My Family of 4 plans to fly into Istanbul and spend a couple of days. Is 2 full days possible or do we need to add a third full day. We will have the partial day we fly in and partial day we fly out. I know we can't do everything. Would it be best to higher a guide for the time there?
What are the top things we should do while there?
Is there a good area other stay?
Guides suggestions?
Thank you!
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/turkey/istanbul
The link above is what the host of this site has to say about Istanbul and the sights. You could spend weeks there and not see everything, so you will have to prioritize. What are your family's interests? What time of year? If you have flexibility, more time is better just so you don't have to rush.
Depending on how long a flight you have to get there the first partial day will be lost to jet lag for the most part. It takes a solid 45 minutes to an hour between the airport to historic area hotels. If you are flying elsewhere from Istanbul you should get to airport 3 hours ahead (plus the hour of transport). That eats up your partial day on the end.
Many, many guide suggestions in the Turkey section of this forum. Here are recent posts on that topic https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=1y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Istanbul+guide&utf8=%E2%9C%93
OP What are your ages? Your interests; History?
Architecture? Religion? Food? Been out of the US before or is this your first trip?
Have you purchased and read the RS Istanbul book. Would answer most of your questions?
Lots to explore in Istanbul. Defintely enjoyed the RS tour I took.
Hope you like cats.
Sorry I forgot to put the time period. We plan to go in late July early August.
Our kids are 18 years old. We are very interested in History, Culture, Architecture and food.
We are well traveled and been to Europe before.
It has been some time since we were in Istanbul. In fact, Obama was President and we were amused to see, displayed in a bakery window, a cake with his face in frosting! The memories of Istanbul (other than the cake!) that still stand out are: Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque; Topkapi Palace; the Basilica cistern; the ferry ride up the Bosphorus; and exploring the old city walls. No need for a guide if you have a plan for your time. Istanbul is a fabulous city. Enjoy your trip!
Well you asked for an opinion so here it is. I do not think that 2 days is enough time to spend in Istanbul. It's a phenomenal country and it deserves much more. If you can only give it 2 days, then that's better than nothing, but there is so much to see and do there and so much to assimilate.
I was there for 7 days and could easily have spent 2 or 3 weeks. I highly recommend you take as much time as you can there. It's just an incredible place.
Yes you should have at least 3 days and if you want to see the sights without waiting in line, you should hire a guide.
I would say if you can add a day, do. And it still won't be enough! It's a wonderful city, and I'm hoping to go back next year.
Whether you hire a guide is your call - personally I've been there a couple of times and didn't. One trip was August, and we didn't see big lines. The other was Jan/Feb, and ditto.
What I loved most (apart from the food) was visiting mosques. Aside from the popular tourist ones (Sultanahmet Mosque, Aya Sofya and Kariye Mosque), there are hundreds of others. We saw about 15 over 10 days or so on the second trip. Took a daytrip by ferry to Bursa and loved that too.
"We plan to go in late July early August."
My most recent (2024) visit to Istanbul was 8 nights in August - timed to attend a family wedding. I realized quickly that I needed to plan my time to avoid the mid day heat.
I broke up some days into morning and evening sightseeing, with an indoor break during the hottest mid day hours. That could be in my room, in a mosque, a Bazaar, a museum, or in a restaurant.
If you're planning to visit Basilica Cistern, that will also be cooler than the Istanbul streets in the middle of August.
Another great option during the heat of an August day is a cool cruise on the Bosphorus, which is a great sightseeing option anyway. You can do that very inexpensively by public ferry. Or take a more expensive tourist cruise for 2 or 3 hours. You may wish to have a jacket for the breeze.
Or plan a siesta and go back out later to enjoy the cooler evenings.
We were just in Istanbul October 2025. Honestly, it is a beautiful, historic, crowded, expensive city. 2 days will be fine.
The places you want to see costs $50 pp to enter. Not cheap. The good thing is that the Topkapi Palace is a huge area and you could spend the day there. There are many buildings with different exhibition, and a cafe. We booked a tour of the Harem then wandered the rest if the day.
The Hagia Sophia, also $50 pp was a bit of a dissapointment. You need to Download the audio guide on your phone which uses up alotta Data. Bring earbuds and share them. Also the wifi goes in and out. Since the Blue Mosque is free and just as impressive, I would just go there.
The Grand bazaar is fun but unless you are a serious shopper you can just walk through and look around.
Definately buy your cistern tickets ahead, every time we passed there was a long line.
We were there for 4 nights / 3.5 days this past August and we certainly could have used an additional full day.
Our incoming flight was only 2.5 hours long, so jetlag wasn't an issue on day 1 - we used the remaining 1/2 day to walk Istikal street (was near our Taksim area hotel.)
Our 3 full days were spent at the Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, and a day trip over to Kadikoy. Did not use a guide as we prefer our independence. We used the metro, trams, and walking to get around. If we had gone with 5 nights, I probably would've added the Dolmabahçe Palace and maybe a longer trip on the Bosphorus.
Unless your outbound flight is very late in the day, I would not plan anything for the last 1/2 day. The airport is a long way from the city center, and the check-in / security process was lengthy.
Enjoy!
