Daily Sapanca & Maşukiye & Mahmudiye Tour with Lunch from Istanbul

A trip away from the hustle and bustle of Istanbul and a close encounter with nature, forests, mountains and Lake Sapanca

It was flawless it was great

We are very satisfied

Thanks a lot Aljazeera Tour for your service and your professionalism 🙏🙏

What a productive day!

With abit of doubt and anticipation I decided to book us all the Sapanca tour (adults and young children under 12).

We started off being picked up from taksim square a little Late .. about 10mins but that was because of traffic no problem. There was around 25 of us in a minibus.

The host was friendly and has great banter ;)

Very informative and clearly knows what he’s doing. He even pointed out a few historical buildings along the way as well as ensuring we beat the queues in a few places.

Then went to the zoo enjoyed it shame it was just for an hour would love to spend more time there, the organic shop where they sold honey, soaps, Turkish treats and perfumes etc (inc free samples) was a treat (or as some would say a tourist trap). After that we went to zip line which was amazing! Even my children were able to go on it (a clear highlight!) , next stop cable cars… the views were amazing! Followed by ATV quad bikes and upside down house, giant swings and lovely places to take pictures. Last stop was at Sapanca lake at the end which was relaxing, a nice pedal boat ride (if you want) but we were tired by this time so opted to sit in restaurant and have drinks instead (coffee and tea for adults and kids had milkshakes which we bought ourselves).

Pros: vibe, friendly host, very productive day

Enjoyed the zip wire and went to places we probably would have missed on our own as tourists

Lunch was included and was delicious!

Most places plenty of time to enjoy. Around 1 hour per stop (which is understandable given the itinerary)

Also although it may seem as a tourist trap there is no pressure to buy what they sell at the shops from tour guide or to enjoy any excursions… you can sit out and just enjoy drinks or view for that stop if you wanted

Cons: although we enjoyed the tour and seen more than what we could have on our own we found the extra costs on excursions more expensive now than previous years such as zoo.

I would say this tour is suitable for both adults and children. We all loved it.

Would I do the tour again? 100% yes! And definitely recommend.

Very good trip. Kind and helpful guide which made the trip very remembrable.As a family we enjoyed everything included in the trip

The tour was perfect ! The program was nice and arranging. It can be suitable for diffrent age range. The guide was very kind, very patient and enthusiastic. He was careful with the clients, answered all the questions and was mainly giving a lot of interesting information. The driver was professional and nice.

I Will not hesitate to contact you for a visit next time i m in istanbul and i also recommanded your services to my friends insterested in visiting istanbul and surroundings ❤️❤️❤️

I did this tour with my wife. Our guide was amazing. Tour was upto the description.

Me and my wife had a great day. We enjoyed all the activities.

Thank you for your services.

Everything was excellent from the pick up time till the drop off.

Priced well.

Communication is excellent.

Pick up and drop off from and to our hotel.

The food was delicious.

Beautiful scenery.

Great adventure for the kids. Loaded with tons of activities. Tour has great variety of options for all tastes.

The only trouble is that the trip is way out of Istanbul, so sitting on the bus for hours was annoying—my butt got sleep multiple times. The tour is way over stretched—they try to cover so many things in one day, you get exhausted by the end of the day—we cried to the guide to skip the last attraction of the day, we were completely worn out.

(Your kids would love the busy schedule though, because it’s like all-you-can-fun-buffet, and they will crash in their beds the minute you get to the hotel).

The trip was really nice and I enjoyed it so much .. we had a good meal in the forest and lovely experience

Unfortunately, the day of our tour ended up being quite cold and rainy, and as a result, we weren’t able to enjoy it nearly as much as we would had if the weather had been nice. Still, I enjoyed the day and what we saw, and it was worth the under $30 price.

I read previous reviews, and frankly, they don’t sound like the tour I was on. A couple examples: unlike the tour guide praises I read, our tour guide was nice, but had absolutely nothing to say about the area, history, etc. And, the lunch was not the great buffet I’d read about, but rather a salad and plate of almost cold food; adequate, but that’s all.

To me, it was a tourist tour mostly for locals, not foreigners, as we were the only ones I think from the West. But I liked that, as it felt authentic, and we got to see normal everyday type of stuff in the Asian part of Turkey.

The day consisted mostly of stopping at six local tourist spots: 1) a combination shopping mall/zoo/amusement park; 2) a Turkish Delight store; 3) a zip line spot; 4) a long ski-lift type ride; 5) an ATV rental business; and 6) a lakeside restaurant/resort with miscellaneous available activities.

The tour doesn’t include admission/tickets for any of these activities, and you can opt to participate, or sit and relax and have something to drink if not. But don’t expect a beer or glass of wine to be available though, as there was nary a drop of alcohol at any of the stops in these very Muslim places.

That might seem like a lot of negatives, but forewarned is forearmed. Just try to take the tour on a nice day!