Old Town Walking Tour
Discover the Old City in an exciting 2.5-hour walking tour with an official guide, where the rich history of Istanbul comes to life. Gain a deeper understanding of Turkey’s heritage, Islamic culture, and the fascinating stories behind landmarks like the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. This tour will enrich your experience, making your visit to these iconic sites even more memorable.
Departure: 10 Am ( Duration: 2.5 hrs )
Availability: Everyday in English
Meeting Point: Pudding Shop Lale Restaurant, Divanyolu Caddesi No.6 34400, Sultanahmet, Istanbul. For further explanation perhaps use the Sultanahmet tram stop as a reference. The restaurant is located on the street where the tram lines run through Sultanahmet, an approximately 1-minute walk from the Sultanahmet tram stop. Our guides will be waiting with a yellow umbrella. Google Map Link
Tour Price:
We kindly ask for a minimum contribution of 10 Euros or 400 TL per person to help cover our services. This fee supports booking costs, Google advertisements, organizational expenses, and, most importantly, the expertise of our licensed tour guides.
Our guides are highly trained professionals who have completed an intensive four-year study program and work full-time to provide you with the best possible experience. Given Turkey’s high inflation rate, we truly appreciate your support in ensuring fair compensation for their knowledge and dedication. Thank you for your understanding—we can’t wait to share this unforgettable cultural journey with you!
What is included:
Guiding by an official tour guide
Sampling Turkish delights with a fruit tea
Please Note:
- Booking is required to receive updates and reserve your spot.
- This tour does not include interior visits to major sites, as most require an entry fee. While we aim to visit the inside of the Blue Mosque, if the line is too long, we’ll take you to an alternative mosque to ensure you still have a meaningful experience. If you like to have inner visit, you can check; Top sites tour in Small group
- On Fridays, some mosques may be closed or have earlier closing hours due to prayer times. However, we will still make an effort to visit the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, depending on the schedule.
After meeting with your guide you will cover the sites below and the tour will end out of the Grand Bazaar.
- German Fountain: Our tour will begin at the German Fountain, a symbol of the friendship between Turkey and Germany, which later played a key role in their alliance during World War I. This monument serves as a gateway to exploring Turkey’s rich history and its significant connections to the past.
- Blue Mosque: During our tours, we aim to visit a mosque to explore and discuss Islam. If the line at the Blue Mosque is short, we’ll happily go inside. However, as our tours last 2.5 hours, we prefer to make the most of our time rather than waiting in a long line. If the wait is too long, we’ll visit another mosque instead. Please note that the Blue Mosque is closed on Fridays, but we’ll ensure to visit another beautiful mosque for you to enjoy!
- Hagia Sophia from outside; As the site requires an entry fee of 25 Euros per person, our guide will share its fascinating history and significance. This way, if you choose to visit later, you’ll have a deeper appreciation for its beauty and meaning, thanks to the insights provided during the tour.
- Sultan’ Cemetery: Except on Mondays, we will visit the cemetery of important figures from the Ottoman Empire, including the Sultan’s tombs. Along the way, we’ll explore the shifts from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey, with a focus on burial customs and how they’ve evolved over time.
- Constantine Column: We’ll visit the Column of Constantine the Great, once at the heart of the ancient forum and the endpoint of key trade routes. This will help us understand how Istanbul played a central role in shaping its economy through trade.
- Nuru Osmaniye Mosque: If we’re unable to enter the Blue Mosque due to long lines, we’ll visit an 18th-century mosque instead. We’ll go inside and take the opportunity to learn more about the Islamic faith and its significance.
- Grand Bazaar: We’ll begin by exploring the Grand Bazaar, starting with the areas where locals frequent before moving on to the more tourist-focused sections. After a brief tour inside, we’ll step outside where your guide will share helpful tips on haggling and suggest other nearby bazaars to explore. At this point, you can choose to leave or join your guide for a short five-minute walk to enjoy a complimentary tasting of Turkish Delight paired with fruit tea.
Sampling Turkish Delights With Tea: This is not a shopping stop—there will be no sales pitches. Instead, you’ll enjoy a peaceful atmosphere and a beautiful rooftop view. Your guide will also provide recommendations for local restaurants to consider for lunch after the tour.
You can tip in Euros, USD and TL and should be in cash.
Old town tour happen in English and if you have a large groups, we can provide it in other languages as private option.
Pudding shop lale restaurant and 1 minute walking distance to Sultanahmet tram stop.
Our tour concludes just a 6-minute walk from the Grand Bazaar, where you’ll enjoy a complimentary tasting of Turkish delights with fruit tea. This is not a shopping stop—just a relaxing break in a peaceful setting. Your guide will also share local restaurant recommendations, and you’ll have the chance to unwind on our exclusive rooftop, reserved just for our guests.
This tour is ideal for individuals, couples, and small groups. If you have a group of 8 or more, we offer private tours tailored to your needs, allowing you to customize the starting time, itinerary, and other details for a more personalized experience.
During our tour, we will visit a mosque. Ladies are required to cover their heads, shoulders, and legs, while men can wear shorts as long as they cover the knees. The mosque provides free coverings if needed, but you’re welcome to bring your own scarf if you prefer.
Basis Travel - Free Walking Tour Istanbul
Out of 5 stars
Overall rating out of 600 Google reviews
Lidia Moharic
3 days ago
I had a fantastic time on the Free Istanbul Tour! The guide was knowledgeable and friendly, sharing fascinating stories about the city's history. The pace was perfect, and I loved exploring both popular and lesser-known sights. Highly recommend it to anyone visiting Istanbul!
Faamanu Lefiti
a week ago
Tour guide was very informative! Hit main points I wanted to see. Would recommend!!
Aj
a week ago
Younes was amazing, very friendly and all around good👍
Darpan Gautam
a week ago
Younes was amazing, would highly recommend for everyone!
Jenny To
a week ago
Albert Packer
a week ago
Had a tour with Yunus and it was a wonderful experience! He took plenty of time to answer all of my many questions! He was super informative and now I see Istanbul and the culture from a totally different perspective. Can’t recommend this tour enough!
Maria S
2 weeks ago
It was an mazing walking tour with Yunus. Thank you very much. High recommended
Prashanth Shankar
2 weeks ago
Mohamed was an excellent guide and a story teller giving us both cultural and historical relevance to each place we went to.
Olga (Meilin)
a year ago
It was our first time visiting Turkey and Istanbul, so as good travellers we decided to learn more about this beautiful and historical place. We have closed Basic travel free walking tour and it was excellent choice. This tour includes all basic sightseeing and Yunus was our good guide to the most attractive and important chapters of the Istanbul history. Dear Yunus, thank you very much for your exciting stories, astonishing moments. And at the end of our tour as a cherry on cake, we visited nice rooftop with very nice food and coffee.
Laura M
4 months ago
Did the old town and off the beaten path tours with Yunus - fantastic!! Yunus was very knowledgeable and friendly. Highly recommend!
tracy mok
2 weeks ago
it’s a great tour to start off the trip of Turkey with different knowledge…the islamic culture, the history, fun things about the locals etc…the guide is funny and very knowledgeable. highly recommend!
Lorenz Steinkohl
9 months ago
I initially just started with the old town tour but ended up doing the alternative history tour as well. You can tell that Yunus is very educated and knowledgeable because he gives really balanced and insightful answers about Turkish’s history as well as current societal issues. Always open to chat about all sort of questions and made the tour fun. The old town tour was cool because we explored well known sites but also went down alleyways I wouldn’t have otherwise noticed. The alternative history tour gave me really good insights into the daily lives of Turkish people. I don’t think I would’ve gotten the same out of more touristy/ organised tour. If you have the option, I’d recommend doing a tour early on because for me it gave me a lot more context for my remaining Istanbul stay. We learnt some useful Turkish words as well. Aside from that, the tour groups were not too big and I got to meet some cool people via them as well! Thanks Yunus!
Alexandra Kutanina
a month ago
The walking tour with Yunas was fantastic! He’s a great storyteller who made the city’s history come alive. The tea and Turkish delight at the end were such a nice touch. Highly recommend for anyone exploring the city!
Sreshya Kamakshi Vishwanathan
a month ago
Excellent tour of the old city by Yunus, who offers many insights along the way and is a fabulous storyteller - the 2.5 hours flew by and we learnt a lot. Thank you so much for also being so approachable and genuine! The Turkish delights and teas at the end are also a very nice surprise.
Jim Butler
4 months ago
Mohamed was a lively, knowledgeable and articulate guide, providing great insight in to Istanbul, the sights, the sounds the culture and the history. He also ensured we all stuck with him on his tour and made sure we were kept safe as we navigated the traffic with him. Great tour, great guide and well worth doing, I recommend this experience to anyone venturing in to Istanbul for their first time.
Marko Švec
a year ago
Definitely one of the best walking tours i have ever been to! The guys are great guides, quite funny and very friendly. On both tours I met interesting people, so I would come againt simply to hang out with them. You shouldn't miss this if you come to Istanbul 🙂
Max
a year ago
Cumali was our guide for the Alternative Istanbul Walking Tour. Cumali has an extraordinary depth of knowledge of Istanbul. He is an exceptional teacher and storyteller transporting us back in time, it felt like we were walking the streets and alleys in a different era! I cannot recommend this tour highly enough, I’ve done many walking tours and this one is top tier. I’ve been thinking about his stories for many days since the tour and learnt so much. Thank you Cumali! 🤩🙌
Renata Lacerda van Dodewaard
11 months ago
What an amazing tour! Imran knows a lot of facts about the history of the city. He gave the group many tips on good spots in the city. He was friendly, and the tour was really great. I would definitely recommend it.
