, from Asia to Europe. You drive through Thrace and along the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul. In the Archaeological Museum stands the Greek warning inscription from the Temple in Jerusalem: no foreigner was to pass the barrier around the sanctuary, or he would have only himself to blame for his death. Because people supposed that Paul had brought Trophimus the Ephesian into the Temple, he was seized there. And it is this very wall, Paul writes to the Ephesians, that Christ has broken down. In the evening you celebrate the closing devotion with the apostle’s words: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course.”

Acts 21:27–29Eph 2:142 Tim 4:6–8Phil 1:6Overnight: Istanbul

Day15

Departure from Istanbul

Istanbul → Istanbul Airport

Depending on your flight time, there may still be time in the morning for a last stroll in the old town or a view over the Bosphorus. Then the transfer takes you to Istanbul Airport in about an hour. You take home two weeks in which the Book of Acts has opened up chapter by chapter beneath your feet: the sending church of Antioch, the passes of the Taurus, the mounds of Derbe and Lystra, the theatre of Ephesus and the coast of Troas. Anyone who would like to stay longer can extend with a few days in Istanbul or with beach days on the Aegean.

The route

On the map

1Hatay Airport2Antakya (Antioch)3Daphne (Harbiye)4Seleucia Pieria5Tarsus6Cilician Gates7Derbe (Kerti Höyük)8Lystra (Hatunsaray)9Konya (Iconium)10Sille11Eğirdir12Pisidian Antioch13Antalya (Attalia)14Perga15Laodicea16Hierapolis / Pamukkale17Colossae18Aphrodisias19Nysa20Tralles (Aydın)21Ephesus / Selçuk22Kuşadası23Priene24Miletus25Didyma26Dilek Peninsula27Izmir (Smyrna)28Edremit (Adramyttium)29Assos30Alexandria Troas31Çanakkale32Eceabat33Istanbul34Istanbul Airport

Inclusions & price

What the tour price includes

Price on request

The tour price depends on dates, group size and room allocation. You will receive your personal offer – free of charge and without obligation.

Enquire →

⛔ No shopping stops: carpet, jewellery or leather showrooms are not part of this tour.

Included

14 nights in good mid-range and 4-star hotels with half board
All transport in an air-conditioned coach, airport transfers in Hatay and Istanbul
State-licensed tour guide
Admission fees as per programme
Ferry crossing of the Dardanelles
Welcome and farewell evening

Not included

Flight
Lunches and drinks
Tips
Travel insurance
Personal expenses

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Are really all of Paul’s sites in Turkey included?

The tour covers all the stops of the three missionary journeys inland and on the Aegean that can be located today. The Lycian ports of Patara and Myra as well as Cnidus, which Paul only passed through, lie off the route and can be added as an extension.

Is it certain where Derbe and Lystra were?

Lystra is well established by an inscription near the village of Hatunsaray. On the basis of inscriptions, Derbe is now mostly located at the mound of Kerti Höyük near Karaman; the site has not yet been excavated.

Can Antakya be visited after the earthquake?

Yes. Antakya has been rebuilding since the earthquake of February 2023; individual sites may be closed or have restricted access. We check the current situation before every departure and adapt the programme accordingly.

How strenuous is the tour?

The tour has several long travel days with five to six hours of actual driving time (Days 4, 13 and 14). The paths at the excavations are partly uneven and stony; a normal level of fitness is sufficient.

When is the best time to travel?

April to June as well as September and October. In high summer it is very hot inland and on the Aegean, and in winter it is cold on the plateau around Konya.

Is the flight included in the tour price?

No. You fly into Hatay and out of Istanbul, usually with a change in Istanbul. On request we will look for a suitable connection for you.

How much does the tour cost?

The price depends on the date, group size and room allocation. After your enquiry you will receive a personal quotation – free of charge and without obligation.

In which language is the tour guided?

A state-licensed tour guide accompanies you – in English or in any of 25 languages. We have been guiding guests since 1989.

Enquiry & booking

Enquire about this tour

The Complete Paul – every Pauline site in Turkey in 15 days

The Complete Paul – every Pauline site in Turkey in 15 days

Passages you will read on site

Itinerary

Arrival in Hatay – where the disciples were first called Christians

Antioch – the church that sent Paul out

From the harbour of the sending out to Paul’s home town

Through the Cilician Gates to Derbe and Lystra

Iconium and Sille – Jews and Greeks come to faith

Pisidian Antioch – a light to the Gentiles

Perga and Attalia – the end of the first journey

Laodicea – the church to which Paul wrote

Hierapolis, Colossae and Aphrodisias – the letters in the Lycus valley

Via Nysa and Tralles to Ephesus

Priene, Miletus and Didyma – farewell to the elders

Smyrna – the word throughout the province of Asia

Assos and Troas – the call to Europe

Across the Dardanelles to Istanbul – the stone from the Temple

Departure from Istanbul

On the map

What the tour price includes

Price on request

Included

Not included

Frequently asked questions

Enquire about this tour

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