Tour di mezza giornata di Istanbul imperiale: Hagia Sophia, Cisterna Basilica e Gran Bazar

Had trouble contacting guide. Was told we needed to contact to organise hotel pick up. We got motel to ring and suppose to ring us back but never did. Motel rang again on day of activity and after getting recording up until 9.30 am (supppose to open at 9 am) finally told they would pick us up. Actual tour of sophia basilica and the cistern was good. However, did NOT appreciate wasting time/unscheduled half hour 'carpet rug' sales pitch. We were hoping for bit of a refreshment stop and told we were, only to have to sit through a sales pitch from local rug trader and only offered tea of coffee (I was dying for cold drink), This was then followed by rush through the bazaar and were almost subjected to another sales pitch by some local china bowl trader but we 'pulled the plug' and said we had had enough. Guide was informative and enjoyed the cistern and sophia hagia, bazaar was rushed and whole thing only took about 3-4 hours (at our request though as didnt want another sales pitch). Found this very annoying and not to viator standards, dont mind even 10 mins of trader promotion but to spend half hour or more was very annnoying, and we needed a proper refreshment stop.

It was a good tour the guide was informative. The historical references and the magnificent architecture at Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern leaves you spellbound. Good to book with a definite skip-the-lines experience. Long queues mostly at these popular monuments. Sadly, Grand Bazaar was closed being Sunday, however, the guide took us to the spice bazaar, more commonly called an Egyptian Bazaar.

The guide was unhappy having only the two of us (not my fault). The tour was done in 2 hours instead of 4. I am sure he was knowledgeable but didn’t bother to till us anything if we don’t ask. Hagia Sofia was done in less than 25 minutes and it was the main reason I booked this tour. Not worth the m

The guide was very knowledgeable in history of the sites and provided time for pictures. FYI - there is an option on this tour to see Turkish carpet manufacturing. Please note that there is not much direction inside the Grand Bazaar - the guide simply drops the group at one of the 20 gates and you are on your own in that maze of 4500 shops. Watch out for your belongings.

A great guide and a special tour

The tour was extremely well organised . The guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. This tour is highly recommended.

A really good tour. Guide informative, efficient and helpful.

Mixed review of the tour. It was extremely helpful to be able to skip all of the lines at the locations of our half-day Istanbul Tour, especially because it was raining the day of our tour. The tour guide was fairly knowledgeable, however, we could have received a bit more information, especially at the Grand Bazaar. Also, some information we were given on the tour has proven to be false. There, we were just delivered to the location and set free, without any explanation of its history. There was not much time for questions, and at each location, instead of guiding us through with accompanying information, the guide simply gave a quick explanation at the entrance and set us free after designating a meeting point. Also, in the middle of the tour, we stopped at a traditional turkish carpet-weaving demonstration, which started out interestingly, but then turned into a lengthy and fairly uncomfortable sales pitch. As students, we are clearly not in the position to be considering a purchase of a 50,000 rug. I would not doubt if the tour organization has some sort of agreement with the carpet company. It was disheartening that we spent more time in this sales pitch approx. an hour than the Basilica Cistern 15-20 mins and the Hagia Sophia 30-40 mins. Considering the minimal entrance fees that were waived with the tour, but the ease of skipping the lines, it is debatable whether the tour gives you enough bang for your buck.

Great way to visit all the important historical sites of Istanbul! We were picked up from our hotel in a nice minibus and taken to meet the group who were on the full day tour. Tour guide was very knowledgeable. Make sure you each lunch before the tour begins, otherwise when you arrive at the Grand Bazaar there are plenty of places to grab a doner.

The Hagia Sophia is an absolute must see and going with a tour means avoiding the long lineups. The Basillica Cistern was also worth a view. However those are the only good things I can say about this tour. Our tour started quite a bit later than planned and our guide did not seem very enthusiastic about his work. He would give the group a short preamble before each site and then send us to wander on our own while he would wait for us at the exit. We also found out that the Grand Bazaar was closed due to a High Holiday and he led us to believe that he was taking us, instead, to see a second Cistern. In fact we ended up herded into a carpet shop where we were given a short demonstration of carpet making which was then to be followed-up by a major sales pitch. Many of us in the group felt conned. Three of us managed to escape and go instead to a local restaurant to grab a beer and some much need laughs. We did have to give up the free drive home, that was offered as part of our package, but not one of us regretted getting away. The Half Day Imperial Tour could have been very, very good, under different circumstances, but this particular day was not worth the money!