Best of Istanbul: Private Old City Tour from Galataport

About this tour

Istanbul in one port day is a lot, so we keep it simple and close to the essentials. With a licensed guide just for your party you see Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Roman Hippodrome and the Blue Mosque, moving around the way locals do, by tram.

Your day

We wait where you leave Galataport cruise terminal, at its exit, with a card showing your name. Together we walk to the tram for a ride of around fifteen minutes to the Old City, and your guide starts on Turkey and Istanbul as the neighbourhoods roll by.

First comes Hagia Sophia, which began life in the 6th century as a cathedral, then served as a mosque from the 15th, a museum in the 20th and a mosque again in the 21st. Look up at the huge dome and the mosaics, where Byzantine and Ottoman history meet.

At Topkapi Palace, where Ottoman sultans lived for almost 400 years, you move through courtyards and gardens into rooms full of Ottoman art, jewellery and manuscripts.

The Blue Mosque, or Sultanahmet Mosque, dates from the early 17th century. Six minarets rise around it, a number no other mosque in Turkey has, and it is still used for daily prayer; its tilework and calligraphy are the details to watch for.

Outside, the Roman Hippodrome was a 4th-century racing ground and the centre of Byzantine public life. Three monuments still stand there: the Walled Obelisk, the Serpentine Column and the Obelisk of Theodosius.

Good to know

Please dress modestly for the mosques, with shoulders and knees covered and a scarf for ladies. Tram fares are included. Entrance fees are settled in cash on the day (US dollars or euros), only for the sites on your route, and skip-the-line tickets come with your guide. We build the day around your all-aboard time and guarantee your return to the ship.