I had an amazing experience with Istanbul Layover Tours from start to finish! I am from the USA, vacationed in Greece, and flew Turkish Air. I had a 15 hour overnight layover in Istanbul and decided to do a morning layover tour in Istanbul. It was one of the smartest ideas I had! Because it was an overnight layover, it was logistically complicated to make this work. However, I communicate with Latif over email and WhatsApp and we were able to figure things out. My flight arrived from Greece into Istanbul at 11:30pm. By the time I made it through passport control and customs, it was already past midnight. The arranged transfer was there to meet us as scheduled. The meet & greet was a bit sketchy, since you are handed off to multiple handlers who only speak broken English, until they put you into a van that just takes you away. It worked flawlessly, but happening in the middle of the night in a foreign country did make me feel a little nervous. I chose a hotel that was by Galata Tower, which is also near the city center, and was dropped off there. There were issues with the hotel, but that has nothing to do with Istanbul Layover Tours. I was able to get 3 hours of sleep, which was necessary for the events of the next day. Istanbul Layover Tour picked us up from the hotel at 7:00am and drove us to the city center. This is where I met Latif in-person for the first time. We only had 4 hours with Latif, but he made good use of every minute. The tour started off with a traditional breakfast, which included morning chai tea. Then I was able to see Constantine's Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, and the Grand Bizarre. Since it was a private tour, it was only my girlfriend, me, and Latif. So we were able to just go-go-go. You should know that the price you pay for the tour does not include breakfast or tickets to the Basilica Cistern (450 Turkish Lira). Latif is the perfect tour guide. He is capable of reading his customers and customizing the tour to meet their needs. He asked if we were into food, shopping, or sight-seeing. We told him sight-seeing, so he showed us as much as he could in 4 hours. He also offered to take our picture everywhere we went. So we have really nice pictures, rather than a bunch of selfies. Latif is also full of knowledge. He expertly knew the order we needed to do things so that we could spend the least amount of time waiting in lines and more time seeing things. He also was able to explain everything that we saw and answered all of our questions in perfect English. And he made sure we were in a van headed back to the airport at 11:00am sharp so we did not miss our flight home. It is about a 1 hour drive from the city center to the airport. So we arrived back with roughly 2 hours and a half to make it back through security, which was plenty of time. For an itinerary so complicated, Istanbul Layover Tours made everything run incredibly smooth.

Taylan was the best! He knew his stuff and was so engaging. He definitely went way beyond just a tourist, surface presentation. And he loves the subject matter - I could feel his passion for the titles and patterns. The drivers and greeter were great as well. It was all flawless and exactly on time as well. I am very glad to have taken this tour. 10/10.

I had a layover for 7.5 hours and took a tour for roughly 2 hours. It was an absolutely amazing experience! My tour guide (Kay) was wonderful!

My husband and I had an early morning layover in Istanbul on our way back from our honeymoon in the Maldives. We wanted to make the most of our time in the city and decided to book a private layover tour with Istanbul Layover Tours. We were thrilled to find out that we could start our day exploring the city before the crowds arrived. Our guide, Alp, was fantastic – he was very knowledgeable and passionate about Istanbul’s history and culture, and made the tour so enjoyable and informative. We visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, and the Grand Bazaar, and Alp gave us a great overview of each place. He even took us to a local cafe for a delicious Turkish breakfast, which was a great way to start our day. We were impressed with how much we were able to see and do in just a few hours. Alp was also very accommodating to our flight schedule, making sure we got back to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Overall, we had a wonderful experience with Istanbul Layover Tours and would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a personalized and informative layover tour with the added benefit of breakfast and an early pick-up

OZ! He’s the best. He was able to tailor our morning tour to our preference. he brought us to best spots for local food which we really loved! He also has very thorough expertise of the places’ history— we learned a lot. We definitely enjoyed this tour. Well worth it. We are already planning to come back! THANK YOU OZGUR!