Istanbul Old City Highlights: Private Walking Tour

We didn’t have much time in Istanbul but Batuhan, our guide, brought us to all the must see places in the old town in nearly 5 hours. We were able to skip all lines and had enough time inside mosques and palace to hear Batuhan’s introduction. This private tour was fantastic. Able to cater to our own need

Our guide, Batu, gave us a wonderful tour of the Old City. He took us to all the places that we had wanted to visit and provided us with plenty of interesting information about them. He was very knowledgeable and able to answer all our questions. Batu was really friendly and went out of his way to ensure that we had a great time. Many thanks, Batu.

Great tour. Batu , our personal tour guide was exceptional. Very knowledgeable. Would highly recommend this tour!!

Great tour. Batu is a wonderful guide and it was very nice to get to know him. flexible and covered all the major sites. highly recommend.

Batu was a great guide and was very accommodating! My first time in Istanbul was so much richer due to his insights and recommendations. Thank you, Batu!

Batuhan was a knowledgeable guide, and we had such a good time exploring the blue mosque, hagia sofia, the palace and the basilica cistern .

We had a very enjoyable day with Batu, our tour guide, who is very knowledgeable and friendly and shared with us details of the places we visited. The pace of the tour was good and we didn’t feel rushed at all and we were able to decide which places we want to spend more time at. Definitely a great experience for us.

Despite the rain, Batu gave us a pleasant highlight tour which gave us a broad introduction to the Old City. This is a good way to see which sights to come visit later in depth. Batu also showed us how to use the metro and tram which became very useful later in our trip. He was flexible to our needs and indeed very patient while we did some custom goods shopping at the Grand Bazaar.

Anil was a pleasure to spend the day with, he was very knowledgeable and I’d recommend him to anyone.

Visit all the essential places in Istanbul's old town and learn the history behind them. Batu was a perfect guide, allowing us to explore in our own peace, decide where to enter and where to spend time. Excellent cafe recommendation and coffee break during our tour. Thank you very much!

This tour was excellent. Our guide Batu was very knowledgeable about all the sights and additional general information about Instanbul and Turkey. Batu's English is excellent and so it made the day very enjoyable for us. Batu was also very helpful and happy to go at our pace. We were also able to skip the long queues because of Batu. We would highly recommend this tour and Batu if you want to see the top sights of Istanbul and learn all about them. Very much value for money.

Our tour guide Batu was excellent. He was Friendly and incredibly knowledgeable about the history and architecture. I would highly recommend this tour

Batu was a true gem! He proved to be a bright, knowledgeable, and articulate tour guide. While we both thoroughly enjoyed his company, my husband, in particular, appreciated his impressive knowledge of international movies and sports, which made the “in between” historical facts conversation easy and fun. We saw everything we had hoped to see. You can’t go wrong with Batu!

Excellent way to see the major sites. Our guide did a good job navigating the waiting lines and getting us for into sites.

Our guide,Dogukan was the best and tailored the experience to suit our exact needs. He adapted and rearranged things to manage our time ensuring we had the best from our time.

Our guide Volkan was very informative, friendly, and thoughtful. He enjoys his work and did a wonderful job!

We learned so much from our wonderful tour guide. Batu was so knowledgable and friendly. He made the day a great learning experience. I highly recommend him as a tour guide.

Our Private Istanbul City tour was with Batu, who was excellent. We visited the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia and the Basilica Cistern. Batu was very knowledgeable about all of these locations and the city in general. Lastly, he took us to a lovely cafe with a wonderful view to conclude our tour. In addition, he was friendly and personable. We recommend him highly!

Very private, we could pick what we wanted to do. Lucky we didn't, Anil had a great tour picked out, and then we asked him to take us where the locals would eat lunch, and it was fantastic. You will walk a lot, well over 13,000 steps, but it is worth it.

This tour was definitely the best tour we did in Istanbul! Anil is great!! He is very knowledgeable about the history and is a great story teller and photographer! He also knows the best food places and best shops ! It was truly a 10/10 experience ! Highly recommend!!!

Great tour hit many of the highlights and was great having a guide explain the history of each and point out interesting little things along the way

Wonderful guide. Batu met us at the port and we caught a tram to the main sights. He was very knowledgeable and kind. Would highly recommend this tour. Our early start meant that we avoided the crowds.

We had a wonderful walking tour with Burak. He was knowledgeable, but concise so we learned a lot. It was a beautiful day and we saw most of the major sites of the Old City. Burak knew what to see first before the crowds and we could make choices. He also gave us eating and tram advice. All in all, a 5-star experience.

Our guide Anil did a great job, was very knowledgeable and passionate about history/tour. I would highly recommend him.

Our guide, Batu, provided an excellent experience. We only had a short while in Istanbul, and he helped us make the most of it. He gave us excellent historical, artistic and cultural context about the sites we visited. The visit made us want to return and see more of Turkey.

Batu was amazing and very knowledgeable! I can't believe how many things I learned today, even though I'm not young, and I am Muslim. Batu is a treasure guide and we will be happy to meet him again in the future!! Great young man 👍👍👍! We highly recommend him to any English speaking visitor!

Kurtulus our guide was amazing! It was a pleasure to spend the day learning from him. He was very knowledgeable and gave perspective and insight into all the places we visited, knew a lot of our little details along the way, and was able to identify our interests and provide further tidbits to feed our interest. He was flexible and showed us a great local place to grab a bite to eat. He interacted well with our teenage kids. Overall, we had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed our time in Istanbul and it was a pleasure to have K as our guide.

It was a wonderful private walking tour. Our guide Mr Anil furnished us with great insights into historical details and fun facts. The pacing was great. We stopped over places for Turkish Coffee and dessert. Thank you Anil!

Great tour with Dogukan . Very informative and fun! We've experienced the city together and tried something local,that was interesting and delicious. Thanks !

Our guide (Doğukan Ceylan) was excellent. His English was very good, and he went at a nice pace, and was patient to stop wherever we asked. We went to various sites and Doğukan shared lots of history / interesting info.

It was an awesome experience. Our guide, Anil Bozkurt was incredible, picked us up at the port at the agreed time and spent the entire day with us. Took us to all the main attractions (Hypodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cistern) and even to a traditional restaurant for lunch. Highly recommend tour and if possible request Anil as your guide, you will have the best experience in Instabul.

I traveled to Istanbul for work so only had one day to see some of the city. This was the perfect option to hit the highlights in Old City Istanbul: Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Basilica Cistern and Grand Bazaar. Batu was a wonderful guide! He provided details about where we visited that I never would have figured out on my own, clued me into some delicious spots to grab a bite or a tea and answered all my (many) questions! Highly recommend!!!!

Prompt excellent guide. Great information, personalized our afternoon so we could pace ourselves and stop for ice-cream,and Lunch, Really shared his knowledge and enthusiasm for the history, beauty,& life in the old city !! Thanks so much Batu !!

This was a crash course in the history, culture, and food of an area we had almost no pre-knowledge of. Topal was patient and answered every question, as well as explaining historical significance at every turn.

Batu was a great tour guide and provided a very thoughtful and informative tour around a few mosques as well as the city. He was flexible with our schedule and even added a few stops at our request. We would definitely recommend Batu for your tour in Istanbul!

We were well looked after by our guide Can. Very knowledgeable and les us to all the main sights we wanted to see. Mosques, palace, Cistern and bazaar a great day in the old city. Thank you for getting us home safely.

We had a great experience visiting the sites in Istanbul. Batu was a very knowledgeable guide and also very patient with us walking around.

Great tour, highly recommended. We saw all the highlights and learned a lot about Istanbul on our tour!

Batu was phenomenal!!!. He was very knowledgeable. This was one of the best tour so far. Batu went above and beyond for us. Five star is not enough. 10/10.

We booked this tour as part of a cruise stop in Istanbul. Our tour guide was a gentleman named Batu and we had a great and informative session. He arrived promptly at the meet up location at Galataport and proceeded to give a walking tour of the major highlights of Istanbul. We started with hopping on the T1 tram from the port to the Sultanahmet area where we paused for some turkish coffee (my wife needed a jolt of caffiene to start us off). Great experience watching the preparation and presentation/service. We proceeded to walk down to the Blue mosque, Batu guided us on dress code while giving us detailed history lessons of the buildings we were looking at. We visited inside the mosque and was awed by the beautiful designs. Next we visited the Obelisk of Theodosius and the German fountain on the hippodrome. My kids particularly enjoyed seeing the obelisk and hieroglyphics. We walked down to the Hagia Sophia next, where Batu helped with procuring tickets and dress code again. Once inside we spent probably close to an hour marveling at this ancient building that has changed hands so many times in history. We ended the tour with a walk to the Grand Bazaar, an epic feast for the senses! Batu showed us a few recommended stores for Carpets and leather goods. By now we had been walking almost four hours (with lots of stops for rest in the hot august temps as well as pictures) and we decided to wrap up the tour. Batu was able to help in getting a taxi to get us back to Galataport to get back on our cruise. Batu was patient, knowledgeable and helpful. He answered all our random questions and we were able to totally customize the tour to what we wanted to see/experience. I fully recommend this tour, you will not be disappointed!!

Excellent introduction to Istanbul, with most important landmarks and historical attractions visited. Burak, our guide, was also excellent - friendly, knowledgeable and professional. I highly recommend this tour and tour guide.

Batu was A+, gave us lots of great advice on Istanbul, not just about tour. Was very helpful. Thank you!!

What an amazing experience! Barak was both knowledgeable and fun, and answered all our endless questions about history and the places we toured. He gave us options that helped us tailor the experience to our liking, found us bathrooms, Coke Zero, and whatever else we needed. He was also happy to take our picture as many times as we asked him to. Maybe the best private tour I’ve ever been on, and at a great price too. Book this one. You won’t be sorry. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Buta was our tour guide for the day. He took 6 of us through many famous sites and ended in Grand Bazaar. He was an amazing young man who is full of knowledge of the places we visited. Not only his English was good, he was very thorough with the history, and very easy to understand him. Before our tour, we asked him many questions and he responded quickly. He sure put us at ease. He also has a lot of patience and often waited for few of us who walked bit slower. He is a very personable and made us all feel very welcomed. Thank you Buta for giving us such a wonderful tour of your beautiful country. We were so lucky to have met you and looking forward to seeing you again in the near future.

The guide, Batu, was very kind and accommodating. He was knowledgeable, punctual and well prepared for the tour.

We joined this tour as three friends and we had a great time on this tour. Our Batu guide was very friendly and knowledgeable, he was able to answer all our questions and explained the history behind each place. We especially enjoyed being able to take our time and ask questions along the way since it was a private tour. We visited Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern. We decided to skip Topkapi Palace due to the hot weather, but everything else was amazing, especially the lunch stop and the Grand Bazaar. Overall, a really enjoyable way to see the main sights of Istanbul, especially if it’s your first time in the city. Would definitely recommend it!

Batu was absolutely amazing. Very knowledgeable and articulate. He is very versed in local history and was able to share in a way to understand. He was also so patient with us. And he is an amazing photographer as well!! :)

Batu was absolutely a delight. He was so patient and knowledgeable. Absolutely recommend him!

We had a great guided tour with Batu who was very knowledgeable and helped us understand the historic sites. He also took the time to ensure we had plenty of time to explore what interested us at our pace as well. Thanks Batu.