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USD $40.00
Bosphorus Cruise and Istanbul's Egyptian Bazaar
Istanbul, Turkey
Explore the aromatic maze of stalls that make up Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar, and then hop aboard a sightseeing boat for a jaunt along the famous Bosphorus Strait! After traveling to the bazaar by coach and learning about the city from an onboard guide, enjoy some free time to explore and browse stalls selling fresh mint, cardamom, cinnamon and more. Follow up the market visit with a Bosphorus sightseeing cruise and see a collection of sights including the decadent Dolmabahçe Palace and Rumeli Hisarı Fortress.
Choose from a morning or afternoon tour, and then start your experience with a pickup from your European-side Istanbul hotel. As you travel through the city, sit back and relax as your onboard guide talks about Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar— your first destination of the tour. One of the city’s most colorful and bustling attractions, the market has operated since the 17th century and remains as popular with locals as it is with visitors.
Hop out of your coach and head inside the market while breathing in its heady aromas of fragrant spices and herbs. Hear tips for interesting stalls to visit from your guide, and then enjoy roughly 45 minutes of free time to explore and shop at leisure.
After shopping and sightseeing around the famous souk, travel by coach to the banks of the Bosphorus Strait for your cruise. Learn about the famous stretch of water that straddles both the Asian and European continents as you travel, and then board your sightseeing boat for the cruise.
Take a seat out on deck or inside the cabin, and cruise past an impressive selection of Istanbul’s showpiece sights. Look out for Dolmabahçe Palace with its decadent façade as well as 15th-century Rumeli Hisarı Fortress and Beylerbeyi Palace where Ottoman-era sultans spent their summer vacations. Your route takes in sights on both the European and Asian shores and, in addition to Istanbul’s big-name attractions, the cruise also passes some of the city’s lesser-known gems: mosques, fortresses, palaces and more.
Having admired the sights of the Bosphorus Strait from the water, return to land and finally finish your experience with a hotel drop-off.
We did the afternoon tour as had a morning walking tour. Pickup from hotel was on time and very good guide who explained about the region and life in general. Only had about 20 minutes at the Spice Bazaar as election due in a couple of days and lots of noise and things happening. The river cruise was great - it was on a hop-on hop-off cruise, but we stayed on board as we viewed both the European and Asian sides of the river. Good value for money.
Review by: Leslie T, March 2018
Very fun day
Review by: Jimmy Munk L, February 2018
Worked out well, but can easily be done on your own.
Review by: Judith B, January 2018
A great afternoon tour that allowed us to have a wee taste of what was to be found in this wonderful city. Our guide was informative and had a great knowledge of the history of Istanbul. The tour was done at a leisurely pace with time to wander the Spice market before the cruise down the Bosphorus.
Review by: Gavin V, December 2017
Went o the tour of the caves. Take a windbreaker with you. Beautifully maintained. Very impressed.
Review by: Curtis W, October 2017
Since we had been to the Grand Bazaar, I don't think we really needed to tour the Egyptian Bazaar. We enjoyed the boat tour and found the European and Asian sides of Istanbul so interesting. It was about 3 hours and that was perfect.
Review by: Jaco, October 2017
We Did The Half Day Tour Which Includes The Egyptian Bazaar Spice Market And Bosphorus Cruise._br/_ Tour Guide Was Informative And Explains All The Sights, With Aid Of A Map, That Will Be Seen On The Cruise. Great Views From The Boat Of Both The European And Asian Side
Review by: Kushal S, September 2017
Thoroughly enjoyed
Review by: Kushal S, September 2017
thoroughly enjoyed
Review by: anant t, August 2017
Not happy with the experience. The guide was decent but everything beyond that was not good. Got only 20 mins for Spice Bazaar and 1.5 hours on cruise. 20 mins is not enough for Spice Bazaar.
Review by: RONNIE SIM, June 2017
Great 3hours afternoon tour. Group consists of only a fellow tourist from USA, my friend and I. It started with a mini tour of the Spice Market, small compare with Grand Bazaar!. Then we relax and cruise for about 90 mins. Good view to take photos of the European and Asia side of Istanbul along the river. There is distinct difference in terms of buildings, palaces, mosques and greens on both side of the river. This Bosphorus cruise with Viator is a must go to in Istanbul. Thank you
Review by: Michael R, April 2017
For the most part, this tour provided interesting venues. I particularly disliked the stop at a specific spice store which was over-priced.
Review by: Stacy H, February 2017
Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. We enjoyed our time very much.
Review by: Monica, January 2017
Well worth it, guide was attentive and knowledgeable.
Review by: ihabd4, December 2016
Excellent tour
Review by: Robert S, September 2016
Excellent guide, well worth it
Review by: Patricia K, August 2016
Great tour, very knowledgeable and charming guide
Review by: Honeybee, July 2016
It was very pleasant to ride on the Bosphorous, and the Egptian Bazaar inside smelled wonderfully!
Review by: Susan G, June 2016
We were picked up right on time at our hotel and then joined several other smaller vans onto a larger bus. Our guide was very helpful in the Bazaar and getting us onto the cruise. It was hard hearing on the cruise as to what we were seeing but the trip was well worth experiencing. We recommended doing this tour but would suggest having the guide sit with the group on the boat as we had trouble understanding the speaker on the boat's intercom.
Review by: Nico v, May 2016
I send you allready email about this trip. We are not happy with the organization. We pay to mutch for nothing !!! No private tour buth a boot for all locals. We pay for private !!!!!
Review by: Jane S T, April 2016
Trip to the spice market was very rushed, tour guide was stressed and only seemed interested in getting rid of us. Boat cruise was lovely but could have just of easily gone by myself as tour guide said nothing
Review by: Debra C, April 2016
Really great half day tour. The Egyptian bazaar was an amazing overload of sights sounds and scents!!! The Bosphorus cruise was very interesting- loved seeing Istanbul from the river.
Review by: Manikant M, January 2016
The tour was good but only drawback is that we were picked from our hotel 75 minutes before the scheduled time.
Review by: Teresita G, December 2015
The day was not great but the cruise was great.
Review by: Len W, October 2015
Excellent cruise.
Review by: Greg C, September 2015
This was a wonderful intro to Istanbul.
Review by: Jane E, September 2015
Great half day tour. It ends up being about a 45 min tour of the Spice Market. Enough time to buy some baklava and Turkish delight. Then onto a boat cruise for about 90 mins. Good chance to get some pics along the river. Great afternoon!
Review by: Louise D, September 2015
Excellent guide providing good information all along the tour
Review by: Madeline R, September 2015
Our guide was wonderful and the pickup and drop off ran smoothly. We had a great time at the spice bazaar and found it fun and informative. The downfall to this tour was the boat we were on. It didn't seem fitting as a tour boat with half of the seats not even facing windows. There was a very small outdoor area where we were lucky to get seats, but that meant having people crowding and standing on top of us to get pictures and missing out on the whole commentary because there were no speakers to hear outside. We saw many other boats go by that looked much better than ours :
Review by: Henry B, September 2015
Well up to our expectations and we were very pleased
Review by: Margaret G, August 2015
I enjoyed the cruise and the guide was very helpful. However we only had 20 mins in the spice market and it was extremely crowded and hard to enjoy.
Review by: Laurie M, August 2015
Guide was articulate and knowledgeable but did not always face her audience so we could not always hear her. Instead of sitting in the middle of us on the boatshe should sit across from us so that she can sit directly across so that we can hear her.
Review by: Anan Z, August 2015
Great tour, the Bosphorus cruise is a must if you go to Istanbul, it gives you a different perspective of the city and is very relaxing, the group was small and we had a boat only for us!
Review by: ROBERT H, July 2015
Transfers, guide, program were excellent, only the cruise wasn't in very good condition
Review by: Edward F, July 2015
Cruising the Bosphorus is a must-do in Istanbul. I could do without the Bazaar, but my wife probably disagrees.
Review by: Bonnie L, July 2015
Being picked up from our hotel made it very easy to participate in the tour. It was lovely being on the water however, it was extremely difficult to hear the guide as she had to over-talk the boat's announcements._br/_
The trip to the Spice Market was disappointing as the guide rushed us through to her favorite vendor. I expected to learn a bit about the spices and the variety of vendors.
Review by: Lynne S, July 2015
We visited the Spice Markets first which are very colourful and the aroma is superb. From there we did the Bosphorus River cruise which was relaxing and enjoyable. We saw many beautiful buildings along the way as well as palaces and remains of ancient forts. Our guide was Sivlay who looked after us very well.
Review by: John F, July 2015
The transportation to and from was good. The guide was not very good and basically dumped us! The bazaar was teeming with people and we almost lost him a number of times even after asking him to slow down. There was no narration on the cruise, so we didn't really know what we were seeing.
Review by: Tehmurasp A, June 2015
This was a great tour, and a wonderful experience. Bulit, my guide walked me through the streets, introducing me to typical Turkish fare. The whole experience was delectable. A must do if you like to try and experience new and different cuisines.
Review by: Jacqueline B, June 2015
This was the most disappointing of our Istanbul tours. We were ready at our hotel at the appointed time and the van arrived to pick us up on time. We then went to the cruise terminal to pick up passengers from a large cruise ship. Some who had signed up were not ready so there was an undue delay there. We then took the van to the boat launch site. I had envisioned a private boat taking only Viator patrons on the boat tour. Instead, the boat was a public ferry. Since we arrived late due to the delay at the cruise terminal, there were no seats on the sides of the boat, but only in the center which would not allow us to take any photos. We ended up abandoning our guide to go to the lower level where we could be on the foredeck in the open air and take pictures. Thus, we learned nothing about what we saw, so later needed to read about it in our guide book. We could have purchased the ferry tickets ourselves for much less money. I recommend doing just that rather than taking this tour if it always runs like it did for us.
Review by: Vishaal S, June 2015
Both the cruise and the bazaar were very nice! The market was amazing. It is basically a shopping experience, and we bought a lot of delicious sweets there! The cruise was also beautiful. The only reason I gave one star less is that it got a bit monotonous, and I wish that the guide had engaged us more with stories and history. He kept more silent than we would have liked during the cruise. But overall, it was a nice experience.
Review by: Donald P O, June 2015
Enjoyable afternoon.
Review by: Jill M, June 2015
Not wrapped in this cruise.....think best to do it yourself...had 2 1/2 hr. Wait till got going properly, had to cross over into Asia side to meet buses then the Spice Market was t anywhere near long enough to visit.do it yourself.We were right near the spice market anyway......so walked back another day to see more of it....
Review by: Helen Anita M, May 2015
Better off doing the cruise yourself and the Spice Bazaar not suitable in for a group as it is too crowded.
Review by: Bonnie C, May 2015
This tour is heavily weighted as far as time for the Bosphorus cruise and while lovely, we were unable to hear our guide's commentary due to the poor PA system on the boat which we had also encountered on a previous cruise. We had less than 45 minutes at the Spice Bazaar and while it is very small compared to the Grand Bazaar if you want to barter, you have to do it very fast!
Review by: christiegeer, May 2015
The guide was soft spoken and had a thick accent. I couldn't understand anything she said so I couldn't ask questions.
Review by: Vik S, May 2015
Great experience. everyone is really friendly at the bazaar. our tour guide, Omar, was great.
Review by: Shel, May 2015
i'm giving it five stars because it was so well organized. We arrived from the US in the morning and were picked up promptly at 1 o'clock. This was the perfect way to start our vacation in Istanbul after traveling about 24 hours and not wanting to waste a moment. Views from the Bosporus were incredible. The tour was an excellent value. I recommend.
Review by: Christoph T, May 2015
A really interesting cruise, a great way to see a different view of Istanbul. The Egyptian bazaar was a little rushed and we were more or less ushered to one particular stall in the hope of spending some money there. Overall though, well worth taking this tour.
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