Istanbul Travel Help

The best thing we did was to take a tour with Istanbul Eats, they have a website and can help with a cooking class. WE did the old town tour and it was beyond our expectations. We ate at the mom and pop places where the locals eat and it was sumptuous. That backstreet wandering gave us the confidence to do it ourselves the rest of our time there. We took the long ferry ride up to Anadolu Kavagi which was well worth it we thought. We also traveled to the Asian side for shopping and eating.
We booked a whirling dervish ceremony one evening but like you, we mostly enjoyed sitting with a fish sandwich and watching the multitudes go by. I would suggest staying at a hotel in the Old Town for two reasons. First, most of the famous sights are withing easy walking distance. Second, your hotel staff can really help out on where to go, how to get there, and the best places to buy stuff. It helped that I learned a little Turkish via the internet to greet the staff, merchants, and others we met along the way. Try youtube for some really great repetitive lessons that will have you comfortable speaking Turkish in no time.

Merhaba Rick over the Grapevine in Bakersfield. Concur with the previous poster about staying in a hotel in the Old Town. I did the RS 7 day tour of Istanbul. We stayed in here; http://www.sumengenhotel.com Great staff, lovely rooms. Nice buffet. View from their terrace out onto the Bosphorus was great. The room we had was the one on the website with the two beds and the floral motif couch. Stellar view out over adjacent rooftops, and train track on to the Bosphorus. Yes, you heard the train but infrequently and it was a quick rumble by. You also hear the calls to prayer but your in Istanbul and that's daily life. Slept nightly with the large windows wide open. I love piece and quiet when I travel and slept like a log in that room. Loved the area. Each day after touring stopped at tiny cafe a block up from the hotel to have a beer, the best tomato garlic eggplant dish I've ever eaten, and watch the world go by. Agree that Istanbul Eats is a great way to explore Istanbul as a food mecca. As far as tour guide I suggest Sermin Utku-Bilgen PM and I'll forward an email address. Recommended highly by some travel colleagues. Places you must see include the Chora Church, Hagia Sophia (a breath taking architectural marvel), the cistern, a boat ride on the Bosphorus, the book market, the Princes Islands, and if you can find it the Mosaic Museum. Of course the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar. Some where in the GB, I found the cutest cafe, around a corner, up a flight of steep stairs, 6 picnic tables under an awning. PM and I'll share photos. The BEST bowl of lentil soup and I hate lentils. One of those memorable finds discovered while wandering.

Hello, Your dates, Good days in Istanbul. Summer is hot and wet for some activities. You can prefer old town to stay.Sultanahmet or Laleli. Tram or metro sistem are good to find your way. From airport to Sultanahmet you use metro and tram, you get on Airport you get off Zeytinburnu, Zeytinburnu to Sultanahmet tram transport. Main transport areas by bus Beyazit, Eminönü, Besiktas in Europe part. Hagia Sofia (Aya Sofya in Turkish), Grand Bazaar(Kapali Carsi)big shopping area, Istanbul Archeology Museum, Topkapi Palace Museum (Ottoman Palace with big area), Yerebatan Museum are in same area(Sultanahmet). You can find Bosporus (Bogaz) Tours are in Eminonu and Ortakoy. Pier Loti Hill is most popular to see Golden Horn (Halic)in Eyup. Dolmabahce Palace is in Besiktas. Taksim is most popular. Use tram from SultanAhmet to Kabatas, then use funiculer from Kabatas to taksim. Nisantasi is most poular with expensive shop area. istanbul travel site is in Turkish but you can use google translate for it. http://www.istanbulgezi.net/istanbul-tarihi-yarimada-gezi-guzergahlari.htm I dont know tours, there are one day travel buses in Sultanahmet. You can find way easy and nearest touristic atractions. You can find some informations in this site. istanbul Munipicality
http://www.ibb.gov.tr/sites/ks/en-us/Pages/Home.aspx. You can prefer basic restaurants, home made meals, cheap and better than touristics. Their owners dont speak English, you can show what you eat. Some menu are with meals photographs. Favourite meals, kebap, yaprak sarma, kuru fasulye, doner, patlican musakka in Turkish.

Hi Rick,
My wife and I are just back from 7 nights in Istanbul and 2 in Capodocia. We are pretty much the same type of travellers as you are, modest budget, value concious, and we snuffle around at our own pace. We also rarely use guides, and may I remark that the AudioGuides in Istanbul represent incredible value and quality at only TL5 ($2.50). We stayed in Sultanahmet at a lovely small hotel at just over $100 per night. We ate our way through most of the top ranked spots plus some others of our own choice and hit pretty much all the attractions that we wanted to including 3 boat trips. 7 nights were more than enough to cover all of that. Your choice of a cooler period makes a lot of sense. I wrote a trip report (in a segmented series) of where we stayed, ate and what we did, with some reviews / rankings. The first segment is here: http://pedro-in-spain.blogspot.com.es/2012/10/our-istanbul-trip-1-reasons-planning.html

Hello, I am trying to plan my and my fiancé's honeymoon. I have a couple of Turkish friends and have seen some pictures on Facebook from trips home they've made and have seen some travel shows on Istanbul and some areas on the Bosphorus. It looks gorgeous. My main question is how does Turkey compare to some european places in regard to prices? We will be taking the trip in early to mid May 2013, so I am aware that exchange rates will fluctuate, but a general ballpark would be nice to know (cheap, cheaper, cheapest place to go, etc). I live in the US, so we'll be exchanging dollars.
Also, how is the weather in early-mid may? (probably 6th-18th) thanks!

Diana, you might want to post your question as a new thread. In my experience, Turkey is very economical compared to other countries in Europe.

Check out Tom Brosnan's website www.turkeytravelplanner. He has tourguide recommendations and explains why it is a good idea to mention his name when planning to hire one.