Highlights & Hidden Gems With Locals: Best of Istanbul Private Tour

We went on STREET ART TOUR ISTANBUL! Alp was knowledgeable, friendly and accommodating. The murals were captivating and intentional. The community is filled with amazing cafes, galleries, bars, shop. It gave a modern peek into a vastly complicated and old city.

Gülce, of WithLocals, was very knowledgeable about Istanbul and the history of Turkey. She braved the cold (it’s snowing in Istanbul!), tailored the tour to our interests, impressed us with the depth of her knowledge, and gave us a lot of good practical advice for visiting Istanbul.

We were looking for a reason to explore the Asian side of Istanbul, and found this tour. We're so glad we did it! We had a wonderful afternoon with Alp - his tour is more than just street art, we went to a couple of local cafes, learned about culture and history, and even got some great shopping tips. Alp is a friendly, knowledgeable guy, and adjusted the pace where we wanted to stay a bit longer & take photos, or move on to the next things. I can't recommend this tour highly enough!!

I honestly don’t know where to start. Dilek was amazing and it was like I was learning about the city from a friend. Her communication, from the moment I set up the tour until the moment I met her was fabulous. We chatted and got to know each other. She arranged for me to have transportation and it was the best decision! Dilek’s in depth knowledge of Istanbul is second to none, and we had wonderful conversations wandering the cobblestone streets lined with cafes and restaurants. We were able to see the Hagia Sofia, Cisterns, Spice Market, old city, new city, galata port, and so much more! I fell in love with Istanbul in large part because of Dilek. I didn’t just have a tour. I explored an amazing city with a friend, and made memories that will last me forever.

We had a wonderful time in Istanbul with Ahmet. He showed us around the main city attractions and explained in detail the (many!) historical events that took place over the various places visited (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cisterns, Grand Bazaar, etc.). This was definitely the highlight of our trip and we'd encourage anyone visiting to benefit from Ahmet's lovely personnality, humor, good mood and wealth of knowledge by booking a tour.

Emere was great. He took us to the usual places and also to of the beaten path streets and restaurants for a local flavor. Highly recommend him.

This was our first time in Istanbul, and booking a tour with Oguz on our very first day was the best decision we made! He is very knowledgeable and passionate about the city, with amazing knowledge about local history, architecture, and much more. He also went out of his way to customise our experience- we got to take a nice break in a local tea shop which was perfect. A must do when you’re in the city.

I booked a private tour for two with Mine (pronounced long I, short e) to see Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern. As these were the places we wanted to see. It was fantastic. I should note that she will customize the tour to match your request. Prior to and after booking, I had a number of questions and she responded quickly and clearly using the withlocals chat tool. Her background and expert knowledge provided us with a clear, historical description of each location and her English was excellent. She provided clear instructions how to get to our meeting location from the Cruise Port. Lastly, as a licensed guide, we were able to skip the line so we had very little wait time. When visiting Istanbul, I would highly recommend Mine as your tour guide.

My daughter and I really enjoyed this street art tour! First, you get to see a really wonderful neighborhood in Istanbul on the Asia side and a different slice of life that is less touristy. Second, there are some great street murals and history behind them. Third, Alp is super personable and an excellent guide. He even made a detour to take us to two comic book stores because of my daughter's interest. Highly recommend!

Kadir is so knowledgeable of the rich history in Istanbul! We loved that he shared small details that are easy to miss along with past and current customs of the Turkish people. Kadir’s delightful personality is infectious, he made the tour feel like a fun adventure. Our 23 year old autistic daughter is still talking about how much she enjoyed Kadir. We highly recommend Kadir, you will have just as much fun as we did; Guarenteed!