The Best Continent-Crossing Trips

Plenty of holidays cover multiple cities and regions. Some people love to visit more than one country during their time off, but neither of those are as cool as crossing continental borders in the space of just one trip. These amazing continent-crossing tours do just that.

There’s something unique about the idea of continental borders. They’re not as defined or politically meaningful as national borders, and yet there is an undeniable feeling of totemic shift when you stray to the edge of a whole continent. Each of the seven slices of the map have their own identities – through culture, language, religion, even geography – but in our minds we do tend to draw a thicker line in the sand than is actually there. Visit a country that straddles two continents, or even get anywhere near the borderlines, and you can easily notice the line-blurring evolution from one to another. These melting pots tend to cook up some of the most fascinating cultural destinations on the planet, where cuisines fuse together and historic cities act as gateways to a new world. We celebrate these fascinating places on our locally guided multi-day tours, and these are our favourite cross-continental trips.

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View of the Beyoglu district of Istanbul at sunset, from across the river on the European side

Majestic Turkey

In Turkey, you don’t even need to leave one city to cross from Europe into Asia, and back. In fact you can saunter pretty casually between the two in Istanbul, the city that spans continents. That’s the starting point of our comprehensive Turkish tour, as we guide you through one of the great ancient melting-pot metropolises, which has seen Greeks, Romans, Ottomans and Byzantines rule the land. You’ll visit the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia – once a Christian basilica, now a mosque – Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, a perfect place to observe the city’s multicultural influences in action. That’s all on the European side. We’ll also hop on a ferry down the Bosphorus to Asia, where we’ll go on an incredible food tour of the Kadikoy neighbourhood. From there we’ll leave Europe behind to explore the capital, Ankara, the remarkable rock formations and hot-air balloons of Cappadocia, as well as various ancient Roman archeological sites. We’ll round off the trip in Antalya, where you’ll have plenty of time to spend some well-earned downtime on the golden beaches of the Turkish Riviera.

From US$2798

Next available from 16th Aug 2024

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Trip highlights and details

STARTS AT

Istanbul, Turkey

ENDS AT

Antalya, Turkey

DURATION

12

GROUP SIZE

18

PHYSICAL RATING

Moderate

STYLE

Discovery

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Trinity Gergeti Church, Kazbegi, Georgia

Georgia and the Caucasus

There’s no city bridge or conveniently placed ocean strait to split the Eurasian border in Georgia. This is perhaps the ultimate transcontinental destination. The nation’s status as a member of Europe or Asia is unclear politically, culturally and even geographically. The culture here is an ancient one, arguably closer to Asian traditions, but the general sense of identity often swings more to the European side. We explore this fascinating anomaly, found high in the Caucasus Mountains – themselves often regarded as a natural border – on this nine-day tour. We’ll deep dive into the fascinating local culinary history, sampling khachapuri bread and the nutty sweet churchkhela, as well as touring a Tbilisi market with a local chef, heading to their home afterwards for an expert cooking class. We’ll also embrace the wine culture – regarded widely as the oldest on the planet – observing ancient fermentation techniques and traditional toasting ceremonies. We’ll visit a remote village and do plenty of outdoor exploring across the country’s extraordinary landscapes. We’ll trek the luscious forests of Lagodekhi National Park, drive through the spectacular Truso Gorge and hike to the fairytale Gergeti Church, high up in the mountains. Armed with newfound cultural knowledge, a satisfied appetite and some very tired legs, we’ll go for a well-deserved soak in Tbilisi’s famous sulphur baths to mark the end of our Eurasian adventure.

From US$1287

Next available from 15th Jun 2024

Secure your spot with a low deposit

Trip highlights and details

STARTS AT

Tbilisi, Georgia

ENDS AT

Tbilisi, Georgia

DURATION

9

GROUP SIZE

16

PHYSICAL RATING

Moderate

STYLE

Discovery

View Trip

Culture Trips launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes places and communities so special.

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