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Private Istanbul Tour: Customized City Experience
4.9
101 Ratings
Fatih
Experience a personalized, private guided historical tour in Istanbul with an Istanbul-born professional tour guide. Explore the city’s highlights at your own pace and immerse yourself in its rich history, culture, gastronomy, and shopping.
Experience a personalized, private guided historical tour in Istanbul with an Istanbul-born professional tour guide. Explore the city’s highlights at your own pace and immerse yourself in its rich history, culture, gastronomy, and shopping.
Duration:
7 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Blue Mosque - Explore one of the most stunning Ottoman mosques, adorned with blue Iznik tiles that are over 400 years old.
- Hippodrome - Discover the remaining monuments of the Hippodrome of Constantinople, where Roman chariots once raced. This ancient stadium was larger than any modern soccer stadium, with a capacity of 100,000 people when…
- Blue Mosque - Explore one of the most stunning Ottoman mosques, adorned with blue Iznik tiles that are over 400 years old.
- Hippodrome - Discover the remaining monuments of the Hippodrome of Constantinople, where Roman chariots once raced. This ancient stadium was larger than any modern soccer stadium, with a capacity of 100,000 people when the city’s population was 400,000.
- Topkapi Palace - THIS IS AN OPTION. ON MOST DAYS, VISITING THE TOPKAPI PALACE IS OMITTED. A valuable visit to gain insight into Ottoman history, featuring exhibition halls with Ottoman jewels, ceremonial weapons, clocks, kitchenware, and more. A highlight in the old town.
- Hagia Sophia Mosque - Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia), one of the oldest and most magnificent places of worship. Visit the sections of this church/mosque significant to both the Romans and the Ottomans. Built in the 6th century by Byzantine Emperor Justinian, it is an architectural marvel.
- Basilica Cistern - Visit the spectacular 6th-century water reservoir of the Romans. A testament to advanced Roman architecture, featuring 336 ancient columns that resemble a sunken palace.
- Kapali Carsi - Experience the oriental shopping style in Europe’s oldest and largest indoor shopping mall, nearly 600 years old, with 4,000 shops and 21 entrance/exit gates. The famous bazaar!
- Galeyan Restaurant - At a convenient time during the day, enjoy a lunch break and savor the exquisite Turkish cuisine at either Deraliye or Galeyan, or opt for a simple cafeteria lunch at the Pudding Shop.
What's Included
- Professional licensed guide
- Professional licensed guide
What's Not Included
- All Fees and Taxes
- Lunch
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Basilica Cistern Entrance Fee
- Hagia Sophia Entrance Fee
- Gratuity
- Topkapi Palace Entrance Fee
- All Fees and Taxes
- Lunch
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Basilica Cistern Entrance Fee
- Hagia Sophia Entrance Fee
- Gratuity
- Topkapi Palace Entrance Fee
Additional Information
Offering personalized private tours tailored to your preferences in the city, the operator is thrilled to share their extensive knowledge and experience with you. Enjoy a unique private tour through the streets of Istanbul, where you can set the pace and choose to see or do more or less. With pre-purchased tickets, you will bypass the ticket lines,…
Offering personalized private tours tailored to your preferences in the city, the operator is thrilled to share their extensive knowledge and experience with you. Enjoy a unique private tour through the streets of Istanbul, where you can set the pace and choose to see or do more or less. With pre-purchased tickets, you will bypass the ticket lines, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the city’s rich history, culture, gastronomy, and shopping. As a professional tour guide born and raised in Istanbul, the operator is dedicated to ensuring your comfort and helping you enjoy the vibrant life, history, cuisine, and shopping the city has to offer.
- Not recommended for travelers with wheel chair or serious walking difficulties
Location
German Fountain
At Meydanı Caddesi
German Fountain, Hippodrome, Sultanahmet area, old city. In the pick up point I will hold a sign with the travelers' name.
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
4.9
(101 Ratings)
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L8526exjonathanh
May 20, 2026
The best of Istanbul - Sel is a knowledgeable, experienced, and patient guide. He knows all the cool spots and was great with our multigenerational group. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jamesmp3823tp
Apr 23, 2026
Amazing Tour Experience - Sal’s private Istanbul tour is incredible. He is extremely knowledgeable about the city, cultures, and history of this area and answered a million of our questions. He is extremely flexible with the experience to make it your own. He knows exactly which shops are the best quality for ceramics, spices, rugs, etc. I wouldn’t want anybody else showing me the city! 5/5
Review provided by Tripadvisor
U6528wtstephaniem
Apr 11, 2026
Sel Brings Istanbul to Life - We booked a private tour with Sel, and it was easily one of the highlights of our time in Istanbul. He's knowledgeable without being scripted, the kind of guide who can walk you through centuries of history at Hagia Sophia and then pivot naturally into a conversation about what daily life actually looks like for people living in the city today. We came away feeling like we understood Istanbul, not just its monuments. Sel was practical, easy to talk to, and genuinely passionate about sharing his city. If you want more than a checklist of sites, he's your guide. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Saalmc
Apr 3, 2026
A first class guide - Sejcuk is a really excellent guide. We spent a couple of days with him, and he showed us the main sights of the old city (skipping some long queues!), and some excellent lunch spots and shops in the grand bazaar. He is really knowledgeable and was able to give us a great sense of the history of the city. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sbradley68
Mar 2, 2026
English Speaking Guide with great sense if humor and accommodating to your tour requests . - A personable and conversational English speaking guide with a great sense of humor.
Very historically knowledgeable. Accommodating to all of your tour request needs.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Passenger422914
Dec 8, 2025
Highly informative history and cultural tour with option to buy quality local products. - Sel is a great guy. Easy going and very knowledgeable. We had him for the whole day and learned and saw so much. It was an in depth tour of the hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, the basilica cistern, the Topkopi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. Plus, we had three more modern life experiences: a visit to a rug vendor with a weaver there demonstrating her craft, an excellent restaurant to taste traditional cuisine and a pottery and tile shop where we learned about traditional iznik pottery and tile making. Both the rug and pottery vendors were long established, trustworthy vendors. Know that you are being shown products for purchase, and there’s pressure to buy, but you obviously don’t have to. We did buy some things and feel that the quality was very high.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
F1132nephilipb
Nov 3, 2025
Knowledge & Calmness in Busy Instanbul- Thank you Sel! - Six of us spent two days with Sel and the decision to do so truly paid off! Sel adapted his time with us based on our likes and goals. We were on a cruise and the best decision we made was to not do one of their canned tours! Sel exceeded expectations! His knowledge and calmness in a very busy, hectic city made our experience amazing! Not only did he know the “right” shops to take us too, but he selected restaurants popular with the locals for amazing food. We want to return because of our experience AND we plan to have Sel with us again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Robertou1309kg
Oct 27, 2025
Great guided tour of European side highlights - Sel is very knowledgeable about city history and great at guiding us in and out of tourist sites. He picked a great lunch restaurant- our best meal in Istanbul - and had other great tips we put to use during our visit. And he seems to know everyone in town.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Robert_o
Oct 27, 2025
Good guide, great tips, excellent restaurant choice - Sel is the mayor of Istanbul and seems to know everyone, especially other guides. He also knows the history and how to get you in and out of crowded tourist sights. He also suggested a great lunch restaurant and gave us good tips for visiting the Asian side that came in handy when our other Viator guide was first 20 minutes late (due to “bathing his grandfather”) and we gave up after an hour of waiting and just used the tips Sel gave us to tour the Asian side on our own.
Review provided by Viator
Gabinyc1
Oct 24, 2025
Super knowledgeable guide with skip the line access - Sel was very Knowledgable and also gave us great recommendations for restaurants, boat tours etc. no waiting in line guaranteed
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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