Türkiye has quietly become one of the world's most rewarding adventure destinations, and few people have done more to put it on that map than Alper Ertübey. His Istanbul-based company, Hike'n Sail Türkiye, was recently featured by the Adventure Travel Trade Association as one of its 'Adventure Champions' — members with 15-plus years in the association who've helped shape the industry. Ertübey has been an ATTA member since 2005.

The company itself dates back to 1999. It's a boutique operation designing tailor-made trips that mix hiking, sailing, trekking, kayaking, rowing, birdwatching, botanical walks and food-focused cultural experiences across Türkiye. The idea is to skip the standard coach-tour circuit and connect travellers directly with the country's landscapes, history and villages.

Ertübey's reflections track how much Türkiye has changed in the past 15 years. The country is far easier to reach and better known internationally, but that success has a flip side: overtourism, commercialisation and pressure on natural and cultural sites, plus geopolitical and economic headwinds. His answer has been to double down on responsible travel. Hike'n Sail is Travelife Certified, and in 2026 it led the creation of the Good Travel Guide Istanbul — a curated collection of 23 responsible experiences aimed at spreading visitors beyond the hotspots, across different neighbourhoods and different seasons.

For travellers, that guide is arguably the most useful thing to come out of this story. If you want to see Istanbul without fighting the crowds at the same five landmarks, it's a ready-made starting point.

Ertübey, who has spent more than 40 years in tourism, also had advice that applies beyond the trade. Build relationships rather than just businesses, he told ATTA; collaborate instead of competing; and treat sustainability as a daily decision rather than a marketing slogan. He's candid about the threats ahead, too — mining, deforestation, gentrification and unsustainable development endangering the very places adventure travellers love. His hope rests on a younger generation that's better connected, better informed and more environmentally aware than his own was when he started with no industry network to lean on.

If any of this inspires a Türkiye trip, Ertübey's model is a good one to copy: pick one or two regions, go slow, use local guides, and travel in shoulder seasons. The Lycian Way on the southwest coast pairs beautifully with a traditional gulet sailing trip — very much the hike-and-sail formula the company is named for — while Cappadocia and the Black Sea mountains reward trekkers who'd rather skip the bus tours. Source: Adventure Travel News.