71 activities in Istanbul, Turkey

Discover the heart of the "Old City", Sultan Ahmet Square where once the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires ruled

Highlights
- Visit some of Istanbul’s most iconic landmarks such as the Hagia Sophia and Dolmabahçe Palace
- Grab yourself a bargain at the Grand Bazaar
- Admire the panoramic views of the city from Camlica Hill

No visit to Istanbul is complete without exploring the rich history. Begin the tour by exploring Sultan Ahmet Square, where chariot races were held right up until the Ottoman conquest. Among the attractions in this beautiful setting, you will find the Serpent Column, a 2,500-year-old ancient Greek relic, the Walled Obelisk and the Obelisk of Thutmose III, a red granite obelisk that has remained in excellent condition despite being over 3000 years old.

Located just a stone’s throw away, is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, more popularly known as the Blue Mosque due to its hand-painted blue İznik tiles that decorate the interior walls. This lavish mosque was constructed in the 17th Century and is still used as a mosque to this day.

Enjoy a relaxing stroll across the serene Sultan Ahmet Square brings us to Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Divine Wisdom, which for over a millennium, was the largest church in the world before it was turned into a mosque following the fall of Constantinople. Here, you can admire some of the most beautiful mosaics you will ever see.

Head over to the Grand Bazaar, where every day up 400,000 shoppers scour the more than 3,000 shops in 61 covered streets in search of bargains. After working up an appetite, you will head to a traditional Turkish restaurant where your taste-buds will be tantalised with a delicious lunch.

Admire Dolmabahçe Palace, one of the most glamorous palaces in the world and residence for Ottoman Sultans built by two Ottoman architects Karabet and Nikogos Balyan. This is the largest palace in Turkey, and served as the main administrative centre of the Ottoman Empire until 1922. Its 285 rooms and 46 halls are brimming with amazing works of art and European antiquity, furniture and the world’s largest Bohemian crystal chandelier, a gift from Queen Victoria, weighing 4.5 tonnes.

Visit Asia as you cross the Bosphorus Bridge, a unique chance to step from one continent (Europe) to another (Asia) in less than 2 minutes. Make your way up Camlica Hill, famous for its beautiful sunset and the best bird’s eye panoramic views of İstanbul from the Marmara Sea to the Black Sea. View the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn from one of the highest and most appealing places of the city.

Languages
English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.

Others
Grand Covered Bazaar is closed on Sundays and replaced with authentic shops around Grand Bazaar.
Dolmabahçe Palace is closed on Monday and replaced with Eyüp + Pierre Loti Coffee House + Miniatürk.

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Voucher type: E-Voucher
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Location
Start point:
Sarayburnu Cay Bahcesi - Kennedy Cd.,No:8
Pick-up available from hotels in the Aksaray, Laleli, Topkapı, Sultanahmet, Taksim areas only.
If your hotel is located out of the pick-up area, please go to the above location.
Please reconfirm the exact pick up point and time with the supplier at least 24 hours prior to confirmed tour date.
Pick-up time between 8am and 8:40am. Drop-off time between 5pm and 5:30pm.

End point: Same as the starting point

Schedule
Duration: 8 Hours

Guide options
Guide type: Guide

Requirements
Please provide the hotel name at the moment of reservation.

Visit the ancient city of Troy and learn about its significance in Greek mythology as the main battlefield in the Trojan War. On the journey from Istanbul, stop for lunch in the coastal town of Eceabat, and then enjoy a walking tour around the archaeological site of Troy lasting approximately a couple of hours. Learn about the different eras that stamped their mark on the fascinating settlement and see the famous Trojan Horse statue before returning to Istanbul.

On the tour you will be able to see:
The Trojan Horse
Sacrificial Altars
The 3700 year old city walls
Houses of Troy I, 3000 B.C. – 2500 B.C
The Bouleuterium (Senate Building)
The Odeon (Concert Hall)
Current excavations in progress
Remains of the various cities from Troy I through to Troy IX

At the end of the tour at around 6pm, you will be transferred back to Istanbul. Around 11pm you will arrive back to Istanbul and will be dropped off to your hotel in Istanbul.

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Voucher type: Printed and e-Voucher
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Location
Starting point:
Hotel pickup

End point: Same as starting point

Schedule
Opening dates
20/02 - 31/12, 06:00 - 23:00

Duration: 17 Hours

Guiding options
Guiding type: Guide
Group type: Shared

We begin with a coach tour along the Golden Horn, the inlet that has been the city’s natural harbour since it was settled in Roman times. We’ll pass through the former non-Muslim districts, seeing traces of the their rich past such as the Bulgarian Orthodox metal Church of St. Stephen, the Jewish Hospital and 22km-long Byzantine defensive walls. Discovering the sensuous smells and assorted aromas of the Spice Bazaar before embarking on a boat.

At the Spice Bazaar you will experience every gamut of emotions as you navigate through the stalls selling both fresh and dried fruits, vegetables, flowers and, of course, spices. From aniseed to zedoary, you will find every imaginable spice under the sun. Naturally, vast amounts of Turkish delight, coffee and tea are also on sale. A big part of the fun is haggling with the garrulous stallholders, who will either amuse you or convince into purchasing something.

After this sensory feast, it’s time to sit back and relax with a pleasant cruise along the Bosphorus. You’ll pass the elegant waterfront villas that were the weekend and summer retreats of the Ottoman elites and the imposing Rumeli Fortress.

Some of these waterfront residences, yal? in Turkish, are centuries old and made of wood. Others are veritable marble palaces of a less distant vintage. The range of colours and architectural styles is truly vast, ranging from the intrinsically Ottoman to Western neo-classical. Make sure to have your camera at the ready because along the Bosphorus there are more than 600 of these homes dotted about.

From the boat you’ll also see the hulking Rumeli Fortress, which was built more than 560 years ago by the Ottomans to prepare their attack on Constantinople and to control the Bosphorus.





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Voucher type: Printed
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Location
Start point:
Pick-up available from both the Old City and the New City areas.
If your hotel is not located in these areas, please make your way to the meeting point: Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus (Hotel reception), Harbiye Mahallesi, Cumhuriyet Cd. No:50, 34367 Şişli/İstanbul.
Please call 24 hours in advance to confirm the pick up time and location.

End point: Same as the starting point

Schedule
Opening dates
08:00 - 13:00

Duration: 5 Hours

Guide options
Guide type: Guide

To step through Bab-? Humayun, the Imperial Gate of the Topkap? Palace, is to step into the past – a past redolent with the mysteries and exoticism of the Orient. This colossal complex taking up all of Seraglio Point was from where the Ottoman sultans ruled an empire that at its peak stretched from Budapest to Baghdad.

The vast wealth and luxury enjoyed by the sultans is evident as you wander through the complex, which is divided into four courtyards and the harem. In the first courtyard you will see the fourth century Hagia Irene church, a reminder of what the Ottomans conquered.

The second courtyard is a treasure trove of attractions such as the Imperial Divan, the Tower of Justice and the Imperial Treasury. Pass through the gilded Gate of Felicity into the third courtyard to marvel at the Conqueror’s Pavilion, which houses a dazzling collection of jewels, including the Topkap? Dagger and the 86-carat Spoonmaker’s Diamond.

Then there’s the Harem, the forbidden area where the sultans kept their wives and concubines, often in the hundreds, under the close watch of eunuchs. In the fourth courtyard and beyond you will admire the kiosks and gardens, and enjoy fantastic panoramic views of the city, the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus and Asia.

At the Rustem Pasa Mosque the opulence on display is of a different sort; here it is the glory of God that is celebrated. A somewhat modest exterior – it has just one minaret – hides an interior decorated with beautifully crafted tiles with floral and geometric designs.

Others
As mosques are closed on Fridays, there will only be external visits on that day.

Redeem information
Voucher type: Printed and e-Voucher
Printed voucher or E-voucher. Print and bring the voucher or show the voucher on your mobile device to enjoy the activity.

Location
Start point:
Pick-up available from both the Old City and the New City areas.
If your hotel is not located in these areas, please make your way to the meeting point: Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus (Hotel reception), Harbiye Mahallesi, Cumhuriyet Cd. No:50, 34367 Şişli/İstanbul.
Please call 24 hours in advance to confirm the pick up time and location.

End point: Same as the starting point

Schedule
Opening dates
13:00 - 17:00

Duration: 4 Hours

Guide options
Guide type: Guide

After meeting your professionally trained guide, you will take a short drive to Taksim Square, the heart of modern Istanbul. The square was laid out in the late 1800's near a taksim (branching-point) in the city's water distribution system.

At the southern end of the square is a statue of the founder of modern day Turkey, Kemal Atatürk.Walking to the far side of the square you come to the beginning of Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue) which is the main artery of the Beyoglu district. Now a pedestrian way, it is the city's most popular strolling, shopping and meeting street. Many of the buildings date back to the 19th-century when this area was referred to as the Paris of the East, with its half-European, half-Asian culture.

The store fronts are lined with boutiques, cafes, consulates, restaurants, galleries, cinemas and banks, with residential apartments above. During your walk, you will visit one of the many wine houses where you will have the opportunity to taste a glass of local wine. There are two churches on the street. St Maria Draperis and the Italian church St. Antoine which dates back to 1906 and is the most important Catholic church of Istanbul. Halfway along Istiklal Caddesi is Galatasaray Square, named after the Galata Palace, the first official European-influenced high school in the Ottoman Empire.

Other sites you will see in this area include the Galatasaray Bath, which dates back to 1482, Cicek Passage - the flower passage, Pera Palas, which is one of the oldest hotels in Istanbul, and the Nostalgic Istiklal Caddesi Tram, a 19th-century tram that was restored and placed back into service when the street became a pedestrian street. At the end of Istiklal Street, is the area called Tunel, where French engineers built Istanbul's Tünel underground train in 1875. It allowed European diplomats and businessmen to ride between their waterside offices in Karakoy and their hilltop residences in Beyoglu. It was only the third underground railway built in the world at that time.The final stop on the tour is the exotic Grand Bazaar area where you will have the opportunity for exploring some of the 4,000 shops.

After free time in the Bazaar, you will be returned to the pier.

Others
The covered area of the Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays.

Redeem information
Voucher type: Printed
Printed Voucher. Print and bring the voucher to enjoy the activity.

Location
Start point:
Istanbul
Istanbul ports.
Outside the terminal building, by the exit gate.

End point: Same as the starting point

Schedule
Opening dates
08:00
Times are approximate
Start time depends on the guests' cruise arrival time.

Duration: 4 Hours

Guide options
Guide type: Guide
Group type: Private

Requirements
Please make sure you provide your ship details and telephone number.

Recommendations
Comfortable sports shoes, sunscreen, comfortable clothes, cap, glasses or sunglasses.

We will drive for a through Taksim and Pera areas which are the heart of the modern Istanbul. Laid out in late 1800 today the area enjoys being the best area for locals and tourists to hang out.

We continue our drive and cross the Golden Horn, passing under the Roman aqueducts we continue around the mighty city walls and reach the exotic Grand Bazaar. Turkey's largest covered market with 4000 shops offering excellent shopping as beautiful tiles, copper and brassware, apparel made of leather, cotton and wool, meerschaum pipes and all sorts of other things.


Redeem information
Voucher type: Printed
Printed Voucher. Print and bring the voucher to enjoy the activity.

Location
Start point:
Istanbul
Istanbul ports.
Outside the terminal building, by the exit gate.

End point: Same as the starting point

Schedule
Opening dates
08:00
Times are approximate
Start time depends on the guests' cruise arrival time.

Duration: 4 Hours

Guide options
Guide type: Guide
Group type: Private

Requirements
Please make sure you provide your ship details and telephone number.

Recommendations
Comfortable sports shoes, sunscreen, comfortable clothes, cap, glasses or sunglasses.

In the Old City you will visit the Byzantine Hippodrome. It had a capacity for 100,000 spectators, while the horse racing and chariot racing that here offered an opulent spectacle. You will admire the Kaiser’s German fountain, the bronze Serpent Column of Delphi, the Egyptian Obelisk and the Walled Obelisk of Constantine VII.

The next monument is the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed or “Blue Mosque”. It is the most beautiful mosque of Istanbul, built upon the order of 20-year-old Sultan Ahmed I, whose grave lies inside the mosque.

Your next and last visit is the exotic Grand Bazaar. Turkey's largest covered market with 4000 shops offering excellent shopping as beautiful tiles, copper and brassware, apparel made of leather, cotton and wool, meerschaum pipes and all sorts of other things.

Redeem information
Voucher type: Printed
Printed Voucher. Print and bring the voucher to enjoy the activity.

Location
Start point:
Istanbul
Istanbul ports.
Outside the terminal building, by the exit gate.

End point: Same as the starting point

Schedule
Opening dates
08:00
Times are approximate
Start time depends on the guests' cruise arrival time.

Duration: 4 Hours

Guide options
Guide type: Guide
Group type: Private

Requirements
Please make sure you provide your ship details and telephone number.

Recommendations
Comfortable sports shoes, sunscreen, comfortable clothes, cap, glasses or sunglasses.