ROBIOS TOURS TURKIYE-ISTANBUL-CAPPADOCIA (Istanbul old city Tours, Private Guided Cappadocia Tours, Turkey Package tours) — Local services in Fatih

I’ll start with the conclusion - I enthusiastically recommend Nesime Tanış as a guide for a visit to Istanbul. She was personable and professional. I could tell that she genuinely wants her clients to be happy with her work. Now here is the rest of the story:

My wife and I were recently on a cruise that stopped for a half day in Istanbul. We do extensive research for the cruise ports we visit to determine if we should go on a ship excursion, set up an excursion with a local tour guide, or go off on our own. We decided to hire a local guide based on the attractions we wished to see. We made the right choice!

Nesime met us at Sultanahmet Square early on Friday morning (It is easy to travel from the Galataport to Sultanahmet by Tram). Both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia were closed to tourists at that time since that is when they are used for prayer services. However, we walked around the Hippodrome area, learned some interesting history, and got to take some amazing photos of the mosques from locations identified by Nesime. We then walked to Topkapı Palace. One of the real advantages of going with a tour guide is “skipping the line” for tickets to the attractions. That can save much time in a city like Istanbul. Topkapi is a large palace with many rooms and artifacts. It would take a couple hours to see everything. Nesime made sure we got to the most important areas in the time we had and provided us with pertinent facts about the things we were seeing. We also got to stop for coffee and a restroom to recharge before moving on.

For our lunch stop we requested a place with authentic cuisine. Nesime took us to the “World Famous Pudding Shop.” We really enjoyed that!

The only negative for the day was a stop at a carpet shop located on the way to the Grand Bazaar. It started as a demonstration of how carpets were made by hand but turned out to be 30 minutes of someone trying to sell us an expensive carpet. We then stopped at an establishment selling Turkish Delights. That was fine since that was something we were interested in. We’ve been on many excursions over the years and understand the incentive for tour guides to make stops such as these. Be sure to talk to Nesime before the tour to make sure she knows what shopping you might like and what would be a waste of your limited time in this amazing city. I am confident that she will abide by your requests.

Our final stop for the day was the Grand Bazaar. With 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops we were glad to have Nesime with us. It is easy to get lost in this place if you are wandering around on your own! As a bonus, before heading back to the ship we did get to see the inside of a mosque located near the Grand Bazaar.

Thank you, Nesime, for helping us have a wonderful visit in your...

Our journey with Nesie began in 2012 when we first met her as a relatively new tour guide in Istanbul. It was our first visit to Turkey, and she provided us with an unforgettable walking tour. Fast forward to 2024, and we were fortunate enough to reconnect with her for our return trip. This time, she had established Robios Tours, which could manage an array of our travel needs—from day tours to shuttle vans, hotels, and more. They were FANTASTIC!

Expertise: While we had a general idea of what we wanted, Nesie helped us craft a memorable trip for our group of six. We also gained incredible insights from Nesie in Istanbul and Kerim in Cappadocia. Their knowledge of Turkey is truly remarkable. Dependability: Everything Nesie arranged for us went off without a hitch. Shuttles were punctual, and our hotel rooms were ready upon arrival.

Flexibility: During the planning phase, Nesie respected our budget and preferences, never pushing us into a cookie-cutter plan. She also effortlessly handled a last-minute change in Istanbul. Friendliness: Both Nesie and Kerim were warm and engaging, making a real difference to our group. They felt more like friends than hired guides.

Having used guides and tour agencies across Europe, Latin America, and Asia, we can confidently say Robios Travel is at the very top. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND them to anyone looking to...

We had the pleasure of having Ipek show us the highlights of Istanbul and she was terrific. I believe that Istanbul can take up to a week to see all of the greatness that it has to offer, unfortunately we only had a few hours. Ipek was able to take our few hours and show us the best of the best. She consistently analyzed the timing of the line-ups and amended our scheduled tour when required. Within 6 hours we were able to visit the Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, and more, we even got to eat at a local restaurant, drink Turkish coffee and she was able to do a couple of teacup readings. She was incredible - her level of knowledge, her appreciation of the land, and her love of her job made it so much better. Though we had limited time, she never sacrificed any useful highlights or information. She was very thorough and informative. I would like to thank Robios - Ipek and Nemise from the bottom of my heart. My original tour guide cancelled 2 days prior to the tour date while I was on a cruise, Robios stepped in and accepted the challenge of a full day 8 people tour with...