Skip the museum queues with your licenced guide! During this half day tour you will discover Sultanahmet area by seeing some highlights. This tour program designed for who does not have a long day but still wants to discover a lot in the old city of Istanbul. We can customize this program according to your needs as well.
From the operator’s live schedule on Viator, checked Oct 16.
Hagia Sophia Museum, the pride of the Byzantine architecture.
Blue Mosque, famous for its blue Iznik tiles, one of the highlights of the city.
An amazing underground cistern where you will see hundreds of columns.
Enjoy shopping in the world’s largest covered bazaar with 4000 shops, is known as Grand Bazaar.
We can meet with the guest at the requested point, any hotel, port or a general area.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
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For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Half Day Private Istanbul Tour lasts about 4 hours. The itinerary has 4 stops.
Prices start at $290 per person for this Istanbul experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
According to the operator’s current schedule, it runs every day.
Yes. Cancel at least 1 day before the start for a full refund. Later cancellations are non-refundable.
Yes, pickup is offered. We can meet with the guest at the requested point, any hotel, port or a general area. Pickup points include Harbour Suites Old City.
The experience is available in DE, MS, EN, IT, FR, ES.
It is a private experience: only your party takes part. Up to 10 travellers can book together.
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Wheelchair accessible
Yes, bookings are confirmed instantly.
Travellers rate it 4.9 out of 5 across 177 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor; it is run by Istanbul Private Tours by Travel Elefante.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
We had a fabulous private tour of Istanbul with Ipek. She is delightful , informative and made our experience authentic and memorable. We would highly recommend this tour and company. Communication was excellent and they were very a composting.
Hi Terri, Thank you for your review. We hope to host you in Istanbul again. All the best...
We had a wonderful experience with Ipek as our travel guide in Istanbul. She was incredibly knowledgeable, kind and friendly, and did a fantastic job of including our children throughout the tour. She made the experience interesting and enjoyable for the whole family. We highly recommend Ipek and this tour.
Hi Britt, Thank you for sharing about your experience. We hope to see you in Istanbul again. All the best...
We were only in Istanbul for a short amount of time due to our layover and Emine was amazing and coordinated an earlier start time so we would be able to see as much as we could! Our tour with J was really informative and he was very enjoyable to spend time with. We ended up going to the blue mosque, hagia Sofia, and the cisterns. J was able to jump the line at all of the attractions which was great! The transfer service was very nice and clean! I would recommend this tour!
Hi Davis, Thank you for your feedback. We hope to host you for a longer trip in Istanbul. All the best...
Ilhan was outstanding. He was on time, organized and throughly knowledgeable about Istanbul, Turkey and the history related to all the sights he took us to during the tour. I cannot say enough good things about him.
First off we were not aware that this tour would be taking a local tram and walking from place to place. No vehicle. We also didn’t realize that admission to the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque was 35 Euro per person and was under construction. Also, admission to the Basilica Cistern was $50 per person. Would have been nice knowing this before we made our reservations. So basically we only did the Blue Mosque which we could have done on our own. A little disappointing Viator doesn’t include admission pricing when it is not included in tour price.
Dear John, Thank you for taking the time to share your review. We’re sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your experience. We would, however, like to clarify a few points regarding the information provided before your booking. On the Viator listing, it is clearly stated that entrance fees and private transportation are not included in the tour price. In addition, we contacted you by email prior to the tour and provided information regarding the additional entrance fees as well as the use of public transportation. The Old City of Istanbul is largely a pedestrian area, and private vehicles are not permitted in many of its historic sections. For this reason, the tram is one of the most convenient and practical ways to access the area, and this was communicated to you in advance. Our guide also informed us that during the tour you chose not to enter the museums and other sites because you did not wish to pay the applicable entrance fees. As a result, our guide showed you the Blue Mosque from the inside and presented the other sites from the outside. We have also provided you with the email correspondence showing that the relevant information regarding transportation and entrance fees was communicated before your tour. The Viator listing also specifies that entrance fees are excluded, so this information was available for review before making the reservation. We always aim to provide clear information so our guests can make an informed decision before booking, and we regret that there was a misunderstanding regarding the inclusions of the tour. Thank you again for your feedback.
Viator, booked the reservation for half-day tour in Istanbul. The chat box representative had me fill out the application. The pick up & drop off was to be from our hotel. He assured me that there is no problem with the location and it is all included in the price. He said just go ahead and pay for it and he will then tell the supplier. After i paid and got confirmed. I started receiving emails from Elefante tour ( supplier) saying that the tour doesnt include transfer. I had multiple email exchanges with them. However, they refused and the told us you have to pay additional $170 to be picked up from your hotel. This was a big surprise specially on the day of the tour. 2 hours before the tour we realized the tour will not pick him ( solo) up from hotel. And told us Viator should have contacted them before confirming. Thus, tge tour was cancelled. This was a terrible service. Unreliable and dishonest.
Thank you for your feedback. We would like to clarify the details of this booking for future readers.Your hotel was located near the airport, which is approximately a one-hour drive from the Old City and sits outside our standard pick-up zone. Upon receiving your booking details, we immediately contacted you to offer an additional transport option to accommodate your location. When you chose not to proceed with this option, we mutually agreed to cancel the reservation, and we promptly issued a full refund.Please note that this issue stems from a communication gap with the booking platform. The platform did not verify our pickup zones before confirming a transfer from your location. We highly recommend addressing platform-related booking errors directly with their customer service team.Because the tour never took place and a full refund was processed immediately, this review reflects a pre-trip logistical challenge rather than an actual experience with our guiding services. We always strive to assist our guests clearly and fairly, and we regret any frustration this automated booking error caused. However, we are deeply disappointed that a negative review was used as a threat after a full refund had already been amicably settled.
A very good excursion through the city center, our guide Gamze was wonderful. The girl is a wonder, an encyclopedia of this place, we had a really good time 10/10. We will repeat!
Our 1/2 day Private Guided Istanbul tour was outstanding. Our guide was informative, educational and provided us with options as to the structure of our time together. We thoroughly enjoyed his thoughful comments and experienced guidance in touring the important historical sites in Istanbul.
Lovely day seeing some of the major attractions in the historical district of Istanbul. Our guide, Ugur was knowledgable and great to spend the morning with. Stray your day early to avoid the crowds. This is worth every penny.
Hi Dana, We are happy to see your beautiful review. We hope to host you for a longer trip in the future. All the best...
This tour was perfect! Our guide, Celal, was friendly, witty, and knowledgeable. We appreciated all of his local knowledge, recommendations, and explanation of the history of Istanbul. He explained thousands of years of history in a way that was easy to understand. Best of all, the tour was flexible! He allowed us to choose our pace and where we went. I highly recommend!
Hi Rhonda, Thank you for your nice review. We hope to see you in Istanbul again. All the best...
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half Day Private Istanbul Tour | 4 hours | 4.9 (177) | $290 | |
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 Half day Fener-Balat Walking Tour in Istanbul | 3 hours | 5.0 (393) | $19 | View |
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 Istanbul Half-Day Private Old City Tour with Optional Tickets | 3–4 hours | 5.0 (23) | $75 | View |
 Private Half Day Shore Excursion: Hagia Sophia, Hippodrome, Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar From Istanbul | 4 hours | 5.0 (15) | $144 | View |
 ALL INCLUSIVE: Half Day Ephesus Tour from Kusadasi Port | 4–6 hours | 4.9 (495) | $26 | View |