6 nights, Istanbul to Piraeus (Athens)
Explora's name for it: A Journey of Aegean Allure & Ancient Echoes
Six nights, seven calls, and no sea days, so the pace is steady rather than slow. You start in Istanbul, where Galataport lands you in Karaköy with the Galata Tower walkable on the doorstep and the T1 tram a short ride to Sultanahmet. From there the route runs down the Turkish coast and into the Dodecanese and Cyclades, ending at Piraeus for Athens. The hooks I'd flag: Bodrum's Crusader castle, which holds reconstructed Bronze and Iron Age shipwrecks you'll find almost nowhere else; Patmos, where one scenic road climbs from Skala past the Cave of the Apocalypse to the fortified Monastery of Saint John; and Milos, a volcanic Cycladic island whose best scenery, Kleftiko and the sea caves, is reachable only by boat.
This itinerary rewards travelers who want to keep moving and don't mind that several ports are tender calls (Patmos, Milos, Mykonos), where weather and the Meltemi wind can shuffle plans. Marmaris asks you to choose between a low-key old-town morning and a full-day Dalyan river trip, since the two don't combine. If you want long, unhurried days or a single deep dive into one country, pick a different sailing. If you want Türkiye and Greece back to back, with monasteries, castles, and Cycladic harbors in one arc, this is the route.
Explora II is all-suite and all-oceanfront.
The itinerary, port by port
7 calls over 6 nights, Istanbul to Piraeus (Athens). Open any port for my full day-ashore guide, what to see, when to go, and how the day actually runs.
Getting there: Flights to Istanbul (IST) are already bookable for these dates. I watch the fare for booked clients so you book at the right moment. When to book your flights →
- Embark
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- 4
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- 6
- Disembark
Fares on this departure, decoded
Reading the fare fine print is the job. Here's what this sailing currently carries:
- Invitation to Discover More
- Explora's discovery fare, available across most of the calendar. Onboard credit where the offer applies.
The ship and your suite
This sailing is aboard EXPLORA II, all-suite, every suite with a private ocean-front terrace. Suites run from the entry Ocean Terrace to the Owner's Residence; the right tier depends on how you travel. Compare suites → · What's included →