6 Days Istanbul City Tour: Old City, Bosphorus Cruise, Golden Horn & Galata Private Tour

Your representative welcomes you at Istanbul Airport and drives you to the hotel for check-in. The rest of the day is free: rest after the journey, take a first walk through the surrounding streets or sit down for a Turkish coffee in a neighbourhood café. Dinner is served in the evening and the night is spent in Istanbul.

After breakfast the guided city tour starts at the Hippodrome, once the arena for chariot races, where the Egyptian obelisk of Theodosius, the twisted bronze Serpentine Column and the walled Column of Constantine still stand. Facing Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque was completed in the early 17th century and takes its nickname from the blue Iznik tiles inside. Hagia Sophia, built in the 6th century under Justinian and for about a thousand years the largest church in the world, is viewed from the outside today, as are Topkapi Palace, home of the sultans with its treasury and sacred relics, and the Basilica Cistern, a vast underground reservoir roughly 140 by 70 metres. Entry tickets to Topkapi and the Cistern can be bought at the door if you wish to go in. Lunch is included, and after dinner at a restaurant you spend the night in Istanbul. Please bring a scarf for the mosque visits.

Pick-up is at 08:30 for a traditional boat trip along the strait that separates Europe from Asia. From the water you see wooden mansions, Dolmabahce Palace, the gardens and pavilions of Yildiz Palace, the marble front of Ciragan Palace, Ortakoy with its mosque, church and synagogue standing side by side, Rumeli Fortress raised in 1452 by Mehmet the Conqueror, and Beylerbeyi Palace on the Asian shore. Crossing the Bosphorus Bridge you pass from one continent to the other, then climb Camlica Hill, the highest point of the city, for a sweeping view from its Ottoman-style gardens. The afternoon is devoted to traditional crafts, with visits to a carpet weaving course, a jewellery and handicraft centre and a leather fashion show. Lunch and dinner are included, and the evening is yours.

After breakfast you drive to the Eyup district to visit Eyup Sultan Mosque and the tomb beside it, a place of pilgrimage that draws thousands of visitors every day. A cable car then carries you up to the Pierre Loti coffee house, set among trees on a hillside with a wide view over the Golden Horn. Your guide continues to Miniaturk, an open-air park where scale models of famous buildings from Istanbul, Anatolia and the former Ottoman lands are displayed side by side. Lunch and dinner are included before you return to your hotel for the night.

The day begins at Dolmabahce Palace, the 19th-century seat of the Ottoman sultans on the Bosphorus, where European baroque meets Ottoman taste in crystal chandeliers, sweeping staircases and richly decorated halls; the palace ticket is paid at the door. You then reach Taksim Square, the busy centre of modern Istanbul, and stroll along Istiklal Street, a pedestrian avenue of boutiques, cafés, historic arcades and street musicians. The tour ends at the 14th-century Galata Tower, admired from the outside, with an optional ticket if you would like to climb it. Lunch and dinner are included and you spend a final night in Istanbul.

Enjoy a buffet breakfast and check out of the hotel. You are then transferred to Istanbul Airport for your journey home, taking with you memories of six days spent between two continents.