Gallipoli Tours

If you have a car, you can tour the battlefields and memorials on your own, though a good guide can help bring the area’s history to life. Hotels that run tours also often screen the feature film Gallipoli or the documentary The Fatal Shore in the evenings, to set the mood. Tours are conducted year-round out of Çanakkale and Eceabat, and typically run about 5½ hours, starting around noon, and include lunch. (Tour companies operating out of Çanakkale allow time to make the ferry trip to Eceabat before heading out on the peninsula.) Most half-day tours of Gallipoli focus on the ANZAC sites on the upper part of the peninsula, including Lone Pine Cemetery and Chunuk Bair; tours go to Cape Helles on the southern end less regularly, and may need to be arranged privately. Some companies also have day trips to Gallipoli from Istanbul, leaving around 6 am and returning around 10 pm, but these can make for a long and exhausting experience. For all tours, good walking shoes are advised and, in summer, a hat and water.

Crowded House Tours. Considered one of the best tour companies in Gallipoli, Crowded House Tours runs daily afternoon tours of the key ANZAC sites on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Guides include the legendary Bülent "Bill" Yılmaz Korkmaz, and groups are kept on the small side. The company also has morning tours to Troy and snorkeling excursions around the peninsula. Zübeyde Hanım Meydanı 28, Eceabat, Çanakkale, 17900. 286/814–1565; www.crowdedhousegallipoli.com. Half-day tours from $29.

Hassle Free Travel Agency. One of the area's longest-running and most professional tour companies, Hassle Free runs daily afternoon tours of the ANZAC battlefields and cemeteries and morning tours to Troy. The company also organizes boat trips around the beaches at Suvla Bay, which give a unique sense of the topography of the peninsula and the chance to snorkel. Customized private tours of the peninsula and overnight packages from Istanbul can be arranged as well. Cumhuriyet Meydanı 59, Çanakkale, Çanakkale, 17100. 286/213–5969; www.anzachouse.com.

RSL Tours. This company runs daylong and overnight tours of Gallipoli from Istanbul, as well as afternoon Gallipoli and morning Troy tours. It's also one of the few companies to theoretically give regular tours of Cape Helles on the southern tip of the peninsula—but check in advance that there are enough people for the tour to run. Grand Eceabat Hotel, Cumhuriyet Meydanı 2/D, Eceabat, Çanakkale, 17900. 286/814–2458; www.rsltours.com.

TJ's Tours. Run by a Turkish and Australian couple, TJ's Tours has been operating out of Eceabat for about 20 years. The tour of the main Gallipoli battlefields includes a short visit to the Gallipoli Simulation Center. Daily tours to Troy, and snorkeling/diving excursions to shipwrecks around the Gallipoli Peninsula, are also available. Kemalpaşa Mah., Cumhuriyet Cad. 5/A, Eceabat, Çanakkale, 17900. 286/814–3121; www.anzacgallipolitours.com.