Istanbul City Tour and Bosphorus Sightseeing Cruise with Lunch

Posted By : Krishna_P
Absolutely brilliant tour, the morning guide was good with his explanation of the mosque’s and lunch was absolutely fantastic! The afternoon guide was brilliant! He gave us very good commentary about the places and even on the boat cruise made sure to go around the whole group( who were scattered all over the ferry) and explain the buildings we were seeing. Not so good was when he took us to a shop to buy teas and spices and you sort of felt obligated ☹️
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Posted On : 2024-04-24 01:26:22

Posted By : Rose_S
A very enjoyable day all round. Both our guides for the morning city tour and the afternoon boat trip were very nice, knowledgeable and ready to answer questions. The morning city tour is done on foot so do keep in mind your own physical fitness as Istanbul is very hilly involving some inclines. Being a 70 year old female I found it challenging to keep up with group sometimes but Shakir our guide was very understanding and accommodating. The afternoon boat trip is much more relaxed and Maya our guide was like a friend. If you do nothing else in Istanbul take this tour. It takes you to the more historically important sites and saves you a whole lot of time compared to doing the same things on your own.
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Posted On : 2024-04-15 06:14:07

Posted By : jiaqingq
I went to Istanbul alone so booked this trip and had a memorable journey. It was a great pleasure for me to meet Celal on this trip as my guide. He was really knowledgeable and considerate along the way.

As a professional guide, his knowledge of Istanbul and Turkey impressed me a lot. During the whole journey of Cruise, I saw other tour members ask him a lot of questions from history, culture to religion. But he can always give good replies to answer our questions.

One of the big problems of solo travellers is no one can help to take pictures. But Celam offered to help to take pictures for me. He even said he can help to take more pictures till I got some satisfied with. So I indeed asked him help to me take many pictures.

More than that, one of our group members needed to go to the pharmacy after the tour, but Celal also kindly offered to bring him to the pharmacy and explained what the customer needed to pharmacy assistant even after the trip ended. Of course, he also recommended local authentic restaurants and dessert shops which added pleasure of the journey. I even asked for help the next day of the tour cause I couldn't find the transportation to go to the airport, and Celal also kindly told me the way to arrive at the ariport. Thanks to him i was able to catch my flight despite met huge traffic congestion and heavy rain that day.

After back to the UK, I recommended him to my boss of the company. I believe he can also bring a memorable experience to him.
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Posted On : 2024-04-02 17:25:36

Posted By : Wesley_P
Thank you for showing me some of the most iconic sites in Istanbul and providing lots of in-depth information. Pick up and drop off was easy. I would recommend this day trip if you like history and would like to be provided with information and tips on the best places to shop in Istanbul. In the afternoon I was one on one with my guide for the river cruise, the guide was lovely and provided me with some wonderful insight to Istanbul and Turkish life.
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Posted On : 2024-03-27 13:42:00

Posted By : Noorulain_H
Absolutely loved my Istanbul City Tour! It was very knowledgeable, organized, flexible, and understanding people that make sure the experience is great for everyone. Celal was very caring and nice and so was our other guide though we forgot his name. 10/10!
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Posted On : 2024-03-26 07:26:21

Posted By : Carol_M
We really loved this tour, well the majority of it - we had 2 guides as our tour was split into Morning / Afternoon groups.

Good Points: Bang on time Hotel pick up / drop off. Excellent Tour Guides who knew their stuff / Ample Lunch / Picturesque Bospherus Tour / Mosque visits were excellent / Grand / Spice Bazaar Visits.

Our morning guide took us to the Blue and Sopia Hagia Mosques and the Hippodrome which were just superb. After lunch, we met up with our 2nd guide who took us on a tour of the Spice Bazaar, followed close by to a beautiful Mosque (inside was stunning) and then on a cruise down the Bospherus, which we thoroughly enjoyed,

Bad Points: After leaving the Mosques, we then walked towards the Grand Bazaar, but en route stopped by a Department Store, to take in a 10 minute talk / leather fashion show. After the show we were then taken into an area to view leather / suede goods on sale. Now, I knew this was on the itinerary when I first booked this tour and having read previous reviews I knew what to expect; but my husband just followed the rest of the group and before I knew it we were in there, sipping Apple tea watching the show. Can I just say, you are not under any pressure to purchase any goods, but I just felt so uncomfortable looking at the goods on display and being constantly followed all the way around by one of the shop assistants, I couldn't wait to get out of the shop. If like me you are not into this, the guide does give you the option to leave and make your own way down to the Grand Bizaare (which I wish I had done - I'm blaming my husband!!)

After lunch the group split up and we met our new guide, who was excellent (sorry I can't remember his name) and taken to the Spice Bizaare. We were led into the very first shop in the Bizaare and shown how certain teas were made; we sampled some of the tea; again, this was really aimed about buying some of their products - we just felt really uncomfortable with this. Our guide could see that this was not for us and gave us the option to have a wander around the Bizarre ourselves and meet up with him within the hour - we greatly appreciated that. (Again your are not put under any pressure to purchase)

All in all, we enjoyed our day, just not the 'selling side' of things.
We also found the 2 x Bizaar visits a bit much within hours of one another.

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Posted On : 2024-03-23 07:00:33

Posted By : Payal_K
Tour was good. Picked up on time. For a vegetarian lunch was basic. Good info provided. Suggested few places for shopping. We even visited leather shop.i felt it priced then other ones.
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Posted On : 2024-03-20 13:51:41

Posted By : 272margiek
We did this tour yesterday with our tour guide Ali. It was a wonderful day spent in Istanbul. Ali kept us on schedule and was very knowledgeable. We had a great day. I definitely recommend this tour. Thank you, Ali.
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Posted On : 2024-03-18 10:39:08

Posted By : Y2672MXnormaf
Super good tour! We hit all the highlights of old istanbul. Our tour guide (Ali) was super nice and gave us great advice and tips for shopping and not getting scammed! They were very accommodating and even gave restaurant suggestions for afterwards!!
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Posted On : 2024-03-16 07:52:30

Posted By : Farah_O
Pick up on time. Bus clean and comfortable. Tour guide was patient, full of knowledge. I would totally recommend this tour.
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Posted On : 2024-03-14 09:10:32