Istanbul Private tour guide

Contact SRM Travel, the agency that provides guides for Rick Steves tours. They also offer small group and private tours.

https://www.srmtravel.com/

My guide in Istanbul was Highlight #1 for the Istanbul part of an around-the-world trip last summer. From the trip report:

Highlight #1: Two Days of Touring with Metin Koca. Very good guide.
For our first day, he volunteered to stand in line early at the Hagia
Sophia so that we could have first entry. The young adult and I
decided to join him early in line instead of making him wait on his
own. It was AWESOME being the first visitors to enter the Hagia Sophia
and seeing it for a short time before it was overrun by other
visitors. In our two days with Metin, we saw popular to not-so-popular
mosques, the main old cistern, the old walls of the city, Topkapi
Palace, and other things. It was a very good experience.

Multiple people on this forum have recommended him. His e-mail address for booking directly: [email protected].

We spent a lovely day in Istanbul with Canberk Arpat. He is good friends with Taylan Tasbasi who was busy leading a Rick Steves tour and referred us to him. Very communicative via WhatsApp. +90 532 591 52 18

We are a family of four, started the day at Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sofia where his knowledge of history is encyclopedic and his directions practical but we petered out and he pivoted easily to lunch at Pudding Shop. Guides bring lots of groups here but food is excellent at the same “touristic” prices as others along Divan Yolu Cd. Then attacked the grand bazaar and spice market where we found my daughter’s favorite baklava of the trip. My son wanted to find a retro gaming store and Canberk reached out quickly to his network of friends before bringing us to Sirkeci Dogubank Business Center with electronics shops, gaming shops and other pop oddities.

Highly recommended, personable and genuine. Even got the smirking teenager out of her shell. We paid $200 for 7 hours but he is worth well more.