Istanbul Tour Guide Recommendation

Hello! We are heading to Istanbul 29 Nov and would be very grateful for Metin’s contact information and any other guides and hotels anyone would like to recommend!
Thank you,
Cassandra

Hi Cassandra,
The guide's name is Metin Koca and his email address is metinkoca@gmail.com.
I hope you have a great time in Istanbul!

I have recommended *Metin Koca * many times on this forum and elsewhere. I am very glad you were so happy with his tour guiding! He is excellent for sure. He has hundreds of amazing reviews on TripAdvisor.
His email is: metinkoca@gmail.com
His cell number for WhatsApp: +90 (533) 230 19 76

Hey metin is the guide we also booked! So glad. How did you pay him - did you pay him in Turkish lira or bring USD? Thanks.

We paid him in USD at his request. :-)

Thank you so much! I was very confused.

Rhodesla, what was the approximate cost for a day to use Metin's services?

I wish we read about Metin when I searched for a private guide on our just recent Istanbul trip. Our guide, who actually I found through the Rick Steve's forum, was a big disappointment. She did not care at all about guiding, and only about money and cost us additional expanses unnecessarily. She sure put a damper on our otherwise great Turkey trip with other guides who were incredible (in Cappadocia and Ephesus).
Sara Y.

If you're looking for the most well informed, kindest and humorous tour guide in Istanbul, then you absolutely must book a tour with Metin. We were not looking for a tour guide but Metin approached us while we were in line at the Hagia Sophia. Hiring him was the best decision that we could have made in Istanbul. His tour was incredibly informative and I don't think that we would have enjoyed our experience anywhere near as much if we hadn't gotten lucky enough to meet Metin. We have been back to Istanbul after our initial experience and we hire Metin every time we are in the city. He's not only our favorite guide but he's become a friend of the family and I consider him a brother in life. Do yourself a favor and enlist his services at the earliest opportunity!

Base on so many of you recommending him, I contacted Metin Koca. He is asking 350 Euro to be an Istanbul guide for our family of 4
for 1 day. This does not include any entrance fees or additional costs. Does that sound quite expensive for Turkey or is this now the usual fee? We are paying about the same amount for a day with a guide for the Ephesus area, but that includes a car & driver for the day.

That is a reasonable price for all the knowledge and services Metin will give you. The 350 euros will be money well spent for sure. Metin Koca is the best tour guide in Istanbul. You will be very happy.

We hired Metin Koca in January 2024. He is wonderful. We had to cancel our second half day tour with only 24 hours notice and he was very understanding. No charge to us.

My husband and I just spent a full day touring Istanbul with Metin. I wanted to wholeheartedly agree with everyone that it is money well spent. Martin’s depth of knowledge and his love of Istanbul and its history would be well worth the money but his expertise at navigating Istanbul’s busy sites literally saved us hours (of our limited time). As a result, we were able to focus on absorbing as much from our visits to the sites as possible instead of worrying about line ups, etc. Moreover, Metin is warm, personable, and easy to spend the day with. Highly recommend!!

We too would like to put a word in for Metin Koca as a great guide for istanbul, especially for first-time visitors like us. We ended up hiring him for two days and found him to be knowledgeable, accommodating, and personable. We couldn't see Topkapi Palace on the first day because it was closed for Erdogan's visit, so we saved it for the second day which was good since it's a vast site with lots to explore. Metin managed to get tickets for the Haggia Sophia ahead of time which sped up the process. We also appreciated his negotiating abilities which seemed to move us to the front of the line in several other places as well. We want to echo what others have said about Metin communicating his love for Istanbul and the long, complex history of the city and Turkey generally, but we also want to say that we enjoyed talking with him about contemporary culture and life, especially his life, in Turkey today. I suppose you could say that he's expensive at 350 euros a day (he says he's expensive), but it's his job and he's good at it.

We just got back from Istanbul yesterday, and I wanted to post an update on our full day tour with guide Metin Koca. He was worth every euro! He pre-purchased the Hagia Sophia tickets for us at 9am, and then met us at 10am when it opened. He got us right in, no waiting in line. We then went to the Blue Mosque, had a quick bite at one of his recommended eateries, went to the Basilica Cistern, walked some of the back streets and historical spots in old Istanbul, the Grand Bazaar, Spice Market, the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, more local backstreets with shops free of tourists other than ourselves, the beautiful and intimate Rustem Pasha Mosque, and a local non-touristy sweet shop for Turkish delight since I had asked for his recommendation. He also showed us his favorite restaurants and kabap stops around town as we went since we would be there a few days. He was warm, kind, super informative about all of the sights, and gave us endless tips for getting the best pictures in each location. It was like having a good friend take you around, who also happened to be a history major! All of us thought he was the best guide ever, and I highly recommend him.