With only a short break from work we booked the 2 day private walking tour of Istanbul with guide. Having been before many years ago it would be possible to tour by ourselves but having Gulsen, our local guide, made a huge difference. Gulsen was hugely knowledgeable but also adapted the tour to our requirements, and managed the entrance to sites in such a way as to minimise queues. In addition she helped with recommending other places to visit, buying transport cards and local food to try. Overall a great experience

I don’t know where to start. I have never given a 1 star review, but I can’t help not to do so now. Our guide, Gülsevim, clearly did not want to be guiding us from the beginning. When she spoke, it was as though she was reading from a script. I asked so many questions that she didn’t actually answer…I’m not sure if she didn’t know or if she didn’t understand (we had requested a guide fluent in English). Although she got us into the attractions quickly she was always rushing us. At the very start, she made a comment that the tour ends at 4:00 but she would be ok staying until 5:00…there were no times outlined in our purchased tour. I told her several times that we wanted to have a traditional fish sandwich for lunch, and she said she would take us there for lunch. She took us to an outrageously expensive seafood restaurant that did not have fish sandwiches. When I asked her about this she said, “yes, I wouldn’t recommend the fish sandwich.” I didn’t ask whether you would recommend having a fish sandwich! I asked where I could get one! She then sat down with us, ordered food and had them put her meal on our ticket! The only reason I didn’t refuse to pay for her is because my husband would have been mortified. How dare you ruin our lunch and then make us pay for yours! She also never said thank you. Finally, I reminded her twice that she owed us 100 Lire from the 1,600 Lire I had given her for tickets that cost 1,500. She pretended not to hear/understand me and never gave me my money back. Where we’re from, that’s called a thief. It’s sad that we came all the way here and this was our experience. It’s been an internal battle not demanding a refund! Definitely choose a different company for your tour!

Our guide Nurten was excellent. She was knowledgeable of the historic landmarks as well as friendly and flexible with what we wanted to do and see. Highly recommend her!

My tour guide was Çiçek, she was amazing. She did a very personalized tour of Istanbul. We walked most of it and used public transportation for the rest. I did not speak any Turkish at all, and she made me feel very comfortable even at places where they only spoke Turkish. She seemed to know a lot of the attractions we visited. Tour was excellent, fun, and very cultural

We had the luck of having a magnificent tour guide she was very dedicated to us in what ever doubt we had about the tour and a very kind person who showed us around Istanbul and it’s beautiful history! She is well known every where she took us. She show us about culture, customs, history and even the topical food that is most popular in Istanbul. She didn’t care if it was late she never rushed we were well explained everything about this beautiful place. The name of our tour guide was Cicek Hekimgil.

Cagatay is honestly the best tour guide I’ve ever had, and I’ve been a lot of places! He is professional, hilarious, knowledgable and so very passionate and proud of the history he shares with the group. The whole experience was phenomenal from start to finish and we would come back again just to go on another tour with him. We booked the Red Tour; plenty to see and even more to learn and understand. My favourite part was the underground city, closely followed by a beautiful pistachio coffee with the group, gazing out over the hillside. It was absolutely breathtaking and we loved every minute of it. Our driver, Abdullah, is also one of the kindest souls. He was so nice and patient with the group, so courteous and just an altogether pleasure to be around and with. Thank you, gentlemen! See you BOTH next time!!

Istanbul has a rich history and with rich history comes plenty of things to explore and sometimes wander into the past. To experience what life had in store 500 years ago during the ottoman period and perhaps the Roman architectures that defined the origins of Constantinople even before the Ottomans one needs to immerse themselves in the beautiful place called Istanbul which is a giant open Museum imho. To experience and learn about the city you need a good local resource who is not only familiar with the rich history but also makes it a rich and personal experience. I would highly recommend Idyll as your local guide in Istanbul and you will truly love the experience. Idyll has a very warm personality and takes interest in showing not only the tourist attractions but also the local favorites. She made our trip a memorable one and we look forward to coming back to Turkey again in the near future!

I have booked this tour with tripadvisor and our guide was ali he was english speaking guide. We visit sultanahmad area with cruise it was superb i suggest this company to everybody

Absolutely perfect tour! Mr. Onur ensured that I saw everything I wanted to see and knew I was concerned about the heat as we are in a heat wave, and he even managed to bring a Sunbrella for me. We started the tour early to avoid heat, and it was a magical tour. He was very knowledgeable, and also took amazing photos as I am a solo traveler. He is kind, and explains the history of each place and also allows you to go with the flow and choose your own adventure. Perfect in every way.

Wow what an amazing way to see the great things about Istanbul. A sincere and heartfelt thank you to our guide Idil, you honestly went above and beyond to cater for our family. Your explanations, chats and humour were greatly appreciated. We highly recommend the 3 day tour of Istanbul with Idil, she knows her stuff and caters to your needs. The tour was great for our 14 and 7 year old boys too - Thank you again for showing us around, our driver was pretty cool too !

Excellent private 2 day tour of Istanbul. Our tour guide Cicek picked us up at our hotel with our ride as scheduled. Communication was great. In retrospect, since our hotel was close to the Blue Mosque, we didn't need the car the first day, but for the 2nd day, it was useful. We enjoyed the tour immensely.

Good guide, knowledgeable and understood the limitations of seniors. Punctual and caring...The vehicle was also very comfortable. Amount of walking and time spent being on one's legs should be more elucidated in advance.

Tour guide was well planned, on time and was able to adapt to different situations/schedules. Tour guide was knowledgeable and overall we had a great experience.

Very nice guide, Çiçek was very good at explaining. I think it is very necessary to have a guide in Istanbul to help around, getting around is hard when you don’t know the language.

We had an amazing 2 days with Cicek H.in Istanbul! She had a great balance of providing enough information and just letting us absorb our surroundings and the culture. She also took good care of us. 😊 We look forward to touring with her on our next visit to Turkey. Highly recommend!!