Istanbul Night Tour with Drinks: Private & Custom with a Local

We thoroughly enjoyed our evening tour of Istanbul with our tour guide, Feruza. This was a private tour that include just the three of us, Mr. and Mrs. TravelCat and Feruza. This was a create your own itinerary tour, so we were limited only by our time, imagination, and jet lag. We had originally planned a three-day stopover in Istanbul, but we were thwarted by the legendarily bad Turkish Airlines phone customer service. After 19 phone calls and hours on the phone, Mr. TC threw in the towel. BTW, everything else with Turkish Airlines was GREAT, the plane itself, food, lounge, and on plane service. Go figure. As a result, we had 6 hours to see Istanbul on the evening of our arrival before heading to Athens early the next morning. Hmmm, probably not going to get to see everything. We chose to see the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. The rest would be just walking around the Sultanahmet area. After arriving at IST, we checked in to our airport hotel, the Airside Yotel (great for early morning flights – you’re already through security) and had dinner at the wonderful Turkish Airlines business lounge - the best airport lounge I’ve ever enjoyed! We then, contacted Feruza via WhatsApp. She had provided her contact info to us the week before – extremely helpful! After wandering the airport, we finally found our way downstairs and outside where we met Feruza. She greeted us like long lost friends! For the rest of our time together, we did indeed feel like we had a friend in Istanbul. We got in a nearby taxi and traveled to the Sultanahmet area. Feruza took care of the taxi fare both ways. There was no funny business by the driver demanding more money in either case. We enjoyed touring the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque with our new friend. We discussed the Turkish educational system, economy, and Islam, not in a dry didactic way, but with very personal insight from our guide. Feruza has a charming personality and a great sense of humor. We enjoyed our short time walking and talking with her. I do believe that she would have stayed out with us all night if we had asked, but Mrs. TC was worried that Feruza would be too tired for her regular job in the morning, so she made us all go home to our house/hotel so that we could get some sleep. A great experience! TravelCats Score Tour Guide: 10/10 paws up Fun Level: 10/10 Uniqueness: 9/10 Value: 9/10 Organizational Quality: 10/10 TripAdvisor/Google Score: 5/5

My son-in-law and I just finished a wonderful night tour of Istanbul with Devanshu as our guide. It was obvious to see that Devanshu knows and loves his city, and even though we only had a few hours he was able to show us many of the sights. If we are in Istanbul again we will definitely book another tour. Thanks to Devanshu and Tours by Locals!