Aerial view of Sultanahmet at dusk with Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque

Our tours

Private Istanbul tours

Every tour below is private, run by a licensed local guide, and includes a car and driver. All of them can be changed — tell us what you would rather do and we will rebuild the day around it.

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. The Gallipoli day trip is the one exception on price, from €220, because it is roughly double the driving.

Aerial view of Sultanahmet at dusk with Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque

Best of Istanbul

7–8 hours · from €150 per group

The Old City classic — Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı, the Hippodrome and the Grand Bazaar in one unhurried day.

See the day → The Turkish flag flying against a clear blue sky

Gallipoli Day Trip

13–15 hours, door to door · from €220 per group

A long day from Istanbul to the Gallipoli peninsula — the ANZAC landing beaches, the Turkish memorials, and the cemeteries between them.

See the day → The Asian side of Istanbul seen across the Bosphorus, with a ferry crossing the strait toward the hills of Üsküdar

Two Continents in One Day

8 hours, door to door · from €150 per group

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.

See the day → Crystal chandeliers, gilded mirrors and red silk drapes in a reception hall of Dolmabahçe Palace

Ottoman Palaces Day

About 8 hours, door to door · from €150 per group

Topkapı in the morning, Dolmabahçe in the afternoon: four centuries of Ottoman power, from courtyards and pavilions to crystal and gold leaf.

See the day → A stuffed mussel, midye dolma, held open in its shell to show the spiced rice inside

Street Food Walk

About 4 hours · from €150 per group

Simit, balık ekmek, midye dolma, lahmacun and künefe: four hours eating your way from the Spice Bazaar to Kadıköy, with the ferry in between.

See the day → Maiden's Tower on its islet in the Bosphorus at golden hour, with small boats passing and the hills of the Asian shore behind

Private Bosphorus Boat

About 3 to 4 hours, door to door · from €150 per group

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.

See the day → A cruise ship berthed at Galataport on the Bosphorus, with the domes and minarets of the Nusretiye Mosque at Tophane in the foreground

Galataport Shore Excursion

Flexible: usually 6 to 8 hours, set by your ship's schedule · from €150 per group

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.

See the day → Hagia Sophia and its four minarets glowing pink at sunset, the first stop on an Istanbul airport layover tour

Layover Tour from IST or SAW

4, 6 or 8+ hours, arrivals to departures · quoted for your flights

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.

See the day →
Istanbul skip-the-line banner over the Bosphorus and Galata Tower: more time for Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Basilica Cistern

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 works

None 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