Istanbul Layover Tours — Attraction in Arnavutköy

I found myself with an overnight layover in Istanbul on my way home from two weeks overseas holiday, and was initially uncertain whether I would just relax at the hotel given I would be flying home from Istanbul the following morning and straight to work or if I should take the opportunity to try and see a little of Istanbul while there. Although I wasn't sure how much value there would be in taking a tour, given I arrived at the new Istanbul airport at around 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, I contacted Istanbul Layover Tours and they said they could arrange something. Overall I was very happy that I took that opportunity and with my experience with the company and my tour guide Latif. On arriving at Istanbul airport, it was a bit of a process to begin with - to look for my name at arrivals for the people who would usher me out to the driver who would take me into the old city where I would meet Latif and we would begin the tour proper, but that all went smoothly enough. The emails we had exchanged in organising the tour had indicated transfers in a Mercedes van, so some might have been aggrieved that it was actually a Ford van that took me into the city; but most importantly, the van was clean, well-presented and professionally driven. Perhaps the biggest downside of the new airport is that it about 40km driving from the old city, so there's about 2 hours of travel time. But that still gave plenty of time for Latif to show me around the old city, take the ferry across the Bosporus River over to the Asian side of Istanbul for dinner, and then back for a quick visit via the Galata Tower, before returning to the airport. Latif was very engaging and enthusiastic with his guiding and passing on knowledge of Istanbul. If anyone has a layover in Istanbul, I would highly...

Because of a confusion after landing with the airline staff, it took me a while to step out of the airport, at which point I was in a situation where I had to pay extra to get the transfer from the airport to city from this tour operator, which is fine. Since it took so long, I'd requested for a 30 minute stop at the hotel to freshen up, to which the driver agreed. When I stepped out of the hotel, the driver was gone, and only when I called Mr. Latif did they tell me the driver left and the guide also left and started blaming me for situation out of my control because of which there was a delay (Like how hard would it have been to just call and inform once?). I tried reasoning with him, at which point he was just short of yelling at me. With all the positive reviews, I just thought they'd be more accommodating when incidents outside the tourist's control happen, but clearly they didn't care for it and felt it was fine to just cancel the booking after I was dropped at the hotel and blame me.

It was perhaps the worst start to my layover tour. I did figure out a slightly more expensive option at the hotel and went ahead with that, but I wouldn't use this service again. I'm sure if one is able to avoid any unexpected issues regarding their baggage or something which can cause delays, then their services might be good based on the other reviews, but it didn't...

I had a 9-hour layover in Istanbul in August 2024 and after reaching out to a couple of tour companies, decided to go with Istanbul Layover Tours given the responsiveness and flexibility with working around my flight schedules. The other tour groups either told me that 9 hours was way too little time or charged obscene prices for transport to and from the airport.

It's worth noting that I am a solo female traveler and felt completely safe and taken care of during the tour. I was provided detailed instructions on where to store my luggage and where I should navigate to in the airport to meet up with my driver. The driver took me into the city, where he picked up my guide for the day, Latif. Latif was super knowledgeable about the history of Istanbul and was able to customize the tour based on what I liked (I told him food, so he definitely added more food stops throughout the day). We hit most of the top sights - Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, Grand Bazaar, Spice Market - and then ended the tour with a ferry from the European to the Asian side of Istanbul. The driver then picked me up and got me back to the airport 2 hours before my scheduled flight.

I would 100% recommend this company if you have a long layover in Istanbul. I had a fabulous time scratching the surface of Istanbul and would love to...