Activities

Overview

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TOUR

Blue Mosque

Topkapi Palace

Spice Market

Grand Bazaar

Hagia Sophia

Basilica Cistern

Chora Church

DAY 1

Arrive at Ataturk airport and meet our driver at the exit gate. He will be holding a board that your name is written. Transfer to your small boutique hotel in the Sultanahmet area. Spend the rest of the time at leisure. Overnight at a hotel in Sultanahmet.

DAY 2

Your guide will meet you after breakfast for a tour of the Ottoman Istanbul. A short walk takes you to the Blue Mosque which was completed in 1616. Our next stop will be the Topkapi Palace, more than just a palace, it is an assemblage of museums containing collections amassed by the Sultans for almost five centuries. Our visit also takes you to the famous Harem where the Imperial Family resided. We then stop at Divan Yolu for lunch at a local restaurant.

Next, we walk through the old cobbled streets down to Rustem Pasha Mosque and then the Spice Market, where Genoese and Venetian goods were sold at a time when there was no Suez Canal, and all the spices from the East were also brought here after being loaded on vessels in Egypt. We end the tour with a visit to the Grand Bazaar.

Overnight at a hotel in Sultanahmet.

DAY 3

Our third day in Istanbul takes us to a number of Byzantine Relics. We first stroll to the great square which was once the Byzantine Hippodrome. Now it is a great park like area surrounded by the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Underground Cistern, commonly called the Basilica Cistern. The Hippodrome exhibits the Walled Column, The Serpent Column and the Egyptian Obelisque from the Byzantine times and the German Fountain is located in the North end of the Hippodrome. Next, we visit the Hagia Sophia, the most important Byzantine building in the world. After lunch at a local restaurant, we take a short drive to The Chora Church to see the climax of Byzantine Mosaic Art. Transfer you back to the airport for the flight.

INCLUDES

Return private airport transfers

2 nights BB accommodation at a small boutique hotel in Sultanahmet

Private A/C minivan for the tours and transfers

All admission fees to the sites and museums on tour

Lunches on tour

Private guiding on tours

Local taxes and 18 % VAT

EXCLUDES

Personal expenses

Drinks at lunches

Dinners

Gratuities for the guide and driver

Cancellation Policy
For cancellations up to 15 days before tour there is no cancellation fee. For cancellations within 15 days of the tour, we will charge a 50% cancellation fee. For cancellations within 24 hours of tour, we will charge a 100% cancellation fee.