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Istanbul Highlights: Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar
5.0
63 Ratings
Fatih
Explore Istanbul’s iconic landmarks, hidden cisterns, and vibrant Grand Bazaar. Enjoy a 3-course Turkish lunch and expert insights in a small group tour.
Explore Istanbul’s iconic landmarks, hidden cisterns, and vibrant Grand Bazaar. Enjoy a 3-course Turkish lunch and expert insights in a small group tour.
Duration:
8 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- German Fountain - This will be the starting point of the tour!
- Blue Mosque - Also known as the Sultanahmet Mosque.
- Basilica Cistern - The largest water cistern in Istanbul, dating back to the 6th century A.D. It currently operates as a museum, with entry fees included.
- Hagia Sophia Mosque - Known as the Church of Divine Wisdom, it…
- German Fountain - This will be the starting point of the tour!
- Blue Mosque - Also known as the Sultanahmet Mosque.
- Basilica Cistern - The largest water cistern in Istanbul, dating back to the 6th century A.D. It currently operates as a museum, with entry fees included.
- Hagia Sophia Mosque - Known as the Church of Divine Wisdom, it was the largest church of the 6th century A.D. It currently functions as both a museum and a mosque.
- Hippodrome - One of the largest horse chariot arenas in the world, with a capacity of 100,000 spectators.
- Obelisk of Theodosius - An Egyptian obelisk brought to the Hippodrome of Constantinople in the 4th century.
- Serpent Column - A monument celebrating the victory in the Greek-Persian war.
- Walled Obelisk - The central obelisk of the Roman Hippodrome square, standing at a height of 32 meters.
- Cistern Art Gallery - Nakkas Cistern, which used to supply water to the Boukoleon Palace, features an exhibition of Constantinople from 1200 A.D. (admission included).
- Nakkas Oriental Rugs & Textiles - Carpet demonstration with admission included.
- Tamara Restaurant - Enjoy a 3-course lunch, including soup of the day with mezes and salad, a mixed kebab platter featuring five different Turkish kebabs, or four vegetarian options. Dessert, Turkish tea, and water are all included.
- Divanyolu Street - Known as the Imperial Council Road.
- Kapali Carsi - The world’s largest covered bazaar, with 4,000 shops spread across 66 streets. It served as a transfer hub for the Silk and Spice Road, a living marvel of Istanbul. (On Sundays, the Arasta Bazaar is an alternative.)
- Cemberlitas Sutunu - The Column of Constantine.
- Nuruosmaniye Camii - The first baroque mosque in Istanbul.
What's Included
- Small group guarantee
- Hagia Sophia Museum tickets
- Basilica Cistern Museum tickets
- All fees and/or taxes
- Lunch
- Tea and coffee
- Small group guarantee
- Hagia Sophia Museum tickets
- Basilica Cistern Museum tickets
- All fees and/or taxes
- Lunch
- Tea and coffee
What's Not Included
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Gratitudes
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Gratitudes
Additional Information
In this tour you will start the tour with German Fauntain, gift of Kaiser Wilhelm. Blue Mosque, magnicifent marvel of Ottoman period. Hagia Sophia the church of Divine Wisdom recently operating as a mosque. Hippodrome Square where Romans used to hold horse chariot races and monuments remaining; Egyptian Obelisk, Serpentine Column and Column of…
In this tour you will start the tour with German Fauntain, gift of Kaiser Wilhelm. Blue Mosque, magnicifent marvel of Ottoman period. Hagia Sophia the church of Divine Wisdom recently operating as a mosque. Hippodrome Square where Romans used to hold horse chariot races and monuments remaining; Egyptian Obelisk, Serpentine Column and Column of Constantine. Only for this tour! Your guide will welcome you to two Cisterns: Basilica Cistern & Nakkas Cistern; give details of Romans’ hidden gems and how Constantinople used to look in 1200 AD and get a demonstration of Turkish Handicrafts. Enjoy your included 3 course lunch with best choices from Turkish cuisine: mixed kebab or vegetarian options. Your tour will come to an end in world’s most famous historical Grand Bazaar, with over 4000 shops. Join and indulge in Istanbul, with a small group of max ten travellers per tour. Ask away your questions about Istanbul’s culture, way of living and learn much more with professional tour guides!
Location
German Fountain
At Meydanı Caddesi
We will meet in front of German fauntain at 09.00am (next to Blue Mosque and Sultahahmet Tram station)
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(63 Ratings)
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1 star
Berkayy917
Feb 23, 2025
Best day, with an amazing guide! - We were in for a week and out target for booking this tour was to pack everything in the old town in one day and a good understdanding! Our guide burak were super knowladgable with an amazing english engeging past and present of all sited, higly recomended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rami
Feb 12, 2025
Mustafa our guide ,was an exceptional Very knowledgeable. History and local anecdotes were a part of the 8 hours. - Mustafa our guide was exceptional. Very knowledgeable on all aspects of history and local culture. Very friendly as well. He wet our appetite to come back and explore more.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
5burhans
Jan 20, 2025
Much more then a good tour! - This tour had packed all the sites that I wised to cover and our guide could not have been better to give us much more then what we expected from this day trip! There were amazing information given in each side and all the detailes were kindly sharen, all the tickets and lunch been inculuded for the day surely saved all the fuss and we had suffisient time to talk about what other things we best do through our stay.
What else to say dont miss it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Thomas_s
Dec 22, 2024
Mustafa is a Must - Mustafa is a FANTASTIC guide! I would highly recommend him for your group.
This tour was excellent !
I would DEFINITELY recommend this tour, great insight into Turkish culture and history
Review provided by Viator
Rohina_v
Dec 19, 2024
Memorable Trip - We had a beautiful memorable tour discovering Istanbul. Our tour guide Mehmat Tunç , with a pleasant & friendly personality was amazing , patient & very knowledgeable about the history of every iconic location as well as other places. The tour was well curated & every place we visited was welcoming & beautiful.
Thank you for an incredible experience - loved it ; will surely recommend the tour as well as the wonderful guide Tunç to anyone planning a trip to Istanbul.
Review provided by Viator
Dawn_m
Dec 17, 2024
Great way to see highlights of Istanbul - Our tour guide, Ozzy, was absolutely great ! He knew in-depth historical facts , was humorous , flexible --such a great way to tour this beautiful city. Found out that my son & DIL had Ozzy on the longer version of this tour in the summer and they had raved about him too!
Review provided by Viator
F9894ktkeithh
Dec 16, 2024
Perfect! - I stumbled upon this tour by mistake and I am SO glad I did. My originally scheduled tour guide didnt show up and I ran into Mustafa and his colleague at the same meeting point. They were gracious enough to allow me to join their tour which covered all the major sites every tourist wants to see.
Saying all of that, the tour was exactly what everyone should do their first time in Istanbul. We got essentially VIP access to all of the big attractions, cutting the line at Hagia Sofia, Basilica Cistern, and Blue Mosque. My guide, Mustafa, was not only knowledgeable about his city, he was like a trusted friend with all sorts of tips for me while in Istanbul. His knowledge of world history was also quite impressive. It is so wonderful to get detailed historical context for the sites we visited. The tour was much more than just a sight seeing event!
The tour is all walking but plenty of opportunity for breaks were planned. Lunch was provided and was very good.
Overall, I give the tour a 5 star rating due to the well planned itinerary and expert guide. Book this one if your looking for a day tour in Istanbul!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Johannis_v
Dec 13, 2024
A great way to discover. - This excursion was very interesting, a great way to discover Istanbul. We were a small group with a excellent guide, Barak was kind, patient and very informative, a delight to do a tour with. We highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Viator
Discover11793231376
Dec 12, 2024
Super tour and guide - The trip was great - the tour guide Burak was excellent - the lunch was just fine with soup, salad, mixed tasty kebab meats ... The pace and depth of information was great, with just the right delivery for you to take it all in. The destinations chosen were 90% of what i wanted to see (in a 3 day trip) so i was very pleased with the content, value and the very friendly Burak. Great trip....
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Samantha_c
Nov 21, 2024
Great sights & history - Mustafa was amazing, extremely knowledgeable & very clearly loved what he did. He was very accommodating to our needs & we never felt rushed. Great way to see all the highlights of the city’s history. Highly recommend & would certainly do again.
Review provided by Viator
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