Private Istanbul Guided Tour 1, 2 or 3 Days with Hotel Pickup

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is where every Istanbul private tour should begin. Built in 537 as the cathedral of Constantinople, it was the largest enclosed space in the world for almost a thousand years, became the imperial mosque after the conquest of 1453 and is a working mosque again today. Your guide explains how the dome, 31 metres across, seems to float on its ring of windows, and points out the surviving Byzantine mosaics, the huge calligraphy roundels and the marble doors of the galleries.

Because it is a mosque, visitors enter through the dedicated tourist entrance to the upper gallery, dress modestly and remove shoes where required; women cover their hair, and scarves are available at the door. The best time to visit Hagia Sophia is right at opening, before the groups arrive, which is why our Istanbul team suggests a 09:00 start. Entry fees are paid on the spot, and the visit takes about an hour with your guide.

Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome

Across the gardens stands the Blue Mosque, the Sultanahmet Mosque, completed in 1616 with six minarets and a cascade of domes. Inside, more than twenty thousand blue İznik tiles give the mosque its name, and your guide explains the layout of an Ottoman imperial mosque, the courtyard and the ablution fountains. Entry is free, but the mosque closes to visitors for about half an hour at each prayer time and for longer on Friday middays, so your guide sets the order of the morning accordingly.

Beside it lies the Hippodrome, the chariot-racing arena of Constantinople, now a long paved square. Three ancient monuments still stand on its central spine: the Egyptian Obelisk brought from Luxor, the bronze Serpent Column from Delphi and the Walled Obelisk, with the domed German Fountain at the northern end. It is a quick, open-air stop with good photographs of both Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

Basilica Cistern

A few steps from Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern is the largest of the hundreds of underground reservoirs that supplied Byzantine Constantinople. Built in the sixth century, it holds 336 marble columns in twelve rows, many recycled from older temples, standing in shallow water lit by soft amber lighting. Raised walkways lead you through the forest of columns to the two Medusa heads used as column bases, one sideways and one upside down, and to the teardrop-carved Hen's Eye column.

The cistern is cool even in August and takes about thirty to forty minutes with your guide; the entrance fee is paid at the door. There are stairs down and no lift, so travellers with reduced mobility can wait in the gardens above. It is one of the most searched Istanbul sights for a reason: nothing else in the old city feels quite so hidden, quiet and strange after the bright squares outside.

Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace was the seat of the Ottoman sultans for about four hundred years, from the conquest of the city until the court moved to Dolmabahçe in the nineteenth century. It is not a single building but a series of walled courtyards on the promontory above the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, with kitchens, council chambers, pavilions and gardens. Your guide takes you through the Gate of Salutation to the Imperial Council, the Treasury with its jewels and thrones and the Chamber of the Sacred Relics, then out to the fourth-courtyard terraces with their views over the water.

The Harem, where the sultan's family lived, needs a separate ticket and is worth it for its tiled rooms. Allow around two hours; Topkapi Palace is closed on Tuesdays, so on a Tuesday your guide reorders the days or substitutes another sight. Tickets are paid on the spot.

Grand Bazaar

The day ends in the Grand Bazaar, one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, begun in 1461 and grown over the centuries into a city of its own with sixty streets and thousands of shops under painted vaults. Your guide leads you through the main avenues to the old inner bedesten, where the finest goods were kept, and explains the trades that still cluster by street: carpets, gold, leather, copper, lamps and ceramics.

With a private guide you can shop or simply look, and the guide helps with polite bargaining if you want to buy. The Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays and public holidays, so on those days the itinerary swaps in the Spice Bazaar or the arcades around it. Lunch is usually taken nearby in one of the local halal lokantas or grill houses; your guide suggests good addresses at honest prices.

Days 2 and 3: Bosphorus, Galata, Fener and Balat

On the two-day and three-day options the second day crosses to the newer city. It starts at the Spice Bazaar in Eminönü, then a Bosphorus cruise along the palaces and bridges, Dolmabahçe Palace with its crystal staircase and ceremonial hall (closed Mondays), and an afternoon in Beyoğlu: Taksim Square, the long pedestrian İstiklal Street with its nostalgic tram, and the Galata Tower for the view over the Golden Horn.

The third day is for the quieter Istanbul that most visitors miss: the Süleymaniye Mosque, the finest work of the great Ottoman court architect, the Chora Church with the best-preserved Byzantine mosaics and frescoes in the city, the colourful old quarters of Fener and Balat along the Golden Horn, and Pierre Loti Hill above Eyüp, reached by cable car, for tea with a view down the whole inlet.