Istanbul City Tour Excursion Reviews

Istanbul is thriving, busy and very very hectic. We visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar. The Blue Mosque is very impressive and although not very blue in my own opinion it is worth a visit. Hagia Sophia is an old mosque/church which is now a museum, this is very good! and again very historical and informative. Grand Bazaar was very busy but well worth a visit and if your any good at haggling then its a great place to get some bargains. Be careful though as there are a lot of people trying to sell you things on the streets, just be polite if not interested and if your area then haggle.

Provider: MSC Cruises

We had been in Istanbul before, but not yet visited Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque because of long lines. This tour was a nice complement of our earlier visit.

Provider: Costa Cruises

While the tour (guide Aref with Tura Tourism) had a few hitches - trouble hearing the guide with faulty radios, trouble keeping up with him, it was still fantastic, and I would highly recommend tiring yourself out by doing a "complete Istanbul" tour if your ship stays overnight. The Blue Mosque is incredible from the outside, the Topkapi Museum has one room of mosaics that is stunning, the Grand Bazaar is a little more like a fancy shopping mall than I expected, but if you step off the main hall, it's fascinating and you won't get lost if you tell the shopkeepers "Gate One" because they can point out the way to the exit. The Hagia Sophia was nice as was the Spice Market. The Underground Cistern was skippable in my opinion, but the true highlight was the Bosporus Cruise. Incredible. Friends we met said the less famous Sulemaniye Mosque is incredibly beautiful on the inside, and seeing that mosque (from the ship) lit up by a perfect crescent moon was incredible.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

We booked a private tour for the 4 of us with Daily Istanbul Tours. Our guide, Emaneme, met us at the port and with a driver we visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Cistern, Spice Market, City Walls, Pierre Loti Lookout, and the special high point for us the Chora Museum. The Chora had been a church, a mosque and now was a museum. The mosaics were spectacular. We also had lunch at a really nice restaurant next door to the Chora, the Asitane. We enjoyed our entire day and we were happy to have our excellent guide.

Provider: Independent Operator

Wonderful day despite raining most of the time, over 7 hours of walking during the tour. Many older pax unhappy at that.

Provider: Cunard Line

Istanbul is a magnificent stop. Lots of exotic mix of eastern and western cultures. The Hagia Sophia is breathtaking. The Blue Mosque is OK, but was built 1,000 years after the Hagia Sophia and does not have nearly the history and engineering feats of the 6th century Hagia. We booked an all day tour with Ekol Travel (based in Kusadasi) and Aylin was superb. We did eat a very nice lunch at a courtyard cafe; the food was excellent but VERY expensive for lunch. For an added adventure, take the ferry over to Kadikoy; the evenings are bustling with cafes (try Ciya Sofrasi) and hordes of locals (always a good sign). Be sure to check the return ferry schedule before you depart.

Provider: Independent Operator

Having been to Istanbul twice before, we did not need to explore so much. The Spice Market is always great and the mosques give the city a real East meets West feel. It is always buzzing and exciting to visit!

Provider: Regent Seven Seas Cruises

The tour was 1 day and 1/2 day. "Complete Istanbul" We were told over and over to be sure to have knees and shoulders covered for entrance in the blue mosque. However the tour description led us to believe that the mosque would be done on day 1. So we dressed with that in mind on day 1 and found out later that the mosque would not be until day 2. That was my only complaint. They had blue fabric wraps at the entrance. Many people tied one around the waist so that knees were covered and one around shoulders. Enjoyed all the sites. Day one was exhausting, but I am glad we got to see so many things: Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Spice Market, Carpet Demonstration, Underground Cistern, Grand Bazaar. Would have loved more time at the spice market. Found many of the same type shops as found in the Grand Bazaar. The shop owners were not as pushy as I expected. They wanted to engage you in conversation. My favorite pick-up line was,"I need your money." Never pay full asking price. Start by offering about half and bargain from there. When you reach your lowest offer and they don't counter offer, say no thanks and walk away. If they don't come down to your price, then you know they have reached as low as they will go. Note: If you want pashminas and little souvenirs, you can find the same things at Kusadasi (Ephesus) They have their own grand bazaar and they were cheaper. The currency is Turkish Lira. They will take dollars but give change back in Lira. I tried to always pay exact. When buying Turkish Delight, they charged $19.00. I had them bag up $1.00 worth of cashews rather than have Lira. Note: The Turkish Delight is available everywhere in Istanbul. I enjoyed trying several varieties and then having them create a box of assorted flavors I liked. He said it would stay fresh 6 months. Then after it was boxed, they vacuum sealed the box. We bought some pre-boxed flavors, too. When I got home, I found that the pre-boxed flavors don't have as many pieces as you would expect and a lot of the powder coating. They weren't quite as fresh tasting as the ones we had boxed ourselves.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

Booked same company as with Izmir but shows what a difference a tour guide can make.Lale was full of info and we saw a lot but were irritated by her pushing us towards her friends cafes and stalls where we expected to spend money-Window shopping is a foreign concept

Provider: Independent Operator

I booked Tour #4 (1.5 days Private Istanbul Tour) for 10 people with Ephesus Shuttle. Each paid US$116. I communicated with Fevzi from Ephesus Shuttle and his responses were always prompt and helpful. I highly recommended Ephesus Shuttle for private tours in Istanbul and Ephesus. The pace of the tour was good in general with a few exceptions. We were not happy with the driver for not showing up to take us to lunch on the 1st day. We ended up walking uphill to the restaurant and that took us over 15 minutes.

Provider: Independent Operator

Akif (the ladies call me George Clooney) was a fabulous guide who made use of every minuet to provide helpful information and histoical perspective during an 8.5 hour tour of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia , Topkapi Palace (excellent multi-course lunch) and the Grand Bazaar. The destinations spoke for themselves but Akif added a lot.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

By chance, or perhaps by design; we were paired with a superb guide for a two-day excursion. She had been a tour guide in Turkey for over twenty five years and spoke English with ease. She gave us a thumbnail of the tour agenda at the beginning of each day and remained with us throughout the times spent at each venue. All the locations typically attended by visitors were included on this tour for one price.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises

After visiting Athens solo, I decided to play it safe. Tour had about 30 people. We were able to spend enough time at the Blue Mosque and Topkapi palace, although its museums were more crowded than any I have ever seen. We had time for lunch and an hour in the Grand Bazaar on our own. It was enough. I would have been totally lost if I had tried to go on my own so I am satisfied with the excursion.

Provider: Norwegian Cruise Line

Great guide for all the sites. Dropped us off at the grand bazaar,For about an hour and a half. We are not shoppers and that time could have been used seeing Other sites. Went to a carpet factory to see how carpet is made but all we saw was different carpets not how they were made.

Provider: Independent Operator

Again, great tour guide and we visited all the historical sites and ended the day in the great Bizarre shopping

Provider: Independent Operator

In Istanbul, we booked the IB95 Complete Istanbul shore excursion. The ship docked overnight in Istanbul, and this allowed us to tour the city both days, in a very all inclusive way. We loved the tour (except for the included lunch, read on) and were not too annoyed with the mandatory carpet demonstration where it is hoped that we will spend big money on rugs. It was in fact interesting, and the salespeople were not pushy. We saw all of the first-time-in-Istanbul must see sites, at a measured unhurried pace, such as the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, the Spice Market, the AMAZING and not to be missed Grand Bazaar, Hagia Sophia, Underground Cisterns, Topkapi Palace, even a Bosphorus River Cruise, etc. Our only complaint was the lunch. The lunch on the Athens shore excursion PR06 was so extremely wonderful that perhaps we were spoiled. The lunch included in this Istanbul excursion was something out of a 'bad movie' about a bunch of tourists on a bus on a shore excursion in an exotic city, where they are herded into a below par restaurant in which locals would never be caught dead. It was at the Best Western Citadel restaurant - uh, yup, that's right, it was at a restaurant in a Best Western, holy cow........the people that worked there were super lovely to our daughter, but other than that, the food itself was below par, and the banquet room where we were crammed in as if with a shoehorn along with several other tour groups, had weird decor, just not good overall.

Provider: Celebrity Cruises