Small-Group Istanbul Old City Guided Tour
Recommended by 98% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Istanbul, Turkey
- 3 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
For a perfect introduction to Istanbul, book this small-group guided tour. You’ll see the top spots in the city, plus some you wouldn’t find on your own. Ask your guide questions about the old city, plus for recommendations on how to fill the rest of your time in Istanbul. Visit the spice market, Grand Bazaar, Caferaga Medresesi, and much more. Note that the Hagia Sophia Mosque is viewed only from outside due to new regulations.
- Easily find your guide at the meeting point in Istanbul
- Learn about the Hagia Sophia Mosque from outside only
- Check out the Blue Mosque and its historic importance
- Bring about 1950 Turkish Lira cash for the entrance fee to Basilica Cistern
What's Included
- Guiding fee
- Entrance fee - Entrance fee for Basilica CisternTRY1,500.00 per person
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- German FountainBinbirdirek, At Meydanı Cd, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Türkiye
Our meeting point is GERMAN FOUNTAIN (Alman Çeşmesi in Turkish language) located in the heart of the main tourist area of Istanbul. It is just one minute away from Sultan Ahmet Tramway station.
End point
- Grand BazaarBeyazıt, 34126 Fatih/İstanbul, Türkiye
Our tour ends at Grand Bazaar.
Operating hours.9:30 am
Itinerary
1
German Fountain
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Hippodrome
25 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Blue Mosque
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque
25 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Caferaga Medresesi
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Grand Bazaar
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
7
Basilica Cistern
25 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.9
based on 63 reviews
Lara_F, Oct 2025
Israfil was such a wonderful guide. Friendly, Knowledgeable and entertaining! Thank you Israfil for showing us all the wonders of Istanbul!
Christine_C, Oct 2025
The guide makes all the difference and Israfil is excellent. The tour touches the key sights in the Old City and he leaves you with a lot of other great recommendations. Israfil has great English and a wonderful blend of intellect and humor. Highly recommend.
helenw68, Oct 2025
İsrafil is a very good tour guide. His English is excellent and he is friendly, very knowledgeable and approachable. We joined him on a small group walking tour and visited the Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern and Spice Market.
Haris_A, Oct 2025
Israfil was knowledgeable, courteous and accommodating. So much good information really heightened my experience of the city. Would definitely do again!
Eric_C, Sep 2025
Israfil gives a fantastic tour of some of istanbuls greatest hits. he has intimate knowledge of each site and spent time answering hundreds of my questions.
Ellen_B, Sep 2025
İsrafil was a great tour guide and we enjoyed the small group tour thoroughly. He was very professional, personable and knowledgeable. We enjoyed the personal service and itinerary for this tour. It was a perfect balance. Thank you, İsrafil!!! Highly recommend!
Richard_S, Aug 2025
My wife and I did a guided walking tour though the Blue mosque,Haglia Sophia,Basillica cistern and finished off at the grand Bizarre. Our guide Israfil was fantastic . He had a very friendly and humorous manner as well as being a waking history book. Very genuine and utterly professional and we would thoroughly recommended him to anyone interested in learning the history of old Istanbul
Brent_S, Jun 2025
We took this tour our first morning in Istanbul just to see some of the major sights. The tour guide was knowledgeable and responsive to group questions. More importantly, the tour guide helped to provide a lot of context to the development of what we are seeing (it wasn't a list of facts about the Sultanahmet Mosque or trivia items). He helped to bring the story of the objects to life for us. On our tour, we had 4 people, so it was also great to only be concerned about a small group. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a private guide type experience, but doesn't quite have the budget for that. While it won't be private, my understanding is that the groups are always small.
HANNAH_B, Jun 2025
Fantastic tour of Istanbul. Really good communication beforehand and great information during the tour. He is extremely knowledgeable of Turkey and its history and makes the tour very interesting. He even provided us with some information afterwards. I would highly recommend.
Elena_K, Jun 2025
Highly recommended tour with Israfil. He shared a lot of interesting information in a fun way and engaged my 9y old daughter as well. Nice tips about the bazar and not only.
David_S, May 2025
This is one of the very best small group tours. Husband and I and 4
friends enjoyed seeing every important historical site all in one day. It was so much better doing it all at once and being able to hear him without the use of ear buds.
Adrian_C, May 2025
Israfil was a great host and communicator- we loved the tour! Would recommend it to anyone in the area
Valerie_B, Apr 2025
This tour was a great introduction to the complicated and often confusing history of İstanbul. Not overwhelming or too fast, İsrafil moved to the needs of our eclectic age group of tourists. He easily answered questions from the group and individually in history, religion, social, and customs. İsrafil also provided custom suggestions and offered directions for after tour inquiries. I felt I had a solid basic understanding of each site we visited and can imagine a full day tour would be amazing with him. Maybe next visit to Istanbul. Highly recommend to friends, family, and strangers.
Michelle_P, Jan 2025
Israfil's Small-Group Istanbul Old City Guided Tour was my first introduction to this historic and beautiful city. Travelling solo and in a new country for only 3 days, I am so happy to have selected this tour. It enabled me to get my bearings, see and learn about many of the significant and incredible sites from an experienced guide, and plan the rest of my stay.
From the time of booking, Israfil communicated clearly and efficiently with me to confirm my tour details. In person, Israfil is a kind, knowledgeable and excellent tour guide. He provided interesting and entertaining information about each of our stops, was patient while I took lots of photos and was so helpful in answering questions and recommending places for me to visit. It was so much fun chatting with him. Thanks again Israfil!
I highly recommend this tour and visiting Istanbul.
Raj_P, Dec 2024
Tour was canceled 20 mins before the scheduled start time. No explanation. I was already there. They claimed it was because of weather, but weather was sunny
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Dear Raj,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. Sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by the last-minute cancellation of your tour.
To clarify, the decision to cancel was not made lightly. While the weather may have appeared sunny at the time, conditions earlier and later in the day were unfavourable .
Additionally, last-minute bookings like yours, while welcomed, sometimes present logistical challenges that we work hard to resolve promptly.
All the best.
Caitlin_D, Oct 2024
Great tour. The guide was kind and very knowledgable. Saw many of Istanbul's most incredible sights including the Blue Mosque. He showed us some of the great shopping areas around the Grand Bazaar that we never would have found on our own. Highly recommend!
Rachael_S, Sep 2024
Israfil is a wonderful guide, a worldy person who is ready to have engaging conversation about history and current events. The tour was lovely and well timed. The tea break at the converted school was one of the unexpected highlights. Israfil also gave us a personal introduction and recommendation on where to buy a rug for our home - a topic he knows much about as the subject t of his thesis! It was a treat to spend an afternoon on Israfil’s tour.
jithu_M, Sep 2024
Friendly, experienced and knowledgeable tour guide who welcomed all of our questions and had the answers. My wife and I had the pleasure of being the only ones on this particular tour slot and we learned plenty about Hagia Sofia, The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Mosque), and Basilica Cistern. We enjoyed Israfil's company who was easy going and he showed us some gems of the city.
Highly recommended.
Kyle_B, Sep 2024
Excellent tour guide - gave the context needed to understand Istanbul in its entirety both past and present. Loved the basilica cistern!
Valerie_T, Aug 2024
The whole tour was memorable due, without doubt, to our excellent guide.
His knowledge of the history of the places visited was impressive and interesting. His presentation and sense of humour were very much appreciated. A HUGE THANK YOU TO HIM.
John_H, Jul 2024
My daughter and I started our first day in Istanbul with a small group tour of the okd city highlights.. İsrafil is simply the best! He’s very informative and knowledgeable about historical sights. He guided us to the right places and he was so caring and even stayed advocated for my daughter and I when we needed help with some shopping adventures! Cant recommend him enough!!
Miranda_V, Jul 2024
Israfil is an amazing guide, with plenty of interesting stories about the main sites to be seen in Istanbul. Touring around with him enabled us to jump the queue, visit some special tucked away places we wouldn’t have seen otherwise and learn many interesting things about Istanbul. Money well spent 😊
alessandra_b, Jun 2024
We can not exspress enough how lucky we were to have Isarfil as our tour guide for our small group. Very knowledge about the history of all the places we visited. We were not rushed around places, but we had the right time to appreciate every moment of the tour. Highly recommended also for the tips and suggestions he gave us to enjoy our stay in Istanbul. We will book with him again when we will return to this beautiful city!
Norma_A, May 2024
This tour was perfect and exceded our expectations in many ways. It has the right combination of places to visit in the perfect amount of time. My kids enjoyed the experience and we all learned so much about the history, architecture and culture of Istanbul. Israfil is an excellent guide, he shared so much information and had interesting stories about each location. He was very attentive and made the point of talking with everyone in the group. I highly recommend this tour and will do it again next time I come to Istanbul.
Gideon_S, May 2024
What an amazing walking tour with the very genial Israfil! The day started drizzly but the dazzling sites he took us to quickly lifted our spirits... The breathtaking Blue Dome of Sultanahmet and the sparkling stalls of the labyrinthine Grand Bazaar were a feast for the eyes. We met his old colleague and friend who operates a shop in the Egyptian spice market to sample his wares and made a stop at the old hippy hangout to try and jog my wife's memories of her last visit to the city over 30 years ago.
But our favourite places were the Basilica Cistern (well worth the extra entrance fee to witness this subterranean masterpiece of Roman engineering) and the tea stop at atmospheric hooka café, in a former ancient school, that is straight out of Indiana Jones.
Israfil is charming and engaging with passion and a depth of knowledge for Istanbul . He is generous with his time and genuinely interested in what his guests ask him. I was most impressed when someone not on our tour asked him a question and he answered them fully with patience and warmth. 10/10
Robert_P, May 2024
My time with Israfil exploring Istanbul was amazing! I actually came for a Hair Transplant and wanted to do a tour of the city, but didn’t know where to start. By selecting him as my tour guide changed the entire trip. From start to finish, I felt I was talking to an absolute expert on what the city has an offer. Starting off at the ✔️ Blue mosque moving to the Hodges Sophia checking out the underground water system and more. We actually found time to check out some local spots like the putting shop and an old hookah bar. We checked out all the markets, specifically spice market, and some of the spots within the market that aren’t just tourist traps. Amazing stuff.
I promise you, I would not have learned as much as I did I would not have experienced the local facets of the city without going with him!
From $46.60
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Small-Group Istanbul Old City Guided Tour
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