All in One Day Istanbul - Historical Tour of Istanbul with Bosphorus Cruise
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About This Tour in Istanbul
Why Visit Istanbul?
Istanbul is a fascinating city straddling Europe and Asia, rich in history and culture. Visit the Hagia Sophia, explore the Grand Bazaar, and cruise the Bosphorus. Istanbul offers stunning architecture, incredible cuisine, and a unique cultural blend.
Getting to Istanbul
The easiest way to reach Istanbul is by flying into Istanbul Airport (IST) or Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW). The city offers various transportation options including taxis, public transit, and private transfers to help you reach your destination. Many hotels can arrange airport transfers, and local transportation options vary by location.
What's Included
- Cookies including baklava Served during the sunset cruise on the Bosphorus
- Two-course delicious lunch at a rooftop restaurant with sea views
- Fresh Season Fruits served during the sunset cruise on the Bosphorus
- Professional tour guide in English
- 2.5-Hours Bosphorus Cruise on Luxury Yacht
What's Not Included
- Museum Entrance Tickets
- Entrance ticket fee for Hagia Sophia (25 euro per person) Fast-track tickets are available on site.
- Topkapi Palace - Fast-track tickets are available on site.
Cancellation Policy
Additional Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Topkapi Palace is closed on Tuesdays, we visit Dolmabahce Palace on Tuesdays.
- The old city, Sultanahmet is closed for car traffic, travelers visit the sights by walking. There is quite a lot of walkings, so please wear comfortable shoes and get ready for a long walking day right before a very enjoyable luxury yacht cruise.
- The sunset cruise ends at 21.00 from 01st May to end of July.
- The tour guide will contact you one day before to coordinate the hotels pick services (if your hotel is in the city center) or the meeting point.
- The Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays and it may be replaced with Spice Bazaar or Arasta Bazaar
- Ladies are recommended to bring scarfs to use while visiting the Blue Mosque
- Museum tickets are not included, the tour guide can provide fast-track musem entry tickets on the tour.
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Meeting and Pickup
Meeting Point
The Hippodrome of ConstantinopleWe can meet you right in front of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts between 08.45 and 09.00 am
End Point
The Galata Tower — called Christea Turris by the Genoese —The cruise part will end in Kabataş Pier
Pickup Information
Pickup Option: Pickup available or meet at start point
Pickup Time: 45 minutes before departure
Itinerary
Tour Itinerary
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that... 15 minutes
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with a few fragments of the original structure surviving.
The German Fountain is a gazebo styled fountain... 5 minutes
The German Fountain is a gazebo styled fountain in the northern end of old hippodrome, Istanbul, Turkey and across from the Mausoleum of Sultan Ahmed I. It was constructed to commemorate the second anniversary of German Emperor Wilhelm II's visit to Istanbul in 1898.
The Walled Obelisk, Constantine Obelisk or Masonry Obelisk... 5 minutes
The Walled Obelisk, Constantine Obelisk or Masonry Obelisk is situated near the Serpentine Column at the southern side of the Hippodrome of Constantinople in Istanbul, Turkey. Its original construction date is unknown, but it is named after Constantine VII, who repaired it in the tenth century.
The Obelisk of Theodosius is the Ancient Egyptian... 5 minutes
The Obelisk of Theodosius is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD
Sultan Ahmed Mosque is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey 45 minutes
Sultan Ahmed Mosque is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It remains a functioning mosque, while also attracting large numbers of tourist visitors. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah and a hospice.
Hagia Sophia is the former Greek Orthodox Christian... 45 minutes
Hagia Sophia is the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, later an Ottoman imperial mosque and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Built in AD 360 at the beginning of the Middle Ages, it was famous in particular for its massive dome.
The Topkapı Palace, or the Seraglio, is a large museum in Istanbul, Turkey 1 hour 30 minutes
The Topkapı Palace, or the Seraglio, is a large museum in Istanbul, Turkey. In the 15th century, it served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans. Construction began in 1459, ordered by Mehmed the Conqueror, six years after the conquest of Constantinople.
Dolmabahce Palace stands on the European shore of...
Dolmabahce Palace stands on the European shore of the Bosphorus and the with its various dependencies forms almost a little town, its gardens extending for a mile or more along the water's edge.
The Grand Bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı), built in the... 1 hour
The Grand Bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı), built in the 15th century, is the oldest covered market in the world. Covering an area of 54.653 square meters, it also still ranks as one of the world’s biggest covered markets. In other words, keep on reading if you want to be prepared before entering this maze of 56 interconnecting vaulted passages, housing over 4.000 shops with persistent shopkeepers eager to use their relentless sales tricks.
Istanbul is a bridge between Europe and Asia,... 2 hours 30 minutes
Istanbul is a bridge between Europe and Asia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, a position that endows it with one of the most unique and beautiful settings in the world. For, between the hills on the European and Asiatic shores flows the Bosphorus, the brightest gem in the diadem of nature. "This beautiful strait, sometimes spelled Bosporus and sometimes Bosphorus, was so called from the earliest ages by the ancients; from the mythology of 10, the mistress of Jupiter, having passed over it in the shape of a cow. It resembles the Dardanelles, in length, breadth and current, and like it, is a narrow separation which divides Europe from Asia; but it has many features familiar to itself. Instead of being a solitary stream running between deserted shores, it is a body of water full of life and animation, winding its way through banks covered with palaces and villages, shaded with magnificent forest trees, presenting to the eye, at every mile, a new scene of crowded existence."
At the narrowest point of the Bosphorus stands...
At the narrowest point of the Bosphorus stands the Rumelihisarr Fortress, built by Sultan Mehmet, the Conqueror on the European shore. The Sultan himself on the 26th day of March 1452 laid the foundation stone of the Fortress with a view to controlling the passage of the ships through the Bosphorus and using it as a base for his attack on the city.
Ortaköy Mosque, officially the Büyük Mecidiye Camii in...
Ortaköy Mosque, officially the Büyük Mecidiye Camii in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, is situated at the waterside of the Ortaköy pier square, one of the most popular locations on the Bosphorus.
Which was inaugurated on October 29, 1973 on...
Which was inaugurated on October 29, 1973 on the fiftieth anniversary of the Turkish Republic, has the longest span in Europe and the fourth in the world. This suspension bridge has a total length of 1560 metres (1706 yards) and a width of 33.4 metres (110ft).
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also known as...
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge, is a bridge in Istanbul, Turkey spanning the Bosphorus strait. When completed in 1988, it was the 5th-longest suspension bridge span in the world; today it is the 24th.
Situated on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus...
Situated on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus between the villages of Kuzguncuk and Cengelköy, the palace was built by Sultan Abdülaziz in 1865. Beylerbeyi Palace seen from the Bosphorus floats like a white vision in a fairy tale. It is the most extravagant royal house of the 19th Century on which millions were spent.
About 180 metres away from the shores of...
About 180 metres away from the shores of Üsküdar stands this tower which bears two different names. Europeans who named it the Leander's Tower thought that it was here where Leander was drowned while attempting to swim the Bosphorus to reach his beloved Hero, the priestess of Aphrodite. But, in fact, Leander never crossed here even in the legend which refers to the Hellespont, Dardanelles.
The summer Palace of Kucuksu, sometimes called the...
The summer Palace of Kucuksu, sometimes called the Palace of Göksu, is situated between the villages of Anadoluhisan and Kandilli on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus.
On the opposite bank stands the Anadoluhisari Fortress by the Göksu stream
On the opposite bank stands the Anadoluhisari Fortress by the Göksu stream. This romantic castle which adorns the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus was built in 1395 by Sultan Bayazit, the Thunderbolt and named as "Güzelcehisar". Later it was extended by Mehmet, the Conqueror. Today, as the first possession of Turks on the Bosphorus, it serves as the landmark of Turkish rule.
GOLDEN HORN The Golden Horn, also known by its...
GOLDEN HORN The Golden Horn, also known by its modern Turkish name, Haliç, is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Bosphorus has an inlet, a natural harbor... 2 hours 30 minutes
The Bosphorus has an inlet, a natural harbor which is an arm of the Sea of Marmara, called the Golden Horn. It is a deeply drowned valley about 7 km long. Two streams, Ali Bey and Kagithane flow into the Golden Horn which was so named as the early inhabitants saw it as shaped like the horns of a stag or water buffalo. Turks call it the Halic, i.e. the Gulf. The Bosphorus itself has two pleasant rivulets on its Asiatic shore, called Göksu and Kucuksu which empty themselves into the Bosphorus between the villages of Anadoluhisari and Kandilli. The two streams flowing into the Golden Horn were named by foreigners as the Sweet Waters of Europe, while Göksu and Kucuksu were known as the Sweet Waters of Asia.
Golden Horn, Istanbul, Turkey As the sun sets in... 15 minutes
Golden Horn, Istanbul, Turkey As the sun sets in Istanbul, its yellow light blazes on the waters of the Golden Horn, giving this freshwater estuary its romantic name…we think. (The name in English is a direct translation of the Byzantine name Chrysokeras.) “Golden Horn” is its Western name. Its Turkish name, Haliç, (hah-LEECH, from Arabic) has nothing to do with gold or horns. Haliç, short for Haliç-i Dersaadet, means “The Bay of Istanbul.”
The Galata Tower — called Christea Turris by...
The Galata Tower — called Christea Turris by the Genoese — is a medieval stone tower in the Galata/Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, just to the north of the Golden Horn's junction with the Bosphorus.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cancellation policy?
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
How do I book this tour?
Click the "Book Now" button on this page to complete your reservation through Viator's secure booking platform. You'll receive instant confirmation via email.
Is this tour suitable for all ages?
Please check the age requirements and physical fitness level requirements listed in the tour details above. Some tours may have age restrictions or require a certain level of physical fitness.
