A private Istanbul tour with us costs from €150 per group per day — per group, not per person — and includes a licensed local guide, a private car with driver, hotel or Galataport pick-up, and skip-the-line priority entrance at every major sight. Entrance tickets are paid separately, at the gate price with no markup.
What does a private Istanbul tour include?
Istanbul Tours by Locals is a TÜRSAB-licensed agency, No. 15746, and every day we run is planned with you rather than handed to you. As a licensed agency we hold a priority pass, so we buy your tickets in advance and take you through the priority entrance — in high season that is often an hour saved at the busiest monuments. Every tour starts from €150 per group, and each one is priced individually: your quote is calculated for your travel date and season, the number of guests, and your starting and finishing points.
Best of Istanbul
The Old City classic — Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı, the Hippodrome and the Grand Bazaar in one unhurried day.
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Gallipoli Day Trip
A long day from Istanbul to the Gallipoli peninsula — the ANZAC landing beaches, the Turkish memorials, and the cemeteries between them.
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Bursa Day Trip
Across the Sea of Marmara by fast ferry to the first Ottoman capital: the Green Mosque, the Ulu Cami, the Koza Han silk market, the tombs of Osman and Orhan, and the village of Cumalıkızık.
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Princes' Islands
A full day out of the city by ferry: the car-free lanes and wooden mansions of Büyükada, the climb to Aya Yorgi for the view, lunch by the water and a quiet hour in Heybeliada's pines.
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Two Continents in One Day
Old City in the morning, a Bosphorus ferry crossing at midday, then Kadıköy and Üsküdar in the afternoon — the Asian side, where Istanbul actually lives.
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Ottoman Palaces Day
Topkapı in the morning, Dolmabahçe in the afternoon: four centuries of Ottoman power, from courtyards and pavilions to crystal and gold leaf.
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Street Food Walk
Simit, balık ekmek, midye dolma, lahmacun and künefe: four hours eating your way from the Spice Bazaar to Kadıköy, with the ferry in between.
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Private Bosphorus Boat
Your own boat on the Bosphorus, a guide beside you, and the turning point and the timing yours: palaces, fortresses and yalıs, back past Maiden's Tower at sunset.
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Galataport Shore Excursion
A private day ashore for cruise guests: met at the Galataport terminal, the old city in the right order, and back at your ship well before all-aboard.
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Byzantine Constantinople
The Christian city under the Ottoman one: Chora's mosaics and frescoes, Hagia Sophia read as a church, the Cistern, the Hippodrome and the Theodosian walls. A second-visit day for people who already care.
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Balat & Fener Walk
A half-day walk through the old Greek and Jewish quarters on the Golden Horn: the Patriarchate, the red-brick Phanar college, the iron church of St Stephen and the colorful houses, with a guide who knows whose doorstep is whose.
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Layover Tour from IST or SAW
A private city tour between flights, in a 4, 6 or 8-hour version, planned backward from your departure time, with a buffer we don't touch.
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On every tour above
Skip-the-line entry, at the official ticket price
Every tour on this page includes it. We buy your tickets before the day through our licensed agency, and your guide walks you past the ticket-office line to the entrance at Hagia Sophia, Topkapı, the Basilica Cistern and every other ticketed gate. We add nothing on the fast-pass tickets: you pay the official price charged at the entrance, itemized at cost in your quote.
How our priority entrance worksNone of these quite right?
Then we build you something else. Every tour here started as somebody's request — tell us what you want to see and we will plan the day with you, from €150 per group.
Plan my own Istanbul day