This layover tour of Istanbul covers all the highlights of the city. Visit the monuments from the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, go to the Hagia Sophia, shop for all kinds of souvenirs in the world's oldest covered market, Grand Bazaar, and see the imperial residence of the Ottoman sultans, Topkapi Palace and admire the blue Iznik tiles of the Blue Mosque. Accompany of your local tour guide will be useful for your family and young kids.
Skip the line service is not available for Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque - there is a queue for the entrance).
If one of the mosques is not visited, Basilica Cistern will be visited as a replacement.
On Fridays, Hagia Sophia or Blue Mosque will be visited from outside because of the worship.
Posted By : Arlene_P
Volkan was a perfect guide for our layover tour. He listened to what we were interested in and shaped our limited amount of time in a way that allowed us to experience everything we wanted to.
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Posted On : 2024-04-27 16:21:28 
Posted By : Arlene P
Volkan was a great guide. He was able to get us to the sites and experiences we wanted during an abbreviated layover tour. We enjoyed his historical knowledge as well.
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Posted On : 2024-04-24 22:28:24 
Posted By : Hinterman61
Great tour for a quick 18-hour layover. Saw a surprising amount of sights for such a short time. At last I made it to the Hagia Sohia! Spectacular! Our guide, Ozun, was absolutely terrific. Very personable and friendly. Kept the tour moving and knew how to time things to avoid the crowds. Took us to a perfect lunch spot to sample a bunch of Turkish dishes. He knew his stuff and even modified the tour on the fly so we could visit a rug shop. We had a really good time with him and enjoyed both his company and expertise. Airport pick-up and drop-off made it totally simple. We really felt like we got a much better taste of Istanbul than we had any right to expect given our short stay. Highly recommended.
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Posted On : 2023-03-16 09:24:23
Posted By : 927metas
Kemal was top. The guide fulfilled all our wishes. Unfortunatelly we didn't have much time to see more, but have seen the basic of the city.
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Posted On : 2023-01-06 04:11:11
Posted By : josephgR5878WD
Turkey was my 50th country I had been to and beyond all the tours I have done in my past this tour was absolutely incredible especially for the time given. Our tour guide, Ozan, was incredibly knowledge and exciting to be around as we walked through Istanbul. Although we were there for less than 24 hours, this tour and our tour guide truly made every part worth it and I will even consider doing this exact tour with new family members when I come back due to the ease of pickup and return back to the airport.
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Posted On : 2022-11-13 12:16:11
Posted By : torontoimport
We had an incredible experience with our driver and our tour guide Tolga.
First I want to make mention that there was a miscommunication that is ultimately my fault but the tour completely rectified. Our flight landed at 5 am so my wife and I decided to schedule our tour to start at 9 am. We had a 21 hour lay over and wanted as much of the daylight to be spent on the walking tour in the city. In the original email we set up 9 am, however in subsequent communication the tour operator kept making mention that they would “track our flight.” To me this meant that they were just making sure we weren’t really late but they meant that they expected to pick us up at 5 am. As I was arriving in a new city I didn’t have my phone connected to any network until right before 830 (when we decided to make our way to the meeting point.) Sure enough they were waiting for me and we were almost 4 hours late. We felt TERRIBLE, but they quickly assured us it was fine and sorted through all the details to get us up and running.
Tolga was a fantastic tour guide. Personable and knowledgeable. He showed us through all the major sights and helped us skip the lines. (GUIDES can jump the cue for tickets and entry at many attractions.)
We had a fantastic time and can say enough good things about Tolga. We look forward to returning with a little more time to further explore this beautiful city!
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Posted On : 2022-10-05 09:21:09
Posted By : PENI_K
Enjoyed a lot this short sightseeing tour..
All are just excellent.. the van, tour guide is just nice and super helpful...
love to come back..
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Posted On : 2022-05-30 00:54:40
Posted By : ChiquitaBomba
We booked a last minute afternoon tour during our layover in Istanbul. Guided Istanbul Tours were very accommodating. Our tour guide Ulku was amazing! She was super friendly and knowledgeable about the history and culture of this beautiful city. She made sure to take us to all the must see sites within the time allotted. Due to her diligence we were able to experience beautiful sites and delicious Turkish cuisine and wine! Definitely want to come again and have Ulku help us explore more of what Istanbul has to offer!
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Posted On : 2022-05-05 19:01:11
Posted By : Regina_Lee_121
Went for 2 day extended layover. Hasan met us at the airport right on time and took us to all of the wonderful places Istanbul has to offer along with some special off the beaten path stops. He was flexible and we changed things up a little when the kids got tired of the historical sites and we took a break and went on a beautiful river cruise. Hasan was great with the whole family and very knowledgeable about history and all of the sites. I would highly recommend a tour with him!
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Posted On : 2021-12-22 20:33:28
Posted By : SomeoneShe
Excellent day at Istanbul - personal touch, very informative, well planned.
Visited a hidden corners and a "must to see" sites.
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Posted On : 2021-12-02 12:37:56
