Istanbul City Tours | Istanbul Day Tours

Istanbul day tours are customized to cover the most principal highlights in the city. Guided city tours in deluxe vehicles have wide popularity especially among the clients from the cruise ships. In a typical day trip, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Ottoman Harem are the most frequently visited places. Whatever the length of time available, all efforts are made to ensure that clients' expectations are fully satisfied.

Private tours in Istanbul is a must for any traveler who has a stop at Istanbul. Apart from the principal places mentioned above there are many more places to see. For example Dolmabahce Palace, Chora Museum, Suleymaniye Mosque, Underground Cistern, Grand Covered Bazaar, Bosphorus boat tour and Princes Islands are other highlights of Istanbul. Book the right guide and make your daily tour in Istanbul a fun.

There are many legends related to the foundation of Istanbul. The most popular one is about a group of colonizers from the city Megara in Greece under the leadership of Byzas. They sailed out to look for a new place to settle 685 BC.

As it was the custom of the time, before any such undertaking an oracle had to be consulted. The oracle in the Apollo temple in the famous town of Delphi advised Byzas to settle opposite the "land of the blind". The migrants searched for such a land for a long time. Eventually when they came to the headland of present-day Istanbul, they were delighted with what they found, a fertile land, a natural harbour and strait "Bosphorus" access to the open seas. To their surprise the presence of earlier settlers across the sea on the other side. The migrants decided that those people must have been blind if they could not appreciate the opportunities of this ideal place by settling on the opposite shore. So they were convinced that they had found the land the oracle had described.

In 343 BC Byzantium joined the Second Athenian League, throwing off the siege of Philip II of Macedon three years later. The lifting of the siege was attributed to the divine intervention of the goddess Hecate and was commemorated by the striking of coins bearing her star and crescent. Byzantium accepted Macedonian rule under Alexander the Great, regaining independence only with the eclipse of Macedonian might.

In 196 AD the city of Byzas made a fundamental mistake and sided with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus. The city was besieged and occupied by the Romans and made suffer extensive damage. The Rome was quick to realize the importance of this city so emperor Septimius Severus rebuilt and compensated the losses he inflicted upon the inhabitants. Before long it regained its previous prosperity, and temporarily renamed as Augusta Antonina by the emperor, in honor of his son. The hippodrome we see today is from emperor Septimius Severus time.

Later, in 330 AD it was officially declared by Constantine the Great as the capital of the Roman Empire. Many ceremonies were organized for the occasion, which marked the beginning of a golden age. Although the city was initially called the Second Rome or New Rome, these names were soon forgotten to be replaced by "Byzantium" and in later ages by "Constantinopolis".

Blue Mosque is one of the most famous, most visited and also the most admired monument in Istanbul. This imperial mosque is an example of classical Turkish and Islamic art and architecture. Visitors are required to abide with the dress code, that is open shoulders and knees need to be covered. For this, no need to worry bringing your own scarfs as you will be helped at the entrance by the mosque's caretakers.

The visitors can visit at any time of the day from dawn to late evening except the hours of prayers which vary in respect to local time ( the position of the sun) and these are displayed at the mosque entrance.

Hippodrome of Constantinople was the sporting and the social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is merely a square named 'Sultanahmet Meydani' (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structures surviving. It is also called Atmeydaný (Horse Square) in Turkish.

Monuments decorating the Hippodrome at present include the 3500-year-old Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius, brought to Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius in 390 AD. You'll also see the spiral bronze base of a three-headed serpent sculpture brought from Delphi in Greece. During a visit in 1901, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany erected an elaborate temple-like fountain as a gift to the sultan and his people.

Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya) was built by two master engineers in the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-65 AD) in 537 AD. After the conquest, the young sultan Mehmet the Conqueror proclaimed it a mosque soon after his conquest of the city 29th May, 1453.

After the establishment of the new Turkish Republic Atatürk, had this awe-inspiring edifice proclaimed a museum, as it is now.

The opening hours is from 9 am to 4:30 pm but closing time may be extended up to 7 pm in high seasons.

Suleymaniye Mosque is the largest mosque in Istanbul . It was built between 1550-1557 AD during the reign of Sultan Suleyman I

Suleyman the magnificent ordered the great architect of Ottoman empire Koca Mi‘mar Sinan Aga, (April 15, 1489 - July 17, 1588)

to built a mosque appropriate to his title, whereupon the construction of the present mosque was begun on third of the seven hills, dominating the Golden Horn.

The visitors can visit at any time of the day except the prayers hours which vary in respect to local time, and these are displayed at the entrance.

Topkapi Palace has served as home for the Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years, from the conquest of Istanbul up to the time when the dynasty moved to Dolmabahce Palace. The name 'Topkapi ' originates from the presence of a Cannon at the entrance, so "Palace of the Cannon Gate". The palace was the heart of the Ottoman Empire ruled vast territories in three continents. It was the home not for only the sultans but hundreds of concubines, servant girls, pages, white and black eunuchs.

Treasury in the 3rd courtyard and the Harem, entry from the second court yard, attract more visitors than the other sections. To avoid crowd you may give these two your first priority. Topkapi Palace tour will take about 1.5 hrs for a casual visit. After your tour you may sit for some drinks at the cafe in the 4th court yard facing Bosphorus.

The visitor entries is from 9 am to 4:30 pm but closing time may be extended up to 7 pm in the high seasons.

Turkish and Islamic Art Museum is housed in the Ibrahim Pasha Palace, which is often claimed to be bigger and more magnificent than Topkapý Palace. The palace has witnessed many weddings, feasts and celebrations as well as rebellions and turmoil, and also has been used by Ibrahim Pasha himself and other grand viziers.

The carpet section forms the richest collection not only in Turkey but also the world. Besides very rare Seljuk and Ottoman carpets there are prayer and animal figured rugs belonging to 15th and earlier centuries. You will see the carpets produced in Anatolia between the 15th - 17th centuries, known as "Holbein Carpet" in the West.

Istanbul Archaeology Museum consists of three museums. These are the main Archeology Museum, the Old Eastern Arts Museum and the Enameled Kiosk Museum. The complex houses over one million objects that represent almost all of the eras and civilizations in the world history.

The museum established as Imperial Museum was first opened to public on June 13, 1891. Besides its importance as the “first Turkish museum” it still holds its outstanding place in the World’s biggest museums with its exhibits more than a million belonging to various cultures and civilizations, from Balkans to Africa, from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to Arab Peninsula and Afghanistan, the regions bordering Ottoman Empire.

Boshorus is one of the most popular highlights of Istanbul. Beautiful settings and the plesant breeze adds to the pleasures of a boat trip. You can take a public ferry trip and sail up the Bosphorus for about one hour and 45 minutes. Having a luch at one of the water-front restaurants is a reward for those who have a special taste for fish.

The ferry goes all the way right up to Anadolu Kavagi, a village on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, and after a stop of 1.5 hours it turns back to Eminonu (European side) where it has started first. If you do not want to take the ferry back you can use local bus service. This is a recommended option if you wish to visit some of the interesting sites on the Bosphorus such as Rumeli Hisari (European Fortress).

Princess Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Marmara Sea. Nine islands: Buyukada (Prinkipo) , Heybeliada, Burgaz, Kinali, Sedef, Kasik, Sivriada, Yassiada and Tavsanadasi, together with the sunken member Vordonisi, seem to have the most promising contribution to highlights of Istanbul. On the islands 899 registered monuments comprised of architectural master pieces devoted to Islam, Christianity and Judaism . The lively presence of water and the indigenous “Islander” identity from centuries past have been providing inspiration for famous poets, writers and artists. Princes’ Islands, once a popular destination – along with Galata, Pera (Beyoglu) and the Bosphorus – to wealthy Istanbulites and foreigners during the Westernization era of the Ottoman Empire, will soon recover its reputation to become a famous destination for discriminating travelers.

Public ferry boats depart from Kabatas ferry dock or Sirkeci, the nearest ferry boat docks to Topkapi Palace, at 9: 30 every day for 1.5 hrs trip.

Istanbul is the most populous city in Turkey. It is the cultural as well as the financial center. The city covers 25 districts in and around Istanbul and stretches mostly around the coastal belt of the sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus strait, and the natural harbor known as Golden Horn. Istanbul province extends on both Europe and Asia. The European Turkey is called Thrace and the Asian part is called Anatolia. The city is reputed as being the only metropolis in the world which is situated on two continents. Also reputed as the capital city of two greatest empires, the Eastern Roman Empire (330-395) [ later continued under the Byzantine Empire (395-1204 and 1261-1453), the Latin Empire (1204-1261) ] and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922).