Experience Art & Culture tours in the best of
Istanbul with Withlocals

"Our tour of Jewish heritage sites in Istanbul with Kadir was outstanding. He clearly loves this city and knows so much about its complicated history. He is warm and welcoming and took us to fascinating neighborhoods and historic sites. We learned so much and visited places we could not have entered on our own. And he showed us one of Istanbul’s best kept secrets: a rooftop with the most amazing view of the city and surrounding waterways. We would strongly recommend a tour with Kadir."

"Fantastic introduction to Istanbul, the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market. We throughly enjoyed Mine’s curated approach to an otherwise overwhelming market and vendors. It was the perfect balance of history and entertainment. "

"We we loved Mine! She was extremely well organised and customised our tour of the grand Bazaar to our interests but, at the same time, showed us other shops of interest that we would never have found without her local expertise. Mine was extremely knowledgeable about Turkish history and culture and provided local and personal insights which gave us a much better understanding of Turkish people and their culture and history. She was mindful that we had an older person in our group and ensured we toured at the right pace for everybody and checked in regularly to make sure we were happy, comfortable and were getting what we wanted out of our private tour with her. I would highly recommend Mine for tours of the grand bazaar and the other tours she hosts in Istanbul. She is friendly, charming, knowledgeable and kind. "

"We had a great 3.5 hour tour with Mine around the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market, plus the surrounding areas. Mine adds so much value with her cultural and historical knowledge, plus she introduced us to people working in the bazaar and markets who shared their knowledge and entertained us too. Mine is warm and funny, speaks great English, and we highly recommend her -- your trip to Istanbul will be genuinely enriched by the experience."

"We spent a wonderful afternoon with Cengiz exploring Topkapi Palace! From the start he was a great communicator and kept my 10 year old son involved as well. The palace was amazing but Cengiz truly helped to bring it to life for us. I would highly recommend!"

"I can't begin to write enough good things about Kadir! We do a lot of Jewish heritage tourism, and Kadir knows so much about the Jewish history of Istanbul and Turkey, but he knows just as much about everything and everybody in Istanbul. I think he knows all 20,000,000 residents of Istanbul, and if he doesn't, he sure acts like he does! His gregariousness provided us with many off-the-beaten-track experiences with a Muslim calligrapher, the "godfather" of Turkish coffee and lemonade and so much more. Istanbul is a difficult city to get around in because of its age and density. Trying to find some of the sites he took us to would be impossible for a tourist with only a smart phone. But with Kadir, around every corner was another wonderful site, an interesting story (have you ever heard of the Camondo family?) and of course, another place to get a great deal on souvenirs. (Don't deny it...you know that's important when you travel!) Just as important, Kadir loves to learn from his customers. My wife is a Jewish educator and did some translation of markers around the city, which Kadir appreciated in a true spirit of learning and adventure. If you pass up an opportunity to see Istanbul with Kadir, you are going to miss the real Istanbul."

"Alp not only showed us some of the best street art in the area, but also shared some history and made sure we were hydrated with fresh juice and coffee along the way!"

"Phenomenal experience! Mine was super knowledgeable and was able to tailor the tour to keep the kids attention (10/8/6). We had a blast and have already recommended her to family visiting Istanbul very soon"

"Mine ("Meeneh") extremely warm, friendly and knowledgeable and customized our tour to highlight things we were most interested in. She was gracious, kind and patient, and spoke English quite clearly albeit sometimes a little too fast for us, given that some of the information was too unfamiliar for us. We recommend her highly!"

"We had the best tour with Alp - he kept a diverse group engaged and had a huge knowledge of food and street art in Kadikoy. He was also very generous in helping us work out the ferry, and altering restaurant reservations. Alp is friendly and smart, structuring a tour with the right amount of breaks/ food for kids and content for adults. Recommended without hesitation! "