Private: Topkapi Palace, St. Sophia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Hipodromme

We did the private tour with ‘T’ - she was so good at showing us the ‘must sees’ of Istanbul - including the most authentic and delicious lunch spot. She was kind and personable. - highly recommend ✔️

Fantastic day in Istanbul , our tour guide Tayfun was knowledgeable and really good company . Catered to all our needs .

We had an excellent private tour of Istanbul with our guide Leyla. The hotel pickup was on time and Leyla really took the time to explain the history of each location we visited. We had visited some of the locations previously but having a well-informed and friendly guide made all the difference! I would highly recommend this tour to anyone wanting to better understand the history of this beautiful city!

Tour guide Elgi chatted with driver during our "custom, private tour" (did not point out sites or provide any history). She became increasingly disinterested when we informed her that we were more interested in sites/learning about her beautiful country's history than being brought to stores she clearly had arrangements with to shop. The owner of one of the shops made an antisemitic comment.

Day well spent. Though it rained the entire day. We did end up seeing all sites. Tour guide was quite knowledgable and knew the history well…

Our long anticipated private tour of several sites in Istanbul started off in grand style when we met our personal guide Emel, a very stylish and attractive young Turkish woman. She was just delightful! Her English was perfect and with one of us having hearing difficulty, she was so easy to understand. We met our driver and proceeded to our first stop. Hagia Sophia. The area was very crowded with tourists, but Emel knew just how to maneuver through the crowd and quickly get us in. In addition to sharing lots of historical details of the site, she was also crowd-savvy and watched to see that our little three-some didn’t get engulfed in larger tour groups that were swarming everywhere. This was very much appreciated. Our next destination was the Topkapi Palace. We toured the various parts of the palace including the harem area and the palace treasury. Emel explained what life was like for those that were part of the Ottoman collective family. Very interesting. Then she was able to adjust our day to find time to see the Blue Mosque instead of the grand bazaar. By early afternoon the lines to get into the Blue Mosque were daunting, but Emel worked her magic and we were able to enter the mosque and see the beauty inside. Our last stop was a walk through the old Roman hippodrome where chariot races and other sporting events were held back in the day. Emel arranged for our driver to meets us there and take us back to Galataport where we reboarded our ship. All in all, we could not have asked for a better experience. It was difficult to say goodbye since we felt we were now dear friends and not just tourists and guide. We counted ourselves so very fortunate to have shared the day with Emel. We highly recommend Emel at Curio Travel. She’s the best!

Private guide to see the Istanbul major attractions is the way to go. We skipped long lines and many crowds. All of the sights were amazing; so glad we saw them this way. Our guide, Onur, was very good!

Four of us and our guide. She was great. Showed us great little areas. Friendly, funny all round a great tour of the areas. Wou I d highly recommend again. Only 4 of us and our guide. Nice and personal.

First class service very attentive and caring guide who was di knowledgeable about the city Fantastic tour

Our guide was fantastic. She had great suggestions and was patient and kind with my mother who has difficulty walking. The history she related while on the tours positively added to the experience

Very experienced guide, well looked after. Very knowledgeable and helpful. Enjoyable day. Took into account what we all wanted to see, 6 in our group.

Eda was a fantastic guide and very knowledgeable. We had a great half day exploring and taking in the sights. Thank you so much.

Our private guide is very knowledgeable. He did his best to accomodate our needs, very flexible, and skip the lines. Highly revommended

This is the only way to do it! Z was a fantastic guide, so very knowledgeable and personable. Highly recommended this tour!!

Erkan and his driver led us on an amazing tour of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Cistern, and Grand Bazar. The commentary and stories captured our imagination! We learned much about the local history & customs, and enjoyed every minute. Erkan was especially sensitive to the needs of our daughter and made sure she was safe around the traffic, people, and trams. The van was extremely comfortable and made the tour that much more enjoyable.

Im afraid I cant say enough good things in a short review. Our guide was exceptional with a vast knowledge of the area and history. He was very accomodating to the group's different interests and worked hard to touch on evry area. Simply put, I'd recommend his tour to everyone!

Connecting with our tour guide was easy. He was waiting with a sign just as we exited. Unfortunately our group of 10 decided to skip entering the 3 sites due to the huge lines. 3 cruise ships were docked. The information given about the sights was informative and easy to understand. Our tour guide Jack always had us laughing.

Our tour guide Emel was SPECTACULAR! She ordered our tour to accommodate OUR interests and schedule. She was very helpful and enthusiastic about all the sites we visited. Emel was very knowledgeable and shared so much information about the sites in a fun but accurate way! She went above and beyond our expectations! It’s an AWESOME tour made exceptionally worthwhile because of Emel!!!!

We had a great time with our tour and Ozge is the best. She’s so nice and very flexible with what you want to do. I highly recommend her.

Amazing! Leyla definitely knows her material, what an informative and enlightening tour! I learned so much in the few short six hours we were together, and we say the beauty of Istanbul and its rich history. Leyla was very accommodating and adjusted to our schedule. Definitely seek out Leyla if you want to to get the full tour of this rich historical area!

The guide Leyla was truly excellent, highly knowledgeable but delightful with it. We were picked up from our hotel and as this was a private tour it was tailor made to our specific requirements. I had a skiing accident recently and was walking with a stick and she ensured everything was manageable and we really got the best out of our day. The driver was great too negotiating the terrible Istanbul traffic and very attentive👍.Everything worked superbly. Highly recommended.

This tour far exceeded our expectations. Erkan was an amazing guide, and the tour company was wonderful as well. We had to make some time changes due to our ships schedule changing, and Fevzi accommodated us perfectly every step of the way!! The tour itself was exactly what we wanted. We only had hours in Istanbul rather than days and we wanted to see as much as possible. Erkan met us at the cruise port, and we began our tour. He was friendly, spoke clearly (which sounds silly but we have had some guides who talk so fast or so quiet that you can’t understand), made sure that we had time for everything we had asked to see, and even squeezed in some extra things that he thought he would like. We took the local transportation, which was crowded and could have been confusing, but Erkan made sure we were all on and off where we needed to be. 10/10 recommend!

Tour guide Leyla did a great job. She is knowledgeable and made the tour a memorable experience despite the weather conditions.

It was a wonderful tour. We enjoyed the individual attention and information that was provided- thanks!

We took a private tour through Curio Travel while on a cruise that ported in Istanbul. We visited the Ancient Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar. Mr. Volkan was our tour guide. He was friendly and professional. He let us see the sites at our pace. After seeing all the sites he took us to an awesome restaurant in the Grand Bazaar to try some local cuisine. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Istanbul.

Took this tour from our cruise ship. We were picked up by Leyla and driver who were kind enough to take us to our hotel to drop off our luggage and our tour began. A very full day of all the sights and wonderful history of beautiful Istanbul. Consider this company if you prefer a private tour if you are on a cruise or just at a local hotel and ask for Leyla!!

We, two couples, arrived by cruise ship and booked a private tour with airport transfer through Curio Travel. Communcation was excellent and we were able to arrange for our luggage to be stored in our van for the day while we toured the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar. Our guide, Ms. Zekiye, was very friendly and knowledgeable about the history of Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire. We had an excellent Turkish lunch at her recommendation and finished our tour at the Grand Bazaar- truly sensory overload! We reunited with our van and driver who did a great job of negotiating through Istanbul's perpetual grid lock and got us to the airport for a timely departure. We would not hesitate to recommend or use Curio Travel for any future needs in Istanbul.

Excellent day with Curio Travel and their hired guide, Volkan Akoluk. First off, Ferda from Curio is an excellent communicator. We prefer to book our own excursions/tours and not pay the bloated ship rates. Keep in mind, when you book via the cruise line, you only move as fast as the slowest person in your group. And there are some unhealthy and slow passengers on these ship excursions with tons of people - all wanting to move at their own pace. This tour was a semi-private (2 couples that didn’t previously know each other + our guide). Everything with Curio and Ferda was communicated by email and WhatsApp messaging. Communications were excellent! Volkan is a native of the area. He speaks excellent English and has been a guide for 25+ years. Istanbul is fast paced can be somewhat intimidating. But Volkan was in control throughout. We had a very busy and enjoyable day together. Was especially pleased with the suggestion to avoid use of a car. Traffic is a nightmare. Using the local train system, with Volkan of course in lead, was a much better use of our time. We hit all the important landmark spots in Instanbul and made it back to our ship (Enchanted Princess) with plenty of time to spare. Made a great decision working with Curio (Ferda) and their hired guide, Volkan. Choose working with them with 100% confidence.

Guide was very helpful and was able to answer all our questions. Very nice lady. Unfortunately many places are closed on Sundays including the Grand Bazaar

We got an Amazing Guide Leyla, who came to our hotel ON TIME. We spent the day till evening with Leyla. We had a great time. Leyla is very knowledgeable, accommodating, courteous and very fluent in English. In one day despite the festival rush we could see Topkapi palace, Hagia Sophia, Grand Mosque and few other places. Also had lunch at a local restaurant where President Clinton had eaten. We also learnt about the stray cats of Istanbul that are fed well by residents including Leyla. The roads were all jammed with festival traffic and we could walk back to the hotel, thanks to Leyla. We highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Istanbul, that too with Lyela.

Our guide Selen was the perfect guide for our tour. She had to make adjustments as we visited on a Friday and could not enter the Blue Mosque due to it being a holy day and we did not have the time to visit after 2:30 pm. She added a quick visit to a nice museum and after making some phone calls found a nice mosque that we could visit. Also when it became apparent that we would may not be able to visit Hagia Sophia either, she was able to get an exception for us to enter. Given the restrictions that we had, she did an excellent job and was very knowledgeable about the history of all the main landmarks and Istanbul in general. I would definitely recommend this tour and Selen.

I loved the museums but the palace is lovely as are the mosques. Serkan was easygoing and knowledgeable.

I was not able to visit Topkapi Palace, because my group would rather go shopping instead of seeing one of the historical places in the city of Istanbul. Hopefully next time! Special mention to our tour guide, Mr. Serkan for being so nice & patient with our group. Thank you so much! 😊

I did a day tour with Curio Travel and had an amazing time! The tour guide, Serkan was so knowledgeable, professional and friendly. It was a private tour and the tour guide was flexible and understanding for the tour sites where I wanted to spend more time, and I am so thankful to him for that. I feel so fortunate to experience Istanbul with Curio Travel, and going to remember my tour for a very long time. Hopefully, I will visit Istanbul again, and if I do I would definitely reach out to them :-)

Really good day out with a perfect guide - Selcuk Ersan. He has perfect English and a real knowledge of the sights we visited and the local culture eg the gorgeous street dogs. He made sure we were not crowded by him but was also very attentive to us. Wholly recommend him and this tour.

<p>Gulay was the best tour guide we had on our vacation. She was very knowledgeable about the history, culture and architecture of the sites we saw. Her appreciation for her subject matter was infectious. Her assistance with haggling at the bazaar saved us . A must do tour.</p>

<p>We had a wonderful tour guide in Gissam?. She was extremely knowledgeable history major who was enthusiastic and loved the job she was doing which showed. Right from when she picked us up at the cruise terminal, she was giving us historical perspective and details of the sites she took us to. She was very friendly, helpful and cheerful person. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Istanbul.</p>

<p>Hulya was very knowledgeable about her beautiful, exciting city. She knew the best times to arrive at each site to avoid the crowds. She went at our pace without hurrying us. When I expressed an interest in a certain type of souvenir, she took us right to the best shop in town for what I wanted. We really enjoyed our full day with her.</p>

<p>The guide was informative and helpful! Glad to have her service!</p>

<p>The guide was knowledgeable and friendly but focused most attention on one member of our group who wanted to spend the time shopping while the four other members of the group waited. Rather than indicate that it was meant to be a sight seeing event she accommodated the one members obsession with jewelry <br/> shops and actually suggested that we smile more while we we wasted our time.</p>

Ezgi, our guide contacted us in advance via Whatsapp with a very clear description of the meeting place. In our case she was waiting for us at the visitor center in Galataport. She accompanied us to the spacious van. We visited successively Hippodrome square, the blue mosque, Haigha Sophia, Topkapi Palace and we were allowed to choose between visiting the Grand Bazaar or the Spice Bazaar. Ezgi gave a comprehensive and interesting explanation everywhere. She had an eye for our needs in terms of shade and moments of rest. She took our pace and interests into account. This tour and guide is definitely recommended! Thank you Ezgi for this very pleasant experience and meeting.

Ezgi, our guide contacted us in advance via Whatsapp with a very clear description of the meeting place. In our case she was waiting for us at the visitor center in Galataport. She accompanied us to the spacious van. We visited successively Hippodrome square, the blue mosque, Haigha Sophia, Topkapi Palace and we were allowed to choose between visiting the Grand Bazaar or the Spice Bazaar. Ezgi gave a comprehensive and interesting explanation everywhere. She had an eye for our needs in terms of shade and moments of rest. She took our pace and interests into account. This tour and guide is definitely recommended! Thank you Ezgi for this very pleasant experience and meeting.