10 Days. 2n MADINAH 5* | 3n MAKKAH 5* |4n ISTANBUL 4*

About the destination: Mecca or Makkah located in western Saudi Arabia, is the holiest city in Islam. Every year millions of pilgrims flock to Mecca. As a result there has been a lot of construction to cater for the accommodation of the pilgrims, and extensions to the mosque itself. Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter the holy city. Mecca also has a very rich history as it is a very old city which has been considered sacred since the early Middle Ages. In Mecca’s city center there is the Sacred Mosque, considered the holiest site in Islam. The Kaaba is located at the center of the Sacred Mosque, all Muslims pray in the direction of Kaaba, believed to have been originally built by Adam and rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael. Other major sites to see in Mecca are Mina, the Hill of Arafat and Jabal Rahma, the cave Jabal Al Thur and Masjid e Taneem Mosque. Undeniably, Mecca is one of the most spiritual places on Earth.

About the destination: Istanbul owes its historical significance and its incredible cultural and architectural heritage to its perfect strategic location, straddling the Bosphorus straits which separate Europe and Asia Minor. Throughout most of its 2,500-year-long history, the city (first known as Byzantium, then as Constantinople and since 1930 as Istanbul) was a cultural melting pot. Today, its population of over 13 million is almost exclusively Turkish, and many of its people are recent migrants from provincial Turkey, drawn by the promise of jobs and careers in this vibrant, rapidly growing city. Istanbul is no longer the nation's capital, but is Turkey's economic and cultural powerhouse - a status emphasised by its role as a European City of Culture in 2010 and the award of UNESCO World Heritage listing to many of its most important landmarks, which range from stunning Ottoman mosques and Byzantine churches and catacombs to the columns of Hellenistic temples and the remains of massive medieval city walls. But there's more to Istanbul than Byzantine and Ottoman heritage. A rapidly growing economy has contributed to a thriving arts and music scene, with a wealth of new bars, clubs, private art galleries, restaurants and designer fashion outlets.