Two continents, one ferry ticket.
Which Bosphorus boat actually passes the palaces. Whether the hammam is worth what they charge. Which Hagia Sophia ticket skips the queue that matters. Every tour in Istanbul, reviewed and ranked.
In Istanbul the commute is the sightseeing.
Ferries, yachts and dinner boats all cross between Europe and Asia, which is why the water is the honest way to see this city: palaces at the waterline, wooden yalı houses, two bridges going up in lights.
Six Istanbul mornings that decide the whole trip.
The domes, the water, the covered market, the marble bathhouse and the early flight to the fairy chimneys. Book these first and everything else fits around them.
What a day out in Istanbul actually costs.
Every published review, sorted by what it charges. A good Istanbul day starts around the price of two tea glasses and a ferry ticket.
Entry tickets, public-ferry cruises, walking mornings and the bathhouse round the corner from the mosque.
The full days: guided old-city circuits, dinner boats, food walks with a dozen tastings, workshops with lunch thrown in.
Private guides, chartered yachts and the flights out to Cappadocia and Ephesus.
Istanbul’s most-booked days out.
Every review →The tours more travellers take than anything else in this city — and what each one is really buying you.
1
Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Show with Private Table
Enjoy a 3-hour Istanbul Bosphorus dinner cruise with private table seating, 3-course meal, and live Turkish, Latin, and DJ performances.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Daytime or Sunset Sightseeing Cruise & Audio Guide
from $8
3
Bosphorus Dinner Cruise & Turkish Night Show
from $28
4
Best of Istanbul 1, 2 or 3-Day Private Guided Istanbul Tour
from $100
5
Basilica Cistern Fast-Track Entry and Audio Guide
from $44
6
Hagia Sophia Skip-the-Line Ticket & Museum Option
from $33
7
Hodjapasha Whirling Dervishes Show & Exhibition
from $32
8
Topkapi Palace and Harem Skip-the-Line-Tickets & Audio Guide
from $81
9
Bosphorus Sightseeing Cruise Tour with Audio Guide
from $7
Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Cistern share one Istanbul square.
Three of the most-visited buildings on earth stand a four-minute walk apart, with a sunken Roman reservoir under the pavement between them. The only real decision is which tickets you are holding before you arrive.
Marble, felt hats and coloured glass: only in Istanbul.
Domes and bazaars turn up all across the region. The Ottoman bathhouse, the Mevlevi sema and the lamp benches behind Galata belong to this city alone.
The Hammam
Istanbul’s bathhouses went up as neighbourhood plumbing, not as spas, and the oldest ones still working were laid out by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan in the sixteenth century. The routine has not moved since: the hot marble slab in the middle, a scrub with a coarse glove that takes a layer off you, the foam wash, the cool room afterwards. Bring nothing — everything is handed to you at the door.
- 1Private Turkish Bath, Massage, and Spa in Old City★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,225 reviews
- 2Private Turkish Bath, Sauna, and Massage★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,306 reviews
- 3Istanbul Gedikpasa Historical Turkish Bath with Privacy Option★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,285 reviews
The Sema
The turning is a Mevlevi prayer — right palm turned up to receive, left palm turned down to pass on — and it has been performed in this city since the Ottoman lodges opened. UNESCO lists it as intangible heritage. The halls seat a couple of hundred, phones stay in pockets, and the whole thing runs under an hour.
- 1Hodjapasha Whirling Dervishes Show & Exhibition★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 4,790 reviews
- 2Whirling Dervishes Ceremony and Mevlevi Sema★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 1,694 reviews
- 3Whirling Dervish Ceremony next to Hagia Sophia★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 906 reviews
The Mosaic Lamp
The lamps hanging in every bazaar window are cut coloured glass set by hand into a glass globe, and the workshops behind Galata will sit you down at a bench and let you build one. Two hours, a tray of chips, and you leave carrying the thing you made — which is more than most souvenirs manage.
- 1Original Turkish Mosaic Lamp Workshop w/ Snacks★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 3,077 reviews
- 2Turkish Mosaic Lamp Workshop w/ Materials Included★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,058 reviews
- 3Turkish Mosaic Lamp Workshop in Galata – All Included★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 636 reviews
Istanbul eats standing up, somewhere between the Spice Bazaar and the ferry.
Breakfast runs to fifteen small plates and takes two hours. Lunch is a fish sandwich handed off a boat at Eminönü. Dinner is meze that keeps arriving. The better food walks cross the water to Kadıköy, because the Asian side eats well and charges less for it.
- 1Guided Food Tour with Ferry Ride and Tastingsfrom $115
- 2Two Markets, Two Continents with Culinary Backstreetsfrom $145
- 3Istanbul Grand Bazaar: From Rooftops to the Secret Passagesfrom $31
From Istanbul, the rest of Turkey is one early flight away.
Cappadocia goes as an overnight with a balloon at dawn. Ephesus and Pamukkale run same-day on a six-in-the-morning departure. Gallipoli and Bursa go by road and ferry. All of it sells from the same city, and all of it makes for a very long day.
- 12-Day All-Inclusive Cappadocia Guided Tripfrom $709
- 22-Day Cappadocia Trip with Flights and Cave Hotelfrom $328
- 32 Days Cappadocia from Istanbul with Cave Hotel+Optional Balloonfrom $330
Book these before you land in Istanbul.
Most of this city can be arranged over breakfast for the same afternoon. These four cannot — they run on caps, timed slots and separate tickets that take no interest in when your flight gets in.
- 012 Days Cappadocia from Istanbul with Cave Hotel+Optional BalloonBalloon flights over Cappadocia are capped by the aviation authority and scrubbed outright for wind — the mornings that do fly are spoken for well ahead.
- 02Hagia Sophia Skip-the-Line Ticket & Museum OptionThe upper gallery, the one with the mosaics, runs on timed entry for visitors now, and the early slots go before the late ones every single day.
- 03Topkapi Palace and Harem Skip-the-Line-Tickets & Audio GuideThe Harem is a separate ticket from the palace itself, and it limits how many people are inside at any one time.
- 04Hodjapasha Whirling Dervishes Show & ExhibitionThe sema runs on a fixed weekly calendar, not on repeat through the day, and the halls are small.
When the ferries stop, Istanbul simply moves indoors.
The lodos — the southwesterly — shuts the island ferries for a few days most winters, and Istanbul rain arrives sideways off the Marmara. None of it reaches a marble hammam, a lamp bench, a covered bazaar or a kitchen table with someone showing you how to fold manti.
By neighbourhood — where the day starts
Sultanahmet120 tours
Fener & Balat24 tours
The Asian side44 tours
Taksim & Beyoğlu24 tours
Galata15 tours
The Princes’ Islands41 tours
Çamlıca Hill8 tours- Every list on the site →
By experience — what kind of day is it?
Three days in Istanbul, in the order that actually works.
The Bosphorus
Grand Bazaar
The HammamThe newest Istanbul tour reviews.
All recent →
Private Turkish Bath, Foam, Massage, Pool in Taksim
Read our review →
Rug Shopping with Expert, Grand Bazaar; Private Tour
Read our review →
Skip-the-Line Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque & Basilica Cistern Tour
Read our review →
Small Group Cruise Shore Excursion – Old City Highlights
Read our review →
Private Vip Transfer to Istanbul Airports &SAW Airport
Read our review →