Full Day: Classic Istanbul Tour Including Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace

He was very knowledgeable and very patient answering all the questions we had. He added additional comments and gave us a lot of information

Our guide was very informative and did his utmost to ensure we had a very knowledgable tour. Towards the second half, my wife and I were the only ones remaining but this did not deter him from carrying on the tour with the same energy as the start of the tour. The sights were absolutely delightful providing a deep perspective into all the historical events which have shaped the history of the country, it's people, the region and indeed the world (I'm beginning to think Aladdin is more Turkish than Arab!) I left the tour spell bound and enlightened. I particularly enjoyed discovering the common colloquial words between Turkish and Hindi, Urdu and Pharsi spoken here in India.

We were met at our hotel by our tour guide Lutfi. From the moment we were picked up the service was wonderful . Extremely knowledgeable and so pleasant . He knew exactly what sites to go to first . Having your day planned for you by someone who knows the history and the area was wonderful. It took off a lot of pressure. With such large crowds it was very easy and seamless . Lutfi was very funny and smart and was really able to provide a great experience . I highly recommend this tour for anyone who wants to see the highlights with a tour guide who knows the area and history so well!

The inclusions of the tour are deceiving, it says guaranteed to skip the lines, but the reality is that this is not possible at Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque and that at Topkapi Palace we did not skip the security check, only the ticket entry, waiting in full sun for almost 20 minutes. There is no admission at the Hippodrome, that place is an open square. We were very disappointed with the guides approach, she was providing a brief introduction on the outside of the Mosques/Palace for few minutes and then would give us 20 minutes free time to visit the inside of the Hagia and Mosque by ourselves. At Topkapi Palace we spent a lot of time waiting to get trough the security check, and given 1h to visit the buildings by ourselves, which was not enough. The guide said that if we had questions we could ask her, but difficult to do it, when she was waiting for us outside of the touristic objective. More than this, when other participants told her that other guides are providing details inside the attraction point, she got very angry. She told us that in the buildings there are boards with the description of the items and that we can read by ourselves and that we don't need her for that. When a couple was 20 minutes late to get out from Hagia Sophia, the guide was very angry and did not listen their explanation that they were late because they needed to go to the bathroom. Things got even worst when the guide was asked by the same couple why isn't she not coming inside the buildings with us. From there, things went downhill, the whole atmosphere got tense and unpleasant because of the guides attitude. She even asked us to sign a written statement that this couple was late and that because of them we will not get to finish our tour. Obviously no one signed. All of us were late to get back to the exit for different reasons. After this couple decided to leave the group, the guide couldn't move on and started to say judgmental things about them and their culture. At that point we decided we had enough and left the group. The tour begun with a group of 9 people and ended with only 2 people, this speaks volumes. The lunch was horrible, the waiters rushed to eat fast, cleared the table even if we had food on our plates. Overall, the tour was rushed, there was no learning opportunity. All the attractions are at a walking distance one from each other, this is something you can do by yourself, with less money, just get and audio guide at Topkapi and stay as long as you need. We wasted one day of our vacation. Disappointing.

Wonderful tour guide, great experience. We had a bless and we suggest this program for everyone. It’s a must if you are in Istanbul.

The travel guide we had was unpleasant, she was disrespectful at many occasions which has spoiled our tour and had to end our trip early. We had only 2 days in Istanbul and one whole day was ruined by this tour guide. Won't recommend this tour company from viator for anyone.

Mr. Jan was an Excellent host & guide. We has family had great time and would definitely recommend everyone to check this tour via this company.

This was an outstanding tour experience! Our guide was outstanding! We learned so much about Istanbul and it’s amazing history. He was very sensitive to the pace of the group, and made sure every person had an amazing experience. We had a bosphorous sunset cruise after this tour, and we were running late, so our guide phoned the next tour operator to make sure they waited for us, and he escorted us personally to the dock to make sure we made it. That going above and beyond really made us feel so great - and that was throughout the tour, so we really developed warm feelings for Istanbul and the people. Simply amazing!

Our guide was very sweet and friendly - would give her 5/5 on that, but she was def not very knowledgeable about the area and didn’t go very deep. We got free time on most occasions after an introductory of the area. Also it was very hard to understand her. Overall it was just ok.

Very good guide; passionate and knew her stuff. Ample time to view the sites. Lunch was close and perfect. Tour ended at Grand Bazaar.