Small-group Bosphorus Cruise And Istanbul’s Egyptian Bazaar

We fell in love with Istanbul and Turkey. But this would never be the case if it was not for our guide, SEVİLAY TOKMAK, employed by Neon Tours. She made everything easy. For pick ups from Cappadoccia, for hotel transfers to airports. Guiding us on 2 different daily tours. She was humble and friendly. A true friend. If I sent her a whatsapp she would take her personal time to communicate with her managers and get me information that I otherwise did not get. She walked that extra mile. Neon Tours you are blessed to have her. When my company bring their 2 yearly group guest again next year, she will be on my request list. #family #tourist guide!

Was supposed to be with another three people but my guide told me they cancelled at last minute so it's only me. My guide is very knowledgeable and seems to know a lot of people in Istanbul. I like the cruise, only wished the weather would be nicer (but this is not something to do with the tour itself). We didn't spend too much time in the bazaar as its not very big and everybody there tries to get you buy something.

This was a well put together trip, the guide was very knowledgable and made the tour interesting, great value for money

Excellent trip to the spice market and nice easy site seeing cruise along the bosphorus. Only slight niggle was no air con in the transfer bus. Would still not hesitate to go a again.

Although this was my second visit to Istanbul and also my second Bosphorus cruise, I enjoyed it as much this year as I did last year. The guide , Ali, was extremely professional and well documented, he taught us a lot about Istanbul's history and present. As for the Bazaar, it's amazing, everything inside smells so good, sellers are friendly, the atmosphere is welcoming, you just don't know what to choose...I think I could do this every year and never regret it for one second. Highly recommended to all visitors.

We were blown over by The Egyptian and Spice and The World Biggest Bazaar The Grande Bazaar the atmosphere of these Bazaars is Hypnotic

This tour was the perfect addition to my Istanbul afternoon! The driver picked me up at the hotel and ended up having to walk us over the bridge because of street closures due to a bike race (think Turkey's answer to the Tour de France). Weather was good and the walk was nice, although it meant our time in the Spice Market was cut very short. No one in the group complained -- I made note of what I wanted to get on the return and came back the next day. Plus, our guide offered directions for individuals who wanted to return so we could find it easily. Once on the boat, we sat together as the guide narrated our trip up the European side. Our return trip took us down the Asian side. The guide was friendly and informative, offering details on Turkish culture and history, including the architecture we saw. After our ride, the driver took us back to our hotels, and in total, the trip was about 3 hours (~2h on the water). I'd definitely recommend this to other visitors, especially those looking for a relaxing way to see both sides of Istanbul and sail a bit on the Bosphorous.

<p>We did the afternoon tour as had a morning walking tour. Pickup from hotel was on time and very good guide who explained about the region and life in general. Only had about 20 minutes at the Spice Bazaar as election due in a couple of days and lots of noise and things happening. The river cruise was great - it was on a hop-on hop-off cruise, but we stayed on board as we viewed both the European and Asian sides of the river. Good value for money.</p>

<p>Went o the tour of the caves. Take a windbreaker with you. Beautifully maintained. Very impressed.</p>

<p>Since we had been to the Grand Bazaar, I don't think we really needed to tour the Egyptian Bazaar. We enjoyed the boat tour and found the European and Asian sides of Istanbul so interesting. It was about 3 hours and that was perfect.</p>

<p>We Did The Half Day Tour Which Includes The Egyptian Bazaar Spice Market And Bosphorus Cruise.<br/> Tour Guide Was Informative And Explains All The Sights, With Aid Of A Map, That Will Be Seen On The Cruise. Great Views From The Boat Of Both The European And Asian Side</p>

<p>Great 3hours afternoon tour. Group consists of only a fellow tourist from USA, my friend and I. It started with a mini tour of the Spice Market, small compare with Grand Bazaar!. Then we relax and cruise for about 90 mins. Good view to take photos of the European and Asia side of Istanbul along the river. There is distinct difference in terms of buildings, palaces, mosques and greens on both side of the river. This Bosphorus cruise with Viator is a must go to in Istanbul. Thank you</p>

<p>For the most part, this tour provided interesting venues. I particularly disliked the stop at a specific spice store which was over-priced.</p>

<p>Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. We enjoyed our time very much.</p>

<p>Well worth it, guide was attentive and knowledgeable.</p>

<p>Great tour, very knowledgeable and charming guide</p>

<p>It was very pleasant to ride on the Bosphorous, and the Egptian Bazaar inside smelled wonderfully!</p>

<p>We were picked up right on time at our hotel and then joined several other smaller vans onto a larger bus. Our guide was very helpful in the Bazaar and getting us onto the cruise. It was hard hearing on the cruise as to what we were seeing but the trip was well worth experiencing. We recommended doing this tour but would suggest having the guide sit with the group on the boat as we had trouble understanding the speaker on the boat's intercom.</p>

<p>I send you allready email about this trip. We are not happy with the organization. We pay to mutch for nothing !!! No private tour buth a boot for all locals. We pay for private !!!!!</p>

<p>Trip to the spice market was very rushed, tour guide was stressed and only seemed interested in getting rid of us. Boat cruise was lovely but could have just of easily gone by myself as tour guide said nothing</p>

<p>Really great half day tour. The Egyptian bazaar was an amazing overload of sights sounds and scents!!! The Bosphorus cruise was very interesting- loved seeing Istanbul from the river.</p>

<p>The tour was good but only drawback is that we were picked from our hotel 75 minutes before the scheduled time.</p>

<p>Great half day tour. It ends up being about a 45 min tour of the Spice Market. Enough time to buy some baklava and Turkish delight. Then onto a boat cruise for about 90 mins. Good chance to get some pics along the river. Great afternoon!</p>

<p>Excellent guide providing good information all along the tour</p>

<p>Our guide was wonderful and the pickup and drop off ran smoothly. We had a great time at the spice bazaar and found it fun and informative. The downfall to this tour was the boat we were on. It didn't seem fitting as a tour boat with half of the seats not even facing windows. There was a very small outdoor area where we were lucky to get seats, but that meant having people crowding and standing on top of us to get pictures and missing out on the whole commentary because there were no speakers to hear outside. We saw many other boats go by that looked much better than ours :</p>

<p>Well up to our expectations and we were very pleased</p>

<p>Great tour, the Bosphorus cruise is a must if you go to Istanbul, it gives you a different perspective of the city and is very relaxing, the group was small and we had a boat only for us!</p>

<p>I enjoyed the cruise and the guide was very helpful. However we only had 20 mins in the spice market and it was extremely crowded and hard to enjoy.</p>

<p>Guide was articulate and knowledgeable but did not always face her audience so we could not always hear her. Instead of sitting in the middle of us on the boatshe should sit across from us so that she can sit directly across so that we can hear her.</p> <p>Also, participants need to be warned that there is a lot of walking and to prepare by bringing water and hats in the summer months.</p>

<p>Cruising the Bosphorus is a must-do in Istanbul. I could do without the Bazaar, but my wife probably disagrees.</p>

<p>Transfers, guide, program were excellent, only the cruise wasn't in very good condition</p>

<p>Being picked up from our hotel made it very easy to participate in the tour. It was lovely being on the water however, it was extremely difficult to hear the guide as she had to over-talk the boat's announcements.<br/> The trip to the Spice Market was disappointing as the guide rushed us through to her favorite vendor. I expected to learn a bit about the spices and the variety of vendors.</p>

<p>We visited the Spice Markets first which are very colourful and the aroma is superb. From there we did the Bosphorus River cruise which was relaxing and enjoyable. We saw many beautiful buildings along the way as well as palaces and remains of ancient forts. Our guide was Sivlay who looked after us very well.</p>

<p>The transportation to and from was good. The guide was not very good and basically dumped us! The bazaar was teeming with people and we almost lost him a number of times even after asking him to slow down. There was no narration on the cruise, so we didn't really know what we were seeing.</p>

<p>This was a great tour, and a wonderful experience. Bulit, my guide walked me through the streets, introducing me to typical Turkish fare. The whole experience was delectable. A must do if you like to try and experience new and different cuisines.</p>

<p>This was the most disappointing of our Istanbul tours. We were ready at our hotel at the appointed time and the van arrived to pick us up on time. We then went to the cruise terminal to pick up passengers from a large cruise ship. Some who had signed up were not ready so there was an undue delay there. We then took the van to the boat launch site. I had envisioned a private boat taking only Viator patrons on the boat tour. Instead, the boat was a public ferry. Since we arrived late due to the delay at the cruise terminal, there were no seats on the sides of the boat, but only in the center which would not allow us to take any photos. We ended up abandoning our guide to go to the lower level where we could be on the foredeck in the open air and take pictures. Thus, we learned nothing about what we saw, so later needed to read about it in our guide book. We could have purchased the ferry tickets ourselves for much less money. I recommend doing just that rather than taking this tour if it always runs like it did for us.</p>

<p>Both the cruise and the bazaar were very nice! The market was amazing. It is basically a shopping experience, and we bought a lot of delicious sweets there! The cruise was also beautiful. The only reason I gave one star less is that it got a bit monotonous, and I wish that the guide had engaged us more with stories and history. He kept more silent than we would have liked during the cruise. But overall, it was a nice experience.</p>

<p>Not wrapped in this cruise.....think best to do it yourself...had 2 1/2 hr. Wait till got going properly, had to cross over into Asia side to meet buses then the Spice Market was t anywhere near long enough to visit.do it yourself.We were right near the spice market anyway......so walked back another day to see more of it....</p>

<p>i'm giving it five stars because it was so well organized. We arrived from the US in the morning and were picked up promptly at 1 o'clock. This was the perfect way to start our vacation in Istanbul after traveling about 24 hours and not wanting to waste a moment. Views from the Bosporus were incredible. The tour was an excellent value. I recommend.</p>

<p>A really interesting cruise, a great way to see a different view of Istanbul. The Egyptian bazaar was a little rushed and we were more or less ushered to one particular stall in the hope of spending some money there. Overall though, well worth taking this tour.</p>

<p>Better off doing the cruise yourself and the Spice Bazaar not suitable in for a group as it is too crowded.</p>

<p>This tour is heavily weighted as far as time for the Bosphorus cruise and while lovely, we were unable to hear our guide's commentary due to the poor PA system on the boat which we had also encountered on a previous cruise. We had less than 45 minutes at the Spice Bazaar and while it is very small compared to the Grand Bazaar if you want to barter, you have to do it very fast!</p>

<p>The guide was soft spoken and had a thick accent. I couldn't understand anything she said so I couldn't ask questions.</p>

<p>Just do it if you have very little time otherwise was an ok cruise</p>

<p>Time at the Egyptian Spice Bazaar was not long but adequate. The cruise was an ideal way to appreciate the Bosphorus and appreciate the wider city. Recommended. The guide was courteous, knowledgeable and helpful.</p>

<p>Great experience. everyone is really friendly at the bazaar. our tour guide, Omar, was great.</p>

<p>Unfortunately I was disappointed with this tour. It was more like a taxi service. We were taken to the Spice Bazaar and had 45 minutes to look around, which included visiting a shop to learn about the spices, etc. But it was really just an overview of everything we could buy from his shop if we wanted to all though we did get to taste some things, and some tea. We then went to get on the boat. We were put on the normal, extremely crowded tourist boat, and sat right in the middle, where there was limited view and fresh air. I actually went and stood at the side so at least I could take some photos, and get some breeze. We were then supposed to visit a carpet shop, but I decided not to, and went back to the markets to explore further. I don't like to post negative reviews, but I wouldn't recommend this tour, unless you wanted to take advantage of the hotel pick up and drop off.</p>

<p>driver arrived promptly at hotel for pick up....met our our guide very professional friendly and knowledgeable realy enjoyed tour...good value.</p>

<p>Great tour, the Bosphorus cruise is a must if you go to Istanbul, it gives you a different perspective of the city and is very relaxing, the group was small and we had a boat only for us!</p>