5-Day Istanbul Sightseeing Tour with Bosphorus Cruise and Bazaars

After your landing at Atatürk Airport, your Turkish guide will meet you at the airport.

You will be transferred to your hotel. Check in and spend the rest of the day at leisure.

As an optional activity, you can enjoy a half-day tour to Istanbul Forum for the Aquarium and Magic Ice tour. This is one of the most famous and largest aquariums, located in an area of over 8,000 square meters. There are more than 29 live exhibits here with over 10,000 sea creatures, 80 underwater tunnels, and 270-degree panoramic rooms, with opportunities to dive with sharks or go snorkelling.

After that, we will visit the Magic Ice Museum.

Late in the afternoon, return to your hotel.

After breakfast, meet your guide in the lobby for a full-day Bosphorus Cruise and Asia Tour. Cruise on a private boat through the waterway separating the two continents, Asia and Europe, with the chance to take photographs of marble palaces, ancient wooden villas of Ottoman architecture, and modern residential and luxury apartments. You can also see Rumeli Fortress, built to protect the Bosphorus (no interior visit).

After lunch, drive over the Bosphorus to see Çamlıca Hill. This is one of the highest points in the city, where you can overlook Istanbul and take beautiful pictures.

Have lunch in a nice Turkish restaurant.

See the Rüstem Paşa Mosque, built between 1550 and 1561 by Rüstem Pasha, Grand Vizier and son-in-law of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Its architect was Sinan, the great imperial architect who also built Süleyman's Mosque nearby.

We will drive to Eminönü to visit the aromatic Spice Bazaar, where the smells of cinnamon, cloves, and thyme rise from hundreds of colourful muslin bags at every storefront.

In the late afternoon, you will be transferred to your hotel for an overnight stay. Optional evening programme: Turkish Night.

Following our return to the hotel for a quick rest and change, maybe we will enjoy the 1001 Night of Istanbul with dinner, live music, and a spectacular show by belly dancers and Anatolian folklore groups.

After breakfast, meet your Turkish guide in the hotel lobby. The first step will be to the Old City, visiting the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, and Saint Sophia.

The next visit will be the spectacular Topkapı Palace. Built on one of the seven hills of İstanbul, this huge complex commands views of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus, and the Golden Horn. It was the seat of government for the Ottoman Empire for many centuries (1453 - 1852).

After lunch, the last stop will be the Grand Bazaar, the most attractive shopping centre and the biggest souk in the world, with nearly 4,000 shops selling antiques, jewellery, gold, carpets, and leatherwear.

Transfer back to your hotel in Istanbul.

After breakfast, spend the day at leisure.

You can enjoy and explore the city on your own, or take a different daily excursion tour with the guide.

After breakfast, meet your guide at the reception.

Check out and proceed to Atatürk Airport. We wish and hope that you had a pleasurable Istanbul holiday and hope to see you again.