My husband and I will be starting a cruise in Istanbul starting Aug. 2/24. We were coming in 2 days earlier to tour Istanbul. Does anyone have any suggestions on who you can trust as a tour operator. Is Viator a safe company?
Posted by
Washington DC
27189 posts
Viator is a third-party seller of tours operated by others. It doesn't operate any tours of its own. If you book through Viator, either you will pay more or the company running the tour will get less. Therefore, a lot of folks try to track down the actual operator of a tour they're interested in and book directly. However, I wouldn't say Viator is unsafe or crooked.
To find the name of the operator of a tour offered on viator.com, select the tour you're interested in, scroll down to the "Additional Info" section and click on "See x More" (x being a number).
If you read back through recent threads in the Turkey forum here, you'll find some recommendations for guides or tours. I can't help you, myself, because I used neither during my 2023 trip. However, I think your idea to get sightseeing help on a two-day visit to Istanbul is very good. It's a large city that's not always easy to navigate--starting with the (sometimes) difficulty of buying a transit card (though your hotel may be able to provide tips on that).
Posted by
Land of La
8692 posts
As explained Viator is a 3rd party. Contact the RS office next week…email….and ask if they still have contact information for Mert Tanner. He lead my 7 day tour of Istanbul. He was great.
Posted by
Los Angeles
699 posts
SRM Travel offers walking tours of Istanbul - they have a very close association with Rick Steves.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8400 posts
SRM are not currently responding to emails. I don’t know if website broken or what.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you for your responses! Good information to know!!
Halina Duncan