İstanbul Guide Services — Local services in Fatih

We were lucky to have Rasim as our guide for 2 days, despite booking last minute. We would have missed so much of the city and its history without him. We had already toured the major sites with a pre-arranged tour of the city, so we toured the Istanbul Archeological Museum with him the first day and were delighted he was available the next day to guide us through the Kariye (Chora) museum and mosque, the city walls, and the Orthodox Church. In the Archeological museum, he turned what would have been a boring visit into such an amazing dive into the history, culture, myths and stories spanning more than 3,000 years as he explained tombs from Egypt, sculptures from Greece, coins from Rome and Turkey, etc. He pointed out the most important pieces in each part of the collection, how to tell Persian from Greek sculpture etc. Seeing 9 civilizations all in the Troy area was amazing. After the museum, he showed us the best place to get baklava and told us the best places to shop in the Spice Bazaar. The next day, he showed us the Kariye/Chora museum with great views of the city and then walked us through the incredible mosaics at the Kariye mosque. I would have missed the meaning/significance of 80% of the mosaics without his instruction. He then walked us to the Orthodox Church and showed us the important features both outside and inside the Church. He guided us to the restaurant that offered us the best meal we had in Istanbul and walked us to the tram so we could go back to our hotel. On the first day, he met us at the hotel, so we wouldn't get lost. We truly enjoyed our time with him and hope you will let him make your time in Istanbul as magical as...

You cannot possibly find a better guide in Istanbul than Rasim. We came across him by accident our first day in the city and it was the best break we got. He knows everything, is happy to explain it clearly and is very patient. He will also take you literally wherever you want to go, and importantly suggest but not impose where you maybe should not. But for us he was much more than just a guide. On my last day in Istanbul I was very sick. I asked him to please take my wife to the Grand Bazaar since I could not. He met her at the hotel and then took her there by train for the entire day. It doesn’t end there. My wife found an expensive ($3000) ring she desperately wanted at the Bazaar. I wanted to buy it for her for Christmas but obviously I wasn’t there to buy it, and I didn’t want her to know I would do it. So after we left Turkey I contacted Rasim - the only person I knew in Istanbul- and asked him to help me buy it. Rasim went to the store, twice, and helped me negotiate the deal, and helped ensure that the ring got back to me in the US. And he didn’t charge me a penny. When I return to Turkey I will be very excited to have him guide me anywhere he is willing to go. You should work with Rasim. You’ll be glad you did. Attached are some photos of Rasim describing things for us, some just walking in the street that we would...

I read a review of Rasim Terzi on either Cruise Critic or Trip Advisor, so I checked him out. His reviews were great, so I booked a full day with him in Instanbul for my husband and myself. What a fantastic day we had thanks to Rasim!! He is so knowledgeable and knows the ins and outs of getting you in to see what you want to see quickly. He didn't give us the "stock" tour. He took us where we wanted to go and added in some of his favorite little places. We told him we didn't want to waste time going to a carpet place, so he didn't take us to one. (Our friend's guide wasted 2 hours of their tour time taking them to a carpet place, even after they said they didn't want to go to one!) We ended the day at one of Rasim's favorite rooftop bars because my husband had mentioned that he likes beer. He walked us clear across town back to ship at the end of the day, even though we could have done it on our own. Just a great guy. Very knowledgeable about history, has an engaging way of educating you and really tailors the day to what you want to do. We learned so much!! Highly...