Istanbul Old City full-day guided tour

Overview

Full-day guided tour of the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Basilica Cistern, with a licensed guide and pre-booked tickets.

Highlights

Timed programme

1. 1
   09:00 — Meet your guide at your hotel in central Istanbul or at the main meeting point in Sultanahmet Square.
2. 2
   Walk through the Roman Hippodrome, learning about the obelisks and the history of Byzantine Constantinople.
3. 3
   Guided visit of the Blue Mosque (interior visit when open to visitors; otherwise detailed explanation from outside).
4. 4
   Guided visit around Hagia Sophia, with explanations about its Byzantine and Ottoman past (interior visit when ticketing and conditions allow).
5. 5
   Visit Topkapi Palace with pre-booked entrance, exploring its courtyards, pavilions and views over the Bosphorus.
6. 6
   Free time for lunch in a recommended local restaurant (meal not included).
7. 7
   Afternoon visit to the Basilica Cistern, discovering its underground forest of columns and Medusa heads.
8. 8
   Around 17:00 — End of the tour back in the Sultanahmet area or at the original meeting point.

Visit places

Included / Not included

Meeting point and pick-up

Operational notes

• The order of the visits may change according to opening hours, traffic and the day’s operation. The content of the tour stays the same.
• Mosques require shoes to be removed and shoulders and knees covered; women are required to cover their hair. Bringing your own scarf is advisable, although the busiest mosques usually lend one at the entrance.
• Working mosques close to visitors during the five daily prayers and, in particular, around the Friday midday prayer. When a visit coincides, the commentary is given outside and the day is reordered.
• Hagia Sophia is a working mosque. Foreign visitors follow a separate tourist route through the upper galleries, while the ground floor is reserved for prayer. That route closes during the five daily prayers and, at Friday midday, for a longer period. The visiting arrangement and opening hours depend on current regulations and may change without notice; if access is restricted on the date of the tour, the monument is explained from outside.
• Museums and archaeological sites may have a weekly closing day and different summer and winter opening hours. If a monument is closed on the date of the tour, it is explained from outside and the guide reorganises the rest of the route.
• During the religious holidays (Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı, whose dates move with the lunar calendar) museum and shop hours change and the Sultanahmet monuments are busier.
• The tour lasts around eight hours and is covered almost entirely on foot within Sultanahmet, on cobbled streets and with some slopes. Moderate walking level; comfortable shoes and water are recommended.

Supplements

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