Two empires, one city
Four days is not enough for İstanbul. Nothing is. But with a small group, a private vehicle and a guide who does not have to shout across forty people, four days is enough to stop seeing a list of monuments and start seeing what this programme is actually about: two empires that built on top of one another for sixteen centuries without either of them quite erasing what came before. Every day below crosses that seam at least once.
The four-day İstanbul programme in full, day by day, with what is included and what is not — ready to read or to share with the people travelling with you.
Please note: the day-by-day programme is indicative and may change. Site opening days, weather, traffic and local conditions can move the order of visits, and hotels are confirmed at the time of booking. Nothing listed is dropped — it is the sequence that moves. The file on this page is always the current version.
Four days is a decision about your time, not about the city. İstanbul does not run out. There are more museums here than a week would cover, a Byzantine layer and an Ottoman one that each deserve a trip of their own, whole quarters we had no room to name on this page, and food that changes from one street to the next.
So read the four days above as the starting shape. If you want a fifth day, or a sixth. If there is a museum you have been meaning to see, a restaurant someone told you about, a hamam, an evening of music, a day given entirely to the Bosphorus, a synagogue or a church you want to pray in, a concert, a football match. If you are travelling with children, or with someone who cannot walk far, and the days need to be built differently.
Tell us. Travel privately and the programme belongs to you rather than to a coach schedule. İstanbul covers all of it, and so do we — we will rebuild the days around what you actually want and price that programme instead.
“Every other city has a history.
This one has two, and they are still arguing.”
Per person, two sharing, in US dollars. The rate follows the season of your departure — every one of the thirty-four dates in the calendar below carries its price.
What the rate covers is listed above: three nights in one İstanbul hotel with breakfast, the welcome dinner, every site and museum entrance on the programme, the private vehicle with airport transfers, and a licensed guide and driver on every departure — whatever the size of your group.
The private Bosphorus cruise is optional at $50 per person, minimum seven guests, and a different hotel category is priced on request.
Group size does not change the rate. Four guests or twelve, everyone pays the same — register with your dates and we will confirm the departure and the total for your party.
These rates cover every 2027 departure on this page. Once your deposit is received the price is fixed — currency movements and supplier increases after that date are ours to carry, as set out in Our Commitments.
Child rates are worked out from the adult rate on the same departure.
| Age | Rate | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 2 · infants | Free | No separate bed, no entrance fees, no seat taken in the vehicle. |
| 3 – 8 | 50% of the adult rate | Museum entrances free; extra bed in the parents' room. |
| 9 – 11 | 75% of the adult rate | Entrances paid; extra bed in the parents' room. |
| 12 and over | Full rate | Counted and priced as an adult. |
Ages are counted on the first day of the tour. A child in a room of their own is priced as an adult, single supplement included. Tell us the children's ages when you register and we will put the exact figure in your confirmation.
Every departure runs Sunday to Wednesday for a small group of four to twelve guests. Choose the week that suits you and register — registration is free and carries no obligation.
Four days in İstanbul on a fixed date, opened for a small group. Why these four days: Topkapı closes on Tuesdays, Dolmabahçe and the imperial palaces on Mondays, the Grand Bazaar on Sundays. These are the one window in late November where nothing in this programme falls on its closing day.
Met at İstanbul Airport and driven to the hotel. The afternoon is yours. In the evening the welcome dinner, where you meet your guide and the group.
Hagia Sophia, then Topkapı Palace with the Harem and the terrace over the Bosphorus. After lunch the Basilica Cistern, then the Hippodrome and the Blue Mosque.
Dolmabahçe Palace in the morning — the crystal staircase, the four-and-a-half tonne chandelier, the clock stopped at five past nine. The afternoon crosses the Golden Horn to Karaköy and up to the Galata Tower.
The Grand Bazaar, then the Spice Bazaar, and a last stop at the Süleymaniye Mosque before the private transfer to İstanbul Airport.
The single supplement applies to the whole stay, not per night. Children's rates apply when the child shares a room with two adults, and reduced-rate children do not count towards the minimum of six.
Free · no payment · no obligation. We will come back to you personally with the rate and details for your chosen week.
Your registration reference:
Our team will contact you personally with the rate and details for your chosen week. Registration is free and carries no obligation.
