Istanbul

In Istanbul, choose Sultanahmet if the monuments are the trip and the Bosphorus shore if the city is. From the old city, Hagia Sophia and Topkapı are a ten-minute walk. From Beşiktaş, Karaköy or the Asian shore, you have the strait outside the window and a fifteen-minute boat to the same monuments. Forest Travel generally splits the stay: two nights in the old city to be at the doors at opening, then two on the water.

Worship and tourism at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul have been separated since 15 January 2024. Foreign visitors enter the upper gallery through the Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum for €25 per person. It is open daily from 09:00 to 20:00, and the ticket office closes at 19:00. The Istanbul Museum Pass is not valid there. The ground floor remains a working mosque, so the five prayer times and Friday midday shift access. The first slot, a Byzantine historian and the right entrance can be arranged, but an empty nave cannot.

Topkapı Palace in Istanbul is closed all day on Tuesday. Scheduling it then is the most common fault in the itineraries travelers bring to Forest Travel. The rest of the week, the palace opens from 09:30 to 17:00, with last tickets at 16:00. The Museum Pass does not cover the Harem, which is the half of the palace worth the visit. A Tuesday arrival is fine; just keep Topkapı off that day.

A private Bosphorus boat from Kabataş is the best half day in Istanbul and takes three to four hours. The route passes the Ottoman waterfront palaces and the Bebek villages, goes under both bridges and stops for lunch on the Asian side. The strait runs about 30 km from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. Seeing it from the water is the only way to understand why the city is where it is.

Yes. Istanbul's old city is difficult for anyone with limited mobility and for anyone who needs quiet. Sultanahmet and Galata are cobbles and steep hills, and the Grand Bazaar is a crowd by definition. The first call to prayer comes before dawn, and you will hear it from a Sultanahmet room. If that is a problem, Forest Travel's advice is to sleep on the Bosphorus strait instead.

In Istanbul, timing within the week and the day matters more than any single month. Arrive at Topkapı and Hagia Sophia at opening, before the crowds, and keep Topkapı off Tuesday, when the palace is closed all day. Hagia Sophia's ground floor is a working mosque, so the five prayer times and Friday midday shift access. Your advisor can secure the first slot with a private Byzantine historian.

Istanbul journeys run from 2–3 days for the Bosphorus or the bazaars and crafts, to 3–5 days for the palaces and mosques, and 4–6 days for families. Forest Travel generally splits a stay: two nights in Sultanahmet, the old city, to be at the doors at opening, then two on the water. A private Bosphorus boat alone fills a half day of three to four hours, and Cappadocia is the usual next stop.

Yes. Forest Travel's Istanbul journeys are points of departure, not packages, and your advisor reshapes them entirely around you. That can mean Bosphorus-view suites, Topkapı and the great mosques before the crowds with a private historian, a private boat between Europe and Asia with tea on the water, and the Grand Bazaar walked with a master who opens doors the crowds never see.

For a private trip, plan from around US$900 per person per night in Istanbul, the same starting figure as Cappadocia and below the Bodrum coast's US$1,600. Some costs are fixed for everyone: foreign visitors pay €25 for the Hagia Sophia gallery, where the Museum Pass is not valid, and the pass does not cover the Topkapı Harem either. Forest Travel's planning fee is US$250 per itinerary.

Four things shape a trip. Topkapı Palace is closed all day on Tuesday; Hagia Sophia's upper gallery is a museum for foreign visitors, open 09:00 to 20:00, while the ground floor remains a working mosque, so prayer times shift access; the old city is cobbles and steep hills; and the first call to prayer comes before dawn. Most of our guests split the stay between Sultanahmet and the Bosphorus shore.