Bitinya offers many tours in Istanbul and all over the Turkey. We have booked Off The Beaten Track…read moreand Istanbul Tastes and we had fantastic tour I would recomend to anyone anytime. Our tour guide, Erkan, showed us around European and Asian parts of the city, took us to bazaars, mosques, little shops, amazing restaurant, etc. We travelled by different kinds of transport: Erkan took care of the card and transportation fees. In one day we had so many experiences, impressions and information about Istanbul history and culture which would not be possible to achieve in such a short trip.

Furkan did an outstanding job of putting together a custom itinerary based on the places we wanted…read moreand places he recommended. Furkan was able to arrange for all required activities in Istanbul and Cappadocia. The itinerary he created showcased not only the popular tourist attractions but also areas known only to the locals of Turkey. We had made this same trip with our friends 15 years ago, but it was nothing near as organized and stress free as this recent trip. Our guides and drivers in both Istanbul and Cappadocia were so personal and flexible, making us feel so welcome and never rushed, making it feel more like an experience than a tour. Istanbul on food tour that Furkan arranged in Istanbul was fabulous and really gave us a flavor for the food and culture of the area. The hot air balloon ride was perhaps the highlight of the visit in Turkey. I've traveled all over the world and I have to say that this is one of the best vacations I've ever been on. Furkan made our second trip to Turkey memorable in every way and I wouldn't hesitate to contact him for any and all of our future trips.

An insightful and informative thread. We had an excellent three-day private and guided tours of…read moreIstanbul with our knowledgeable and friendly guide Furkan. Highly recommend to anyone visiting the city .

Nesli Alkaya is the most incredible tour guide I have ever run across. We were in Istanbul this…read moresummer and it was her tour that made our trip spectacularly memorable. She takes you in a comfortable Mercedes van throughout Istanbul to the top sights. She speaks perfect English and is warm and kind. She is knowledgable but is not overbearing so you feel like you are touring in a comfortable manner. She took us to fantastic merchants in the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market where we got great deals on fine jewelry, calligraphy from a world famous calligrapher, purses etc. She makes sure you get good deals on amazing things that you seek. She takes you quickly so you see whatever it is you desire. You will fall in love with Istanbul because the tour is so comfortable and lovely. I can't wait to go back. If you seek Istanbul, Ephasus or any of the areas in that part of the world, please seek out Nesli at tercestours. She is incredible.

With five days in Istanbul before boarding a cruise, we wanted to venture to Cappadocia. After…read morecontacting Noreste Tours, Birdal provided us with an itinerary/proposal. For a private two-day tour including a stay at a luxurious cave hotel, flights, and tours. He was punctual, professional, and extremely knowledgeable making for an extremely memorable experience. The company can also do group tours in English, Spanish, and Turkish and will customize to your specifications. As an added bonus, the total cost of the tour for the two of us was half-off what the cruise line wanted to charge for a pre-cruise add on. Make the most of your visit to Turkey and arrange your tours with Noreste. You won't be disappointed.

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.

My husband and I ended up having a layover opportunity in Istanbul, but shorter than the usual…read moretours offered. I emailed Latif and he responded quickly and worked with our time frame and set up a tour that fit our needs. The transport to and from the airport was comfortable and easy. Our guide was Alp, who was absolutely amazing! Alp was knowledgeable, friendly and welcoming- it was like a good friend was showing you around. He was able to get us to what we wanted to see in a short time frame, without feeling rushed or pressured. My husband who is a secondary world history teacher was also impressed with the discussion he had with Alp on all the sites we visited. My only regret is that we didn't stay longer in Istanbul! I would wholeheartedly recommend booking a tour with this company.

ILT made it easy for us to get to see Istanbul and enjoy a delicious meal during our layover. I was…read morevery pleased with the experience and ease of communication and logistics. I just provided my flight information and they handled the rest. We landed, easily found the meeting point, and a team of people walked us to the van, which then drove us to city center where our tour guide met us, showed us around, and the same van picked us up and took us back to the airport with plenty of time to get to our gate

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.

Although Semih could personally give me a tour, he set up a perfect personal tour for me. All…read morethe arrangements were made from the United States via e-mail. His communication was excellent. He even provided me with a map of the airport and a photograph of the gate I was supposed to meet his guide. Every detail was planned for me. The guide was great. I felt that I had a person friend walking me through his personal haunts. Not only did we visit the significant usual sites, but he took me for Turkish coffee at his favorite place and for kebabs. My only regret was that I wasn't able to spend more time in Istanbul. When I come again, I would definitely have Semih plan a more thorough and longer tour for me.

Semih was my tour guide for about four hours as we walked around old and new Istanbul. During the…read moretour, we covered a significant amount of ground as he showed me some of Istanbul's true hidden treasures- such a beautiful Armenian church hidden just out of view and a historic theater where I will be catching a whirling dervish performance tomorrow night. He is knowledgable of both distant and recent history as well as modern social issues and politics. He can customize the tour based on your needs and availability. I'd highly recommend contacting him if this is your first visit to Istanbul or if you'd like to find new areas to discover. Enjoy Istanbul while you're here!