Exploring Istanbul

A large number of our guests spend time in Istanbul before or after their tour, and so many of them ask us to recommend hotels to stay in, restaurants to eat in, sites to see, and local guides to bring the city to life, that we thought it was high time for us to use our extensive knowledge and contacts to create the definitive tour of this vibrant and exotic city.

It’s hard not to speak in superlatives when describing this epic cradle of civilisation. No other city in the world has been besieged so many times, so greatly was it coveted by peoples outside of its walls. Not just age old, and, like no other city on earth sat astride two continents; during its time as capital of the Ottoman Empire it was the most multicultural city in Europe, on whose streets more than a dozen languages were spoken, from Italian to Persian, Greek to Arabic.

From its roots as Byzantion, a small Greek town on the Bosphorus, via its reincarnation as Constantinople, opulent centre of the Byzantine Empire, to the teeming capital of the Ottoman Empire, this city utilised its mercantile dominance over the narrow waterway that connects the Mediterranean and Black Sea to grow wealthy and enhance its political strength. These succeeding cultures have liberally endowed the city with beautiful symbols of imperial power, from its imposing fortifications to its serene places of worship.

On this tour you will see such world-famous sites as Topkapi Palace, Haghia Sofia and the Blue Mosque through expert eyes, and compare them with some seldom-visited wonders that only the true connoisseurs of the city ever visit. We sample some of the best food that Istanbul has to offer, from the long-established cornerstones of Istanbul-cuisine to traditional local eateries that have raised the simplest of local dishes to a culinary art form. This is a tour that allows you to immerse yourself in a city that has been shaped and moulded by some of the key cultures of the western and eastern worlds for over 3000 years.