A Turkish Odyssey Traveller Reviews

Two weeks of travel by gulet along with southwestern coast of Turkey with a focus on archeology, cuisine and culture.

the consumate professional in tours. amazing hospitality with fascinating trip itinerary and excellent crew and guides.

We and another couple (both Peter Sommer tourists on several earlier trips) planned a private two week tour along the Turkish coast -- our group had historical, cultural, and gastronomical interests, and all were satisfied above and beyond our expectations. Although it was a bit hotter than in past trips at that time of year (global warming), the guides compensated by schedule changes. There's no better swimming than along the Turkish Carian Coast, and I swam at every opportunity, 2 or 3 times a day. Our interactions with locals and visits to unique local enterprises (winery, olive oil maker, herbalist, chefs) were memorable.

Cem and Serdar were a great team to guide our journey through this lovely tour of the Turkish coast. Their in depth knowledge, concern for our comfort, and thoughtful advance planning made our two weeks stimulating, blissful and memorable. Our chef Haluk amazed us at every meal. Everything was beyond our expectations. A trip of a lifetime!

A 'privately organised' two week boating cruise of Turkish coastal towns and nearby attractions with an emphasis on gastronomy and archaeology completely lived up to expectations. A remarkable on-board chef provided us with memorable Turkish mezze on a beautiful gulet. A senior professional archeologist and a personable 'manager' allowed us all to experience all that ancient Turkish sites have to offer.

We have toured with Peter Sommer Travel on several previous voyages and we had no reservations as to travelling with them again. The organisation is represented by an old friend, Gem who travelled with us again. A number of years arranging site visits, vehicle management, on-shore restaurants, wineries, and many other sites makes the organisation and Gem a natural in this regard. We were obviously not privy to his countless phone calls in advance of shore visits but everything was in place at every stop.

After enjoying many gulet and land trips with Peter Sommer Travels in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Croatia, we organised with a group of friends from Australia, UK and US (many of whom we had met on previous trips), a private charter with Peter Sommer and his team for a combination of archaeological, cultural and gastronomic experiences, travelling from Bodrum to Goçek in Turkey on the well fitted out Orguz Bey with a wonderful crew, a ***chef and a charismatic barman! What a fortnight of total indulgence and rich experiences! Expert archaeologist Serdar was a fount of information and we were thrilled to be shown over several sites by his fellow team members and 'help' prepare lunch at the home of the former site cook at Kaunos. Tour manager extraordinaire Çem smoothed the way for exceptional visits to vineyards, a carpet making family run cooperative, historic olive oil mill and a sage teamed honey tasting with a shepherd and his wife amongst other special experiences. The gastronomy part of the trip more than lived up to our expectations with superb meals lovingly prepared by our chef using the superb produce of Turkey, a fascinating visit to the market at Milas and wonderful meals at specially chosen restaurants on land. Just as well there was plenty of opportunities to swim in the warm, crystal clear waters of enchanting coves to work off the added kilos!! We are already looking forward to our trip to the Peloponnese with Peter Sommer in May 2024!

From initial contact with Peter Sommer Travels through to the finalisation of payment, the provision of an excellent travel pack, meeting arrangements and the exceptional travel experience itself, the service provided is extremely professional.

It was a wonderful holiday.. The quality of the Gulet, guides, itinerary and food was first class. Most enjoyable.

Everything was organised wonderfully. Very professional from organising the tour to looking at every detail on the trip. Every request was no trouble at all and everyone was very accommodating. .

This was our 9th holiday with Peter Sommer, which I think says it all. This time we organised a private charter with people we had met on previous trips. We spent two glorious weeks on a Turkish gulet, traditionally built but with all mod cons. We visited archaeological sites, not all open to the public, and were lucky enough to be taken around by archaeologists working on the site. We swam from the boat several times a day, explored the countryside a little and enjoyed the best food we have ever had on any holiday anywhere. It was a perfect combination.

Peter Sommer is an award winning, family-run travel company offering expert-led archaeological and cultural tours for small groups. Countries include; Greece, Turkey, Italy and Croatia, as well as Ireland and the UK. Tours are on land or traditional Turkish sailing boats.

A gulet trip along the Carian coast of Turkey with stop offs to explore local sites

As always, everything is well managed

We arrived late in the evening and immediately dumped our luggage in our pretty little flat in an old Turkish house in Gocek surrounded by fruit trees and blooming bougainvillea. Just being here was massively soothing and reaffirmed how much I have come to love Turkey and the Turkish people introduced to us by Peter Sommer over the years. Their kind attitude to tourists and the elderly is punched into their DNA. We caught up with our group at an hotel pool along the elegant Main Street pre arranged for us all to have a swim and meet up with Peter. And now we are all on our beautiful Gulet yacht plying the Turkish coast and stopping at gorgeous coves to swim and then we gather after lunch while Peter takes us on an historical adventure explaining our whereabouts on the map before we depart on our excursions. He is an amazing story teller and makes each days trip an adventure only telling us snippets at a time to make it more exciting with lots of lovely surprises along the way. A marathon hike to an ancient town in the mountains was our first outing and Peter, our tour guide and archeologist promised it would be the longest we would have on this trip- I think we were all very relieved to hear that. We persevered and were well rewarded with a beautiful semi dessert like valley which the ancient town on the hill had overlooked. We went into the valley to the tinkle of goat bells to meet the farmer and his wife who live and work their farm in this valley just below the ruins of the ancient town. They shared lovely home baked bread with us dipped in olive oil and pine flavoured honey from their own hives which we could see on the hill in front of their little rustic cottage. All this was served with wild sage tea. What amazingly hospitable, kind people and they had lived in this isolated valey all their lives but had managed to send their only daughter to university. A semblance of sophistication has entered their lives with solar and a fridge and TV but I am sure they miss the companionship of their daughter. Today has been a lazy day after hectic yesterday where we climbed over some very large stones to reach our destination at he top of a fortress high on a hill overlooking the sea on both sides, which was built to prevent the enemy in pre Alexander the Great times from occupying the only safe harbour in the area where the enemy could moor to attack the island of Rhodes which is just across the bay. On our previous Peter Sommer trip Michael and I had been to Rhodes on our Greek trip last year so it was wonderful to connect the historical dots.... This is just a little snippet of some of the wonderful days we experienced...dotted with delicious companionable meals on and off the boat. Every day was a new wonder whether it be visiting an ancient family carpet factory up in the remote hills and making our typical lunch together with the family. Michael said it was the best holiday he had ever experienced.

This was a get together trip for a group of people who had all travelled with Peter Sommer on a number of previous trips that we had all enjoyed so much that we planned our own trip with Peter. He was amazing as he incorporated our wish list into our charter and not one of us was disappointed with the arrangements and the itinerary. It was exquisite. And best of all he made a very special effort to be with us on the trip- we were all very excited and touched.

Private gullet charter in Turkey

Highly experienced, very organised, knowledgeable.

Wonderful tour from Gocek to Bodrum, encompassing many amazing ancient sites, great food, visits to wineries, olive oil factories, and carpet making, it couldn’t have been better

Peter Summers Tour are exceptional in the care, and planning of every small detail, leaving nothing to chance, making the holiday informative, enjoyable and wanting to do it all again