Turkey Tour Guide

Julia, One possibility you might consider is THIS Tour Company in Turkey. They offer a wide variety of tours, but you'll have to contact them to determine the costs for a private or semi-private tour. I believe they're involved with RS Turkey tours, so I'm sure they're "safe and good". Happy travels!

Julia, You're not getting very much help so I would like to offer some observations we made in Istanbul regarding personal tour guides. We didn't use one and you wouldn't need one to see the old city. Personal tour guides seemed to be attached to tourist couples or foursomes. Those being guided bought meals for the guides. Guides many times excused themselves to go smoke or make cell phone calls. Since we were staying in a hotel for five nights we were entitled to a half day guide. We thought we would use it to get to Chora Church. The guide shows up at the hotel with a trainee. She has the hotel call us all a taxi to go to Chora. We get to Chora and the taxi leaves. The guide had her notes on the Chora Church and the ink is smudging in her hand. We get through the Chora guided tour, go outside and want to go to another old church. The guide digs in her heels because she wants to show us something else. The trainee tries to put the bite on my wife for refreshments. I told the guide we were done and wanted to get back to the hotel. She had one of the shops call us a taxi, which by the way we paid for as well as the first taxi. The taxi didn't have the paperwork to drive in the old town so we walked a half a mile back to the hotel. In all this there was a miscommunication between the hotel and us and us and the guide(s) regarding who pays for what. Had we enlisted the gudie to see what she wanted us to see we would have paid four taxis. No deal. I had a word with the desk clerk and so did the guide, and we parted on friendly terms.

Hi Julia, we used Ekol Tours and indicated a particular interest in history.
We had an excellent guide for an all day, 6 -7 hours, shore excursion, I'd be happy to mail you a description of what we had for $114 USD per person for the day. A very good driver was included, whose job navigating the Istanbul traffic was formidable. We were very pleased and tipped heavily. He pointed out excavated stones behind Hagia Sophia, just as an example of what we would have missed without him, and gave us very good explanations. He waved away the street vendors and took us to a very good cafeteria style restaurant. We tried to pay for his meal but he politely declined. If you decide what you want to see and then convey this to the guide before your arrival, then you'll have the best time. I spent only about 10 minutes in the Grand Bazaar, since we saw so many other highlights on the largely walking tour.

Julia, When is your trip taking place? I may be speaking with the Guide I recommended in my previous reply, in Seattle in mid-January. I can obtain more specific information if you need it. I very much doubt that she would tolerate the type of behaviour that Monte described. Cheers!

That's good. I got the feeling we were dealing with amatures. It was an interesting experience though.

Hi Julia, i just noticed this post. I did the RS Istanbul tour this past end of June- beginning of July with Yaren Turkoglu, who works for SRM TRavel (the website Ken linked you to above) and Rick Steves. She was terrific! She is incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about Istanbul (she grew up there) and she shared lots of historical information. She was also was very willing to share her views on the way Istanbul is changing (including daily life, politics, etc). I would highly recommend her. Have fun!

We took the RS Turkey Tour and used RS Istanbul Guide Book a lot. Our guide was named Mia (sp?) who worked for SRM Travel who helped write the RS Istanbul Guide Book, when not guiding for RS tours. EXCELLENT. Local lady, very intelligent. Spoke better english that some on the tour. I would look her up next time we go to Istanbul.

That would probably be Mine not Mia (pronounced Min-A). She got married recently so I don't know her last name but it was Carrahan or Karrahan. She is outstanding
and would be an excellent choice.

Paula, "She got married recently". Mine was married in February 2011, and showed her traditional Turkish wedding dress at the Tour Reunion in January of that year. She's married to Mert, one of the other Guides. I remember that as I was talking to both of them at the Reunion. Meeting many of the RS Turkey Guides has prompted me to add Turkey to my tour list. They're all exceptional and I was most impressed. They do a great job of representing their country. Cheers!

Hi Julia, I would definitely use Viator. They are the best. I actually have used them for Rome, London and Paris and will be using them for a tour in Instanbul, Turkey in April. Prices are great and the tour guides are always nice, and well informed and there are a variety of tours available to fit your needs: walking, bus, bicycle, day, night, large group, small group private and different times. Just google them. Definitely 10 stars!! Hope this helps.
Stephanie