Tour Guide in Istanbul
 

My wife, teenage twin daughters, and I are excited to be visiting Turkey for the first time in early June, starting with 5 days in Istanbul. While there we want to engage a tour guide for a full day. We generally like to walk and take public transportation and are looking for an “insiders’” view of the standards plus off-the-beaten-path sites. We’re currently considering Lale Surmen Aran and Tankut Aran, who authored the current Rick Steves Istanbul Guide, and Ali Yalniz. I would appreciate your experience with these, recommendations of others, and general thoughts on how to do this best.

I would say if you are staying in Istanbul for 5 days then I would suggest that you should first see the obvious tourist attractions like - Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia, Grand Bazar etc. Once you are done with it then you can visit the lesser know attractions - Çamlıca hill, the back streets, Karabatak Cafe etc. I normally use the AA guide as it is very detailed and comes with maps and also how to reach the attraction by public transport.

I appreciate your suggestions, Tiyasha. So it might make sense to see the obvious attractions on our own and then customize our one-day guided tour to explore not-so-obvious attractions. Thank you!
I look forward to receiving feedback on best tour guide choices as well.

I never felt a need for a guide in Istanbul. It's a pretty easy city to do on your own.

Thanks, Kathie. I appreciate your point.

While our family loves to explore cities on our own, our selective use of good tour guides has provided great advantages, particularly where, as here, the city is very large and we have limited time.

Good tour guides have made it possible for us to avoid lines at major attractions, efficiently and pleasantly learn the history of a place, and allowed us to "connect" to a "local" aspect of the city that was otherwise inaccessible. If possible, we'd like to find an Istanbul guide who can provide all three.

If we had a week in Istanbul we'd probably forgo this expense, but, with only four full days, we believe one day with a well-selected guide will be a plus (at least for us).

We spent five days in Istanbul last Sept/Oct and found the old city quite easy to do on our own. However, we did a half day tour to visit the Chora church, Yedikule fortress and Camlica hill as they are further away and we felt this was the best way to see these places and maximise our time. Check out the Turkey Travel Planners site, loads of useful information.

Thanks everyone! We've engaged Ali Yalniz. He is congenial, fluent in English, and enthusiastically working to create a personalized itinerary. I'll provide a report at the conclusion of our trip.

I enjoy hiring guides - especially on the first day of your visit just to get acclimated. I hired a 4 hour guide in Istanbul and the advice was so valuable (especially in customs, phrases, places to eat, shop, etc) that I hired him for a personal tour of Topkapi Palace. I think a good value for the cost.

Would you happen to remember the name and contact information of your guide? We'll be there in October. Thank you.

Hi Beyondthebeach,

I would have a similar question for Ephesus. Many people have told us that this area is best with a guide. Are you planning on going there?

I spent 2 weeks in Turkey. Had a guide the entire time as we explored the western coastal areas. Would recommend a guide on the first/second day of each city you will visit. Istanbul - Izmir - Ephesus. Although I enjoy going it on my own from time to time, I do enjoy a guide - (especially if the price works out well)