Istanbul Old City Tour 2027: Half-Day and Full-Day Routes, Fees and Prices

An Istanbul old city tour covers Sultanahmet's big five, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, and it takes either half a day or a full one. Our Old City morning highlights small-group tour is $120 per person for six hours with entrance fees and hotel pick-up, and the full-day small-group tour with lunch is $199 per person for eight hours. If you want your own licensed guide and your own pace, our private classic Istanbul tour is $200 per person.

Which Old City tour fits you

The big decision is how much time you give the area. Sultanahmet is compact, but the sights are large and the queues are real, so a guide who buys tickets and times each entrance changes the day more than any other factor. Here is how our tours compare; every price is per person unless stated.

Small groups suit couples and solo travellers who want a fixed route with entrance fees handled. A private tour suits families, mixed-interest groups, anyone with mobility needs, and people who want to skip a sight and spend longer at another. The full list is on our Istanbul tours page, and our Istanbul tour prices guide explains what drives the numbers.

The route, hour by hour

This is the full-day sequence our guides use. It keeps the busiest interiors early and the covered bazaar for last.

• 08:30 to 09:00, Hippodrome. The old chariot track lies between the two great domes. The Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius, the Serpent Column and the German Fountain are all in the first 100 metres. Ten minutes of explanation here saves ten times that inside.
• 09:15 to 10:15, Blue Mosque. The Sultanahmet Mosque works as a place of worship and closes to visitors around each prayer, for longer at Friday midday. Dress rules apply: shoulders and knees covered, and women bring a scarf for the hair. Your guide checks the day's prayer times before choosing the order.
• 10:30 to 12:00, Hagia Sophia. Justinian's church of 537, a mosque since 1453, a museum from 1935 and a mosque again since 2020. The dome is 31 metres across. Foreign visitors go up to the gallery by ticket (see fees below).
• 12:30 to 13:30, lunch. A local lokanta nearby: a few hot dishes, rice and a salad. Tell your guide about vegetarian or halal needs in advance.
• 13:45 to 15:45, Topkapi Palace. The Ottoman sultans' residence for about four centuries. Courtyards, the Treasury, the Harem section and views over the Bosphorus.
• 16:00 to 17:30, Grand Bazaar. About 4,000 shops in a covered maze of 60-odd streets. We leave time to look, not to buy, and the guide knows which sellers deal fairly.

Swap in the Basilica Cistern, or Hagia Irene next to Topkapi, if you want something cooler or quieter. Our one-day Istanbul route page and a self-guided old city walking route show how to cover the same ground on your own. See also our page: Istanbul highlights tour.

Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque

These two sit facing each other across a park, which is why every Old City tour starts here. Hagia Sophia is the older and the stranger building: a Byzantine basilica of 537 with Ottoman additions, including the four minarets and the large calligraphy roundels. The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque, 1609 to 1616) has the six minarets and the Iznik tile interior that give it its nickname.

Visiting rules change. At Hagia Sophia, the ground floor is used for prayer, and foreign visitors use a separate visitor route to the upper gallery with a ticket. Visitors enter the Blue Mosque through a side gate and take off their shoes at the door. Both close briefly around prayer times. Read our Hagia Sophia guided tour and Blue Mosque tour guides for the current rules before you pick the date.

Topkapi Palace, the Harem and Hagia Irene

Topkapi is a series of courtyards rather than a single building, and it is the sight that most rewards a guide. Without one, the Second Court's kitchens, the Imperial Council Hall and the Harem look like rows of rooms; with one, you learn who lived behind each door. The palace is closed on Tuesdays, so any tour that includes it moves to another day. The Harem is a separate ticket section or part of a combined ticket, depending on the year, and Hagia Irene (the church beside the First Court) is often bundled with it.

Our afternoon small-group tour at $150 per person includes the Topkapi ticket, and our private Topkapi Palace and Harem tour page covers the longer private version.

Basilica Cistern and the Hippodrome

The Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan) is a 6th-century underground reservoir with 336 columns, and it is the part of the day that stays cool in August. The two Medusa heads at the far end are reused Roman stones set upside down and sideways. Our Basilica Cistern guided tour page has the walkway rules; the cistern is usually quieter at the end of the afternoon than at opening time.

The Hippodrome, a racecourse of about 400 metres that held tens of thousands of spectators in Byzantine times, is free and always open. The Obelisk of Theodosius, brought from Karnak in AD 390, is the one monument still on its original line.

The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar has been trading since the 1460s. It is closed on Sundays and on public holidays, and it closes in the early evening on other days. If you land on a Sunday, tours swap in the Spice Bazaar at Eminönü. Bargaining is expected for carpets, ceramics and leather; fixed prices apply in many tea and spice shops. If shopping is the point of your day, our private shopping tour of the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market page covers the details; the tour is $90 per person.

Fees and tickets (2026 prices, 2027 not yet published)

Entrance fees for foreign visitors changed several times in recent years, and 2027 fees are not published yet. Travel sites reported these 2026 figures for foreign visitors, and they are approximate:

Treat these as guidance and check the official sites before you go. Our small-group tours include the entrance fees for the sights they list; the private classic tour does not, and the guide buys the tickets with you. Our Istanbul museum pass page explains which sights the pass covers; it does not cover the Basilica Cistern or the Hagia Sophia gallery.

After the Old City: Süleymaniye, the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus

Most visitors have energy for one more stop. The Süleymaniye Mosque, designed by Sinan in the 1550s, is the best of the mosques left over after the first day and has the best view of the Golden Horn. A walk across Galata Bridge at dusk brings you to Karaköy and Galata.

To finish on the water, a Bosphorus cruise is the usual choice, and for a private evening on a yacht see Take Yacht Istanbul. Our 4-day Istanbul City Tour Package bundles the Old City with a hotel and a Bosphorus cruise from $699 per person. For more things to do in the neighbourhood, see things to do in Sultanahmet.

Tips for a smooth Old City day

• Start early. Be at the first entrance when it opens; lines build from mid-morning, especially from cruise ships docking at Galataport.
• Check the weekday. Tuesday closes Topkapi, Sunday closes the Grand Bazaar, and Friday shortens the mosque visits.
• Dress for mosques. Covered shoulders and knees; a light scarf for women; slip-off shoes.
• Wear good shoes. The paving around the Hippodrome and Topkapi is uneven, and you will walk 6 to 8 km.
• Bring a card and some lira. Cards work in most shops; small cash helps with the tea sellers, toilets and tips.
• Book a guide who buys tickets. Our Istanbul skip-the-line private tour page explains how that works, and our private tour guide page lists languages; English is $199 per day and other languages are $199 to $250.

Frequently Asked Questions