- A “100 Best Holidays” Company 2011, The Sunday Times
- One of the world’s ‘Top Ten Learning Retreats’ - National Geographic Traveler
We design inspirational trips of a lifetime: stimulating & enlightening expert-led tours, relaxing & beautiful gulet cruises. Our guided Turkey tours, Greece vacations and holidays in Italy will take you to some of the world’s best preserved ancient sites, from Greek and Roman times & beyond. We offer a range of escorted history tours, archaeological adventures, walking holidays & food tours.
Take a gulet cruise along the turquoise coast of Turkey, through the Greek Islands, or along the shore of Italy, and enjoy total relaxation, beautiful food, and superb swimming - the perfect vacation. Or explore some of the finest archaeological sites in the world on land, retracing the route of Alexander the Great on an incredibly special tour in Turkey or Greece.
Expert tour guides: A team of the finest guides, archaeologists and historians, vividly bring the past to life on our escorted history tours and gulet cruises. Friendly and knowledgeable, they are natural enthusiasts steeped in the history and culture of Turkey, Greece, and Italy.
Turkish Gulet Charters: tailormade gulet cruises
Alongside our scheduled Turkey tours, Greece tours, and Italy tours, we also create bespoke gulet cruising holidays to order. We charter traditional Turkish gulets with from 2-12 cabins, beautiful boats handcrafted in Turkey’s boatyards, run by experienced local crews. We can arrange a gulet cruise so you can relax in style, accompanied by a specialist guide just like our scheduled escorted tours.
Why we organise gulet cruises and escorted tours in Turkey, Greece and Italy
In 1994, Peter Sommer walked 2,000 miles across Turkey, following in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, and in the process fell in love with the country, its ancient civilizations, and the Turkish people. For the past 14 years, Peter, a British archaeologist and documentary maker, has been leading and organising unique historical and cultural tours and gulet cruising holidays in Turkey, Greece and Italy, escorted by the finest experts (Peter led his very first historical Turkey tour in 1996).
”Want a truly personal travel experience with a knowledgeable, witty, friendly guide, and small groups? Consider joining of Peter Sommer Travels’ tours.”
Tom Brosnahan, originator of the Lonely Planet and Frommer’s travel guides to Turkey and creator of turkeytravelplanner.com.
Small Group Tour Operator: A UK-based specialist tour operator, we offer cultural vacations and holidays - primarily gulet cruises - with a professional and above all personal touch. On our guided tours of Turkey, Greece and Italy, we take only small groups (max 18) of like-minded people, travelling in an easy-going, informal style.
Family tours
Our family tours in Turkey, Greece, and Italy are designed to be relaxing and stimulating, fascinating and fun. Like our other escorted tours they are cultural gulet cruises and led by an expert guide. Visits to ancient sites will take you and your children deep into the past. You’ll explore the world of the Greeks and Romans in colourful detail: from what they ate to how they built temples, from what their loos were like to how they were treated at the doctors.
Alongside our archaeological adventures, there is the gulet cruise itself aboard a beautiful traditional wooden boat (Turkish gulet - aka goulette, gulette or gullet). Our gulet cruising holidays offer plenty of opportunities for families with children to swim, kayak or snorkel in azure seas, to lie back and read as the world goes by, and to enjoy delicious home-cooked food. When we hike off into the hills, we’re almost certain to see goats, tortoises, and creepy crawlies, and while at sea there is always the chance we’ll see some dolphins!
Food tours:
We consider fabulous food to be a very important part of all our escorted tours and gulet holidays. Food is so important to us that we have created a fabulous gastronomic tour in Turkey, an expert led food holiday aboard a traditional Turkish gulet. We have also created a marvellous escorted food tour in Sicily. You can see a selection of the Turkish, Greek and Italian recipes that you’ll sample during your gulet cruising holiday, gulet charter or escorted tour by land on our website.
Private Group Tours:
As well as bespoke gulet cruises we also create tailor-made itineraries for groups - expert-led private tours of Turkey, Greece or Italy. We can personalise your very own group tour in Turkey, Greece or Italy - focusing more on archaeology, food, walking - however you would like us to arrange and organise your tour.
We strive to offer the finest tours of Turkey, Greece and Italy. If you have any questions, please get in touch. We’ll be delighted to help.
Peter Sommer Travels is a member of The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO), the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and a number of other travel industry bodies.
