5 Days Accessible Istanbul Tour: Hagia Sophia, Topkapi & Bosphorus Cruise Private Tour

Your journey begins at Istanbul Airport, where a representative greets you and accompanies you to your vehicle for the transfer into the city. After the drive you check in at your hotel and can settle in at your own pace, rest after the flight and get your bearings in the neighbourhood. No sightseeing is scheduled today, so the evening is yours to relax. If you would like to add an evening of culture, a whirling dervish performance in a restored historic hammam can be arranged as an optional extra, but it is not part of the included programme. Overnight in Istanbul.

After breakfast, your guide leads the classic old-city tour. First stop is the Hippodrome, the Roman and Byzantine arena once filled with chariot races, where the Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius, the Walled Obelisk and the bronze Serpentine Column still stand. Next comes Hagia Sophia, the great domed church completed under Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, with ramps at its entrance. You then visit the Blue Mosque, built in the early seventeenth century and named for its blue Iznik tile interior; a ramp serves the northwest entrance, and wheelchair users change into a staff-provided chair on the hand-woven carpet. A lunch break follows near the mosque, at your own expense. In the afternoon you tour Topkapi Palace, home of the Ottoman sultans and now a museum of imperial jewels, porcelain, armour and weapons, with step-free entrances to some sections. Please carry a scarf for the mosque visits. Overnight in Istanbul.

Leave the hotel at around 08:30 for a traditional boat excursion along the strait that divides Europe from Asia. Ramps at the boat entrance make boarding straightforward, and an audio guide is offered in many languages. From the deck you watch old wooden waterfront mansions, marble palaces, fortresses and fishing villages slide past. Highlights seen from the water include Dolmabahce Palace with its long marble facade, the parks and pavilions of Yildiz Palace, Ciragan Palace, the lively waterfront of Ortakoy, Rumeli Fortress, raised by Mehmed the Conqueror in 1452 and finished in only four months, and Beylerbeyi Palace, a summer residence of the sultans. The day continues with a shopping stop at the Grand Spice Bazaar, a market of exotic spices and herbs, Turkish delight, baklava, Turkish coffee, nuts and dried fruit. Overnight in Istanbul.

After breakfast, you descend to the Basilica Cistern, one of the city's most atmospheric Byzantine structures. Commissioned by Emperor Justinian I in the sixth century, this vast underground reservoir is also called Yerebatan, meaning the sunken palace, because of the forest of marble columns rising from the water. Wheelchair users will find a lift to the viewing platform, and the visitor area is laid out to be accessible. In the afternoon the group drives to Aquarium Istanbul, a large complex of about 17,000 square metres that is home to roughly 1,500 different sea creatures. Open since 2011, it presents seventeen themed zones plus an Amazon rainforest section, making for an easy, entertaining finish to the sightseeing and a pleasant change of pace after the historic monuments of the previous days. Overnight in Istanbul.

Enjoy a final breakfast at the hotel and check out. Your tour ends today, and the programme includes the return transfer to the airport so you can head home without worrying about transport. We hope the days in Istanbul leave you with memorable photographs and a wish to return, perhaps to explore other regions of Turkey on a future trip. Take a moment before leaving to pack your souvenirs from the Spice Bazaar safely, and keep your travel documents at hand for the drive. Have a safe journey back.