I'll start with WOW and go from there. I've done a few of the free walking tours with the…read moreSandeman's folks and they did a great job in Edinburgh and Prague but they're not in Istanbul so I turned to Yelp and found these folks. Meeting by the Cistern, we walked a solid 20,000 steps (according to my Fitbit) through a half dozen of Istanbul's best known sites including the Topkapı Sarayı, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia. Along the way, we made several stops and there were a good number of spots where our super tour guide gave us time to explore on our own. When she led us around, she had constant knowledge of the sites and the city of Istanbul and of Turkey. A vast and deep knowledge. I was impressed. Our tour was well organized and well run. The lunch spot was excellent. A couple of tips. - Bring a backpack and a bottle or two of water. - An umbrella is a good idea as the tour runs even if it's raining. - Sunscreen! - Comfortable walking shoes that have a good tread. Istanbul's streets are smooth stone and you don't want to slip and fall. - For the Blue Mosque, you'll be expected to dress appropriately. There are free head coverings. - Extra batteries for your phone/camera. You will take a lot of pictures in six hours! - Pay attention to the meet up spots after the self-exploration. A certain Yelper *cough* Bruce K. *cough* got himself separated from the tour and was nearly stuck on his own until he spotted the green umbrella!

In the past year I've had some pretty fun adventures all over the USA, in China, Korea, Australia,…read moreNew Zealand, Canada, Germany, the UK, Spain, the UAE, and now Istanbul. While I've had a lot of fun in all those places, I can say unequivocally that my Istanbul Classics small group tour with Metin has been the best $90 USD I have ever spent on any activity in any of those places. If you are considering a tour of Istanbul and questioning whether you should do it with Daily Istanbul Tours, with some other tour organizer, or on your own, I can assure you that the best decision will be to book with DIT and be sure to request Metin as your guide. I won't bore you with details of the sites we saw, since you can get all of that information from their website. What I'll do instead is share a little about why this tour ended up being the highlight of our holiday: * It's easy enough to find and get into the sites, but there is so much information out there about them that it's really hard to distill it all into useful material. Metin is an expert on each site and knows exactly what the most interesting and relevant details are; he'll definitely help you make the most of your time at each place you go. Going on our own would be been stupid; we would have wasted hours wandering around, not really knowing what the more significant parts were or what we were looking at, etc. With so little time and so much to see, it was important to use our time efficiently, which we definitely did. * There can be something intimidating about being in a foreign country, especially if you are easily recognizable as a foreigner, don't speak the language, and aren't traveling with a group. Spending a day with Metin lets you truly relax and focus on the amazing sites without having to constantly watch your back or worry about getting screwed (which is a concern in any major city). With Metin, there's no pressure to buy any random crap, no worries about cultural faux-pas, and nobody bothering you at all when they see you are with him. If someone does approach you, he will dispatch them quickly. * Whatever random questions you have, I guarantee Metin will be able to answer them. Want to know what material a wall was built from? Metin knows its chemical composition. Want to know what year a building was constructed? He can tell you when each part of it was created, how long it took, how it was made, who made it, how many times it has been destroyed, where the materials came from, etc. Curious about some Turkish or Islamic history? Metin knows the years, the people, the hows, and the whys. And don't worry about being able to understand him and communicate easily; his English is fantastic, with a slight British accent on some words, which is an extra bonus for us Americans who don't get to hear real English very often * Metin is very personable and took a sincere interest in making sure we had the best possible time in Istanbul. When I mentioned that I really wanted to smoke some narguile, he made sure we were able to get some after our lunch. While we were hanging out at the café, several of his friends happened to be passing by or were around, so he introduced us to all of them and we ended up having some very interesting conversations. We had such a great time on the tour but didn't have any plans later for our last night in Istanbul, so Metin invited us to meet up with them later since they would be hanging out along Istiklal near our hotel. We ended up spending another few hours together that evening and into the early morning hours talking about all sorts of interesting topics, exploring some really fascinating areas that we would otherwise have missed, and meeting more people. This was advertised as a 4 to 6-person small group tour, but due to the season and perhaps people's irrational fears about coming to Turkey, it ended up just being me, my dad, and Metin. This definitely helped contribute to the awesomeness of the experience, but I have no doubt that a group of any size would get great value out of a tour with him as well. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Daily Istanbul Tours and Metin for making our trip to Turkey so memorable.

We went a little crazy during out time in Istanbul. We did 3 food tours! The Turkish breakfasts…read morewere our favorite and one of the only similar things we ate during all the tours. Two markets, two continents: Our guide Goncha was amazing!! She was very knowledgeable and passionate about Turkish food and culture. She taught us so much in a short time that we really felt connected to the city and culture. All the food was incredible and she went out of her way to ensure we were having a great time (despite the torrential downpour). She also answered questions and gave us suggestions of other things to do/eat during our stay. Because of her we booked two more tours! Bazaar Quarter: Our guide Katarina really knows her history and taught us a lot about the history and culture of Istanbul. She guided us through the Grand Bazaar and back alleys to delicious bites all over. We had such a great time that we booked a 3rd tour! Cosmopolitan Kurtulus: Ibrahim our guide is such a jolly and fun person. This ended up being a private tour through minority neighborhoods with even more tasty and interesting foods. He did a great job getting the locals to do the talking and explain everything to us. We had a great time exploring and sampling new foods in a new area devoid of tourists. Each guide brought their own unique perspective and led us around perfectly. I can't wait to do more Culinary backstreets tours in other cities! I have two suggestions that I think would improve the tours a little more: 1. Offer more drinks at all stops, where possible. 2. Kurtulus tour: The meeting place should be the subway station. To get to the meeting point we needed to take a tram, subway, and bus (bus stops are not obvious) from the Blue Mosque area to get there. We ended at the subway stop, so just to make it easier thats where it should start IMO.

Ok, where do I start in saying thank to Gonca and her staff at at Culinary Backstreets in Istanbul,…read moreTurkey. This trip, tours, food exposure, history lessons and suggestions deserve the highest praise I can give. I have never used this company before, but feel not booking them on future endeavors would be shame on me. The thought that we went to a Jewish breakfast at a families house, the walking through neighborhoods that our guides had personal relationships with the vendors, the food markets and sampling fresh fruits / veggies, the tour of a small farm and breakfast under the farmer's mulberry trees, made this this an intimate experience in a different culture and allowed us to see the Turkish people in their surroundings. A chartered yacht on the Bosphrorus River was another highlight. Being a small group of only 12, coupled us with others of similar interests. The tour did give us ample time to explore areas on our own. The two half days of cooking with a well published Turkish chef, Ozlem Warren was a treat. Always being their to answer questions, point us in the right direction, helping us with spice markets to avoid, airport transportation or immediate medical needs, left us with minimal worries. The first nights dinners was a total show stopper and a phemonal way to kick off our journey. The master making homemade baklava and sitting tableside with the pit master for kabobs was definitely memorable and delicious. I felt like we saw real Istanbul and it's beauty with the people's spirit and culture. Gonca, Ugur and the team completely exceeded expectations. The value here is definitely undervalued for what you get. If you are traveling in Istanbul, you must call Culinary Backstreets to organize your adventure. Gonca, Ugur and the team will make it your best trip ever. These individuals and organization will make Istanbul a memorable experience. A sincere and heart felt, thank you.

The most wonderful tour company. I reached out to them at the last minute during the holidays to…read moretry to book a tour to Cappadocia, Ephesus and Pamukkale. Mustafa Ceviz bent over backwards to arrange everything and even customized the trip to make things work for me. Everything was flawless. The accommodations were more than I expected and all of the experiences were top notch. He even reached out several times during the trip to check in. I would absolutely recommend this company to anyone looking to book an experience in Turkey.

Istanbul Tour Services / Turkey Tour Services is a travel office centrally located in Istanbul,…read morejust 3-5 min walk from the Sultanahmed. They specialize in offering tours to various interesting places all over Tourkey such as Ephesus, Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Gallipoli, Troy. They offer both day tours as well as tour packages. Together with my friends we decided to book a Cappadocia tour with them. Mustafa, who is the owner was super responsive and friendly. He replied to our email within less than an hour and took care of booking our flights, hotel, tours to local attractions as well as a balloon flight over Cappadocia! Everything went super smoothly! The balloon flight was simply AMAZING!! One of the best experiences in my life :) If you are in Turkey, you have to visit Cappadocia!

We just toured Istanbul, and also Jerusalem, with guides from Tours By Locals and can not recommend…read moretoursbylocals.com enough. Hanifi and Etai brought to life their cities -- history, culture, and lifestyle -- with such flair and indepth knowledge. If you are traveling, book a guide with this website!!

Brilliant Turklingua Turkish Translation Services! Thank you…read morevery much for your delivery. We like working with you too and we'll definitely come back to you with new projects. Our translated Turkish user manuals received very impressive results. I would like to send my compliments to you. Best and have a good day, Mehmet Servet Operations Director SMITH MACHINERY COMPANY, INC

in istambul we purchased an excursion as part of our (excellent) cruise on Viking Cruise Line. We…read moreleft the ship on bus, drove to the Blue Mosque, then walked to the Sultans Palace and finally to the spice bazaar. Our Tura Turizm tour guide was excellent. She was good at keeping the group moving, spoke English well, was enthusiastic about sharing information about the sites, had a nice voice, gave us plenty of time to see things and seemed very sincere in wanting us to appreciate what we were seeing. She gets an A+. The last stop was the spice bazaar. I'm glad we went because it's definitely something unique. The noise, the smells, the building...all made for a great experience. Our guide did give us tips on shopping in the bazaar, acknowledging that there were some shops that could be "trusted" more than others. So, she brought us to a specific "trustworthy" shop where they gave us samples and explained their merchandise . I bought a couple of things, and the salesperson used his calculator to assure me of the price in U.S. dollars. When I paid for my items, I was encouraged to use a credit card instead of cash (hmm?). Before I signed the credit slip I asked to know the amount in U.S. dollars and, was told the correct amount. I signed, left, and returned home to a credit card charge $100+ dollars over the what should have been charged. The credit card company said I could dispute it, but needed more information from the store. I tried to contact them multiple times, incliding via the email address on their website, but got no reply. I learned a lesson (use cash in a place like that) and came home with Spice bazaar story to share, but I can't help thinking that the tour guide would be really embarrassed to know that this happened in the one store that she recommended. If Tura Turizm would have responded to me in any fashion, I probably wouldn't be writing this tome of a review. Oh, and the store in the Bazaar was named Bogazicibah.

We took a guided tour of Ephasus in Turkey as one of the shore excursions from our cruise. The…read moreguide himself was SUPERB: warm, knowledgeable, and fascinating. The bus had greatwestern-style air-conditioning (!) and was a welcome respite after the heat of the day walking through the ruins, which were among the most incredible we've ever seen. Our guide was able to bring the ancient world to life with his stories blending culture, history, and myth. Yet, one major drawback: upon our arrival in Kusadasi, at the end of the tour, we were taken on an "educational visit" of the carpet store Topkapi to learn how Turkish rugs/carpets are made. This was simply a sales job, and a badly done one at that. After an interesting demo of silkworms and weaving, we were ushered into a large room (seated at the back - truly trapped!) and shown carpets. The loud, aggressive sales manager was fakely over-friendly and frankly dishonest; he said several things about rug prices, for example, which we later learned in Istanbul were not true. Not to mention that his prices were grossly inflated. It's too bad that this company chose to end a wonderful tour with this charlatan: we are sure that American consumers are far more intelligent that he supposes. They kept telling us that they "didn't want us to get a negative idea about Turkey or carpet salesman"; unfortunately they imprinted a further stereotype.

This agency provided a superior guide for two days of private touring in Istanbul. Lale was the…read morecontact person in setting things up. She was prompt and conscientious. Yaren was my guide, and she was superior in her knowledge of the sites and how to make the most of a couple of days in this great city. She is genuinely interested in addressing the interests and concerns of her clients. I recommend SRM for tours enthusiastically!