Istanbul Combo: Bosphorus Cruise & Dolmabahce Tour

I was switched to this as an alternative tour when the original tour was cancelled. As a result, I was unable to participate in the swimming portion of the tour. Although somewhat different, I was very impressed by the knowledge of our guide (Emir...) and his constant efforts to see that we were comfortable and having a good time. The palace tour went well with the exception of the transport issues noted below. On the boat, he was constantly moving between the decks to make sure everything was OK. Two other representatives on board appeared to do little to assist. Unfortunately there were significant problems with this tour which spoiled it. As others have mentioned, the sound system on the boat was very bad. Although the speaker was relocated several times, there was no way that both decks could hear the commentary. Even worse was the complete lack of coordination in the transport. Significant time was spent waiting for the shuttle van and walking around for the correct pickup location. Drop off was even worse. All of the representatives of the tour company left and the shuttle was left in the command of an independent operator. Instead of dropping me at my hotel, as promised, the shuttle left me five long uphill blocks away on a different street. This is completely unacceptable - to leave a customer in an unfamiliar neighborhood after dark.

It was sprendid. I wiil remember this tour eternally. If I am asked which tour is best, I will recommend this tour. When I come back to Japan I will tell about this tour and Emirhan.

What a great tour of the Dolmebache Palace and Bosphorus. Friendly tour guide Emirhan Sanli and his colleagues were excellent and knowledgeable. Highly recommended.

It was an enjoyable experience, the tour guide, Emirhan, was really attentive and knowledgeable about anything and everything we were asking about

Our family of four truly enjoyed the fantastic guided tour. Emirhan’s knowledge of the places (Dolmabache Palace, Bosphorus - Asia and Europe) and his captivating story telling on the history, culture and beauty + even the jokes make the journey truly magical. The cruise had fantastic view with the entire deck reserved for the few of us, almost like a private one. You have to experience the ES MMXVII flag and experience :)

Booked a few tours with this company and are really good, everything was booked and planned, we also did a private Istanbul old city walk with private guide, Cappadocia transfer and 3 days in Cappadocia with tours. Would definitely book with this company again and all the staff are wonderful.

Great start to our trip. Amirhan Sanli was our friendly knowledgable and enthusiastic tour guide. His knowledge of the history of Istanbul was great and helped us create a picture in our heads of how it was. He happily took questions and was always able to answer them The boat trip was relaxing and very enjoyable while other attraction were pointed out to us. Recommend this trip

This excursion was booked on a whimp the night before and it was perfect! We didn’t have anything planned so we thought we would try it and we have no regrets! Our tour guide came to pick us up from our hotel and then we headed straight to the palace. On the way there he was talking about the city and giving us good information. At the palace he was very enthusiastic about telling us all grh information and he knew a lot. [ Our tour guides name was Emirhan Sanli ] after the palace tour we bused to teh boat and did a boat cruise and got to stopover in Asia which was great to see ! Our guide supplied us with so many facts along the cruise and answered all of our questions. 10/10 recommendation!

This was an amazing experience. Great tour of the palace and awesome boat cruise giving good perspective of the size and diversity of this amazing city. Emirhan Sanli was a great guide. His enthusiasm and knowledge were very appreciated!

CLIFF NOTES: Like others have stated, this tour is disorganized. You're basically buying an extremely rushed "tour", followed by a boat ride..... My problems are listed below: 1. I arrived at the meeting point almost 40 minutes early. These people were aware in advance that I was going to be meeting at the IBO Tour location, so I'm unsure why I had to wait past the instructed meeting time. After waiting 20 minutes past the meeting time and worrying, I ended up using the Viator app to reach out to the tour guide. The person who eventually came out was not the guide. I was rushed on to a train. The tour guide called me and asked who I spoke with. I told him that I had no idea. He said that I needed to go to the Kabatas train station, and I had no idea where that was (I expected to follow a group to the boat). He asked what direction the train was going and what the next station was. I had no idea because I wasn't familiar with the area at all, the train didn't tell me in English where it was going and the person who put me on the train didn't tell me. At first, he thought it was going the wrong direction. LUCKILY, I was going the right direction. I pulled up Google maps to 2. The tour guide was new. He was a good guy, but he was very nervous. I don't know why. We were a small group of 4. He had trouble spitting out words coherently without stumbling all over the place. I really wanted to tell him to RELAX and enjoy the day with us! No one is out to judge him. It was a very nice day out and a good little group. 3. Dolmabahçe Palace was VERY VERY rushed. We were given about 15 minutes to tour it. Remind you that this building has 285 ROOMS with 40 or so corridors. We had no chance to listen to the audio and learn about the history or use of the rooms. I literally SPEED WALKED a portion of the building and at most got a one-second glance at some of the rooms. I believe the ad stated that we were supposed to be in there an hour, and even an hour is honestly WAY too short. It was also disappointing that we didn't get a chance to go into the front of the palace. We went around to the back. I would have loved to spend more time in there. 4. Per the tour, we were supposed to go through Küçüksu gardens. We did not. The place was closed, so we were told just to walk around for 30 minutes. The most exciting thing that I saw was a dead cat... and it was sad. So between arriving at a place where I was supposed to be and no one was there, having a sloppy tour guide, being rushed, and not being able to tour 1 of 2 things that we were supposed to do, I'm disappointed and cannot recommend it. I should have just paid to see Dolmabahçe Palace without a rushed tour. The boat ride was the best thing about the whole adventure.