Curious to hear feedback on how you have visited some of the major old sights in Istanbul, such as Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern, Grand Bazaar, etc. I'm wondering if any of our fellow RS travelers have taken any private guided tours here and found good value in them, versus reading the written tours out of the RS guidebook or renting audio guides from individual attractions. My husband and I generally enjoy guided tours when we've taken them, so I am guessing we would find this to be a similar experience. Would love to hear personal input on this though if anyone has it to share. Thanks!
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
700 posts
I have done both. Having a guide is more efficient, especially for a first time visit, and I have always enjoyed the extra context that a guide can provide. At the same time, Istanbul is a reasonably easy city to navigate on your own.
The audio guides at the historic sites and museums operated by the Turkish government tend to be very good. In hindsight I wish that I had rented them more often on my last visit to Turkey. Many of the sites on your list, however, probably don't have audio guides. The Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque are both mosques, and so there's no audio guide. The Basilica Cistern is operated by the city of Istanbul (I think), and I don't know whether they have audio guides.
You might want to do a combination of a guide and exploration on your own.
Istanbul is one of my favorite cities. Have a great time!
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
6323 posts
I've only been to Istanbul once and traveled solo. I did it all on my own, but also I did a lot of research ahead of time. I enjoyed the solitude and ability to linger where I wanted and move along where I wanted.
But that's me and I generally do not care for guided tours, If you like them, I think that it would probably work for you.
Posted by
OP
KS, USA
676 posts
Thank you, both! I’m leaning towards just following the RS guides in his book since there are so many built into the book already. I’ve figured out a new tech trick that I thought I would share here. You can use TTS - text to speech - in the kindle version of the Istanbul guide book. So, instead of standing and reading the book, you can listen to the book and walk around just like you do with his audio tours in his app. Here’s an instructional video on how to do it.
Posted by
near San Francisco
4622 posts
Thanks for that tip about TTS with the Kindle version of the guidebooks. That will be fun to try, and in particular, I'd like to do it in Istanbul.
We took the Rick Steves Best of Turkey and Best of Istanbul tours (both fabulous!) so we didn't take any other guided city tours. One day before our tours, we did enjoy following the RS New District Walk along Istiklal Street and in to the Flower Passage. When I go back, I'd probably plan several days to take some of the RS walking tours, both to revisit places we saw on the tour and to spend more time, especially in places like Balat/Fener districts, where we had a walk-through but didn't spend much time.
Posted by
111 posts
We are currently on the RS Best of Turkey tour. We arrived 2 days early and I hired a guide for Dolmabahce Palace sine the RS tour doesn’t cover that. Our guide was excellent. It definitely costs more than the audio guide but she was with us for 3 hours. I loved the give and take and she gave us so much info on the culture as well as making suggestions on other things we might want to do since we’ll be back in Istanbul on our own for a while.
Posted by
near San Francisco
4622 posts
bcerulo, thanks for the live reporting from your Best of Turkey tour and pre-tour time in Istanbul. I hope you are having a great time!
Posted by
Boise - Idaho
22 posts
I suggest having a guide for security reasons in the public too. They are avoiding scammers.
Posted by
USA
183 posts
Julie, I highly recommend tour guide Metin Koca for Istanbul. Especially for Hagia Sophia because there are no signs explaining anything. Metin does private or group tours. His contact info: metinkoca@gmail.com or using WhatsApp: +90
(533) 230 19 76. He has lots of excellent reviews on TripAdvisor. You can hire him for a day, half day, or for a tour of Hagia Sophia. You will be glad you hired him! Metin speaks English fluently, he is funny, and honest.