Safiye is such a good tour guide. We did a food tour with her in Kadiköy. It was super fun and the food introduced to us was of a wide range and very tasty. Safiye found for us the right mix of tastings which we were able to enjoy and not feel bloated. What I really appreciated were her interpersonal skills where we felt it was an easy exchange of knowledge and experience, rather than being lectured to. Safiye really engages with you to make the tour educational and fun. We were really glad to have her explain the life and cuisine of Istanbul.

The only way to experience Istanbul is with Safiye! We spent two days together on a unique cultural/food/walking tour that included the major sites and a fabulous quaint hidden market tour. Her knowledge of Istanbul and each site we visited was stellar. Thanks to her, I can't wait to return for a more in-depth tour. She respected my wishes for subjects of interest (or not) and introduced me to the best hidden, local spot for lunch, the kind of place the local merchants know about. Safiye (or Sophie) is easy to converse with and has a terrific command of English. We laughed often and, when we parted, we parted as friends eager for a return visit. Do yourself a favor and schedule your tour with Safiye well in advance as she is one of the very best!

We rarely go on organised tours, but with 6 full days planned for our first visit to Istanbul we thought an ‘introduction to Istanbul’ tour would be a good idea. And it was!! Far better than we expected, in 3 hours Safiye taught us so much about the city - not only its layout and how to get around, and places ‘off the regular tourist map’ to visit, but also of its history and culture. And her recommendations for the best food in the bazaar and elsewhere were perfect - in our 6 days we ate at all and they were fabulous! A truly knowledgeable, warm and genuine person, during our time in Istanbul we regularly said to each other ‘thank you to Safiye, or we wouldn’t have known!’ We couldn’t recommend this tour, and Safiye herself, highly enough. A true 10/10!

We travel… A lot! On our travels we always use a private guide, so we have a lot of experience in a lot of areas around the world. Safie was THE BEST EVER! Safie was with us for three days in Istanbul, then we toured more of Turkey and Greece and came back to Istanbul 11 days later. We had Safie guide us for another three days. We missed her while we were gone and looked forward to seeing her again. She’s an extraordinary person and extremely knowledgeable. her local knowledge of Istanbul really enhanced our experience. she knew how to get to places when to go to avoid the crowds, and she knew how to pivot and change plans on the fly, specially when our weather changed. she knew all the history behind every place we visited. We took the metro with her we took the subway, we took the ferry, and we also had a private driver. It was great to experience all modes of transportation with Safie. Safie did not discuss details as reading a script with a monologue like some guides do. She spoke personally from the heart. She was not only the best guide we’ve ever had but she became a part of our lives. We consider Safie a friend. We will definitely stay in touch and we look forward to going back to Istanbul.

We are very happy we chose Safie to be our guide. She is absolutely amazing and great with kids. As our first time in Istanbul we thought it would be harder with 4 kids but she made it so easy and showed us how beautiful it is. You will NOT find another amazing tour guide like Safie she is the best. 10 stars if possible! We found a lifetime friend with her. Thank you Safie.

Safiye was an amazing guide. We were able to do a lot more with the time we had. She is able to prepare a tour guide date and we could followed or twisted a little. I feel that doing a solo was and advance because I was able to see more of Istanbul in a very short time. We walked a lot but it was worth it!!! She took me to a local restaurant with the best meatball. :-) Thank you Safiye wish you well. And see you soon!!!

Great service Easily arranged Friendly staff Good value for money A great way to experience the highlights of Istanbul Totally recommend

Safiye is an amazing tour guide - knowledgeable, experienced, punctual and a wonderful person overall. I had a short stay in Istanbul between the flights and she did a fantastic job showing be the best of the city in 6 hours. Highly recommended!

It was nice to be able to go on this walking tour of Istanbul with my tour guide, Sercan. He was very nice and pleasant. We went to many places, including the Aya Sofia, Sultanahmet and Grand Bazaar. Everything was perfect, except the bus was really late to pick us up due to the bad traffic in Istanbul.

Over the course of a three week vacation (a two week cruise plus land time add-ons before and afterwards), my husband and I had many different tour guides. Most were good; some, not so much; a few excellent ones; and then there was Safiye (Sophie). As we had never been to Istanbul before and wanted to make sure we maximized our limited time there, I decided to research different guides and tour companies. I found Sophie and her "Istanbul Private Walking Highlights Tour" on Tripadvisor and was won over by the details of her tour and the many positive reviews about her. Engaging her as our Istanbul guide was a smart decision for us. Doing so made our trip enjoyment, understanding and appreciation exponentially better and, quite frankly, so much easier (and fun) than what we might have experienced on our own. [Stated another way for those preferring a numerical assessment, we agreed that if we were to evaluate our experience on a “memorable and enjoyable” scale, doing it on our own would probably have netted a 2 or 3, but with Sophie as our guide it was a definite 10!] It’s also worth noting that my husband wasn't initially keen on booking a guide and thought we'd be just fine exploring on our own. Once I shared details about the tour and Sophie's reviews, however, he agreed that a good guide could enrich our experience and provide a lot of historical knowledge and context. Fast forward a day, and my husband became Sophie's biggest fan! In fact, we both thought she was so good and added so much to our experience that we opted to book a second day with her to see and enjoy additional Istanbul sights. Some additional thoughts and details: • Her historical and cultural knowledge was impressive. • Her friendly and easy-going manner was both appealing and reassuring. • Her assistance helping us navigate was invaluable, be it educating us about the different sights, knowing call-to-prayer timing and procedures when visiting mosques, how much a taxi should cost, aiding in the purchase and sampling of interesting street food, directing us where to purchase items, providing Turkish bath information, etc. etc. And for us, this advantage was even more appreciated given that we didn’t seem to notice an overabundance of typical tourist signage and the like (in other words, had we attempted it on our own, we likely would have lost a lot of time trying to figure stuff out). • She was great about tailoring her tour to our interests. When I expressed disappointment that we wouldn't get to see the Blue Mosque because it was closed for renovation while we were there, she was able to quickly suggest another Mosque not far away that included similarly beautiful and impressive tile work. • Her English is great and her accent, only slight (for my aging ears, she was very easy to understand, which was much appreciated). • She, herself, is a world traveler so can readily relate to the experiences and cultures of many of her clients. • She was good at pacing her clients and sensitive to their abilities and needs. • She’s a versatile guide, being experienced and comfortable guiding both young and older clients, individuals, couples, families, and multi-generational groups. • She was eager to answer our many questions and good at providing perspective and balance. We consider it very fortunate to have had Sophie as our guide and introduction to Istanbul, as she made our visit an exponentially better and more memorable one. And, perhaps not surprising, by the end of our time together, she felt like a cherished family friend.

Excellent guide and a beautiful person. Knows a lot about Istanbul and will take you to great places.

Safiye is a gem! I was so pleased to have booked a half day walking tour, where we saw many of the sights including going inside Hagia Sophia for which we lined up at 9:40am and were in within 20 minutes. She is a wealth of knowledge so it was a pleasure to walk while absorbing Istanbul's long history. Walking through the labyrinth of the markets was wonderful and I never would have seen so much without her. She also made the superb suggestion of taking the 20 minute ferry ride with her from the new mosque in the old city to the Asian side which was the perfect way to see the beauty of the city from the river and then I headed back.

We had the fantastic opportunity of spending 2 days visiting Istanbul with Safiye! She really made our visit to Istanbul the highlight of our trip! She is a very knowledgeable guide that deeply knows the history of the city and her country. She was very flexible customizing the tour to match our interests and even suggested some fantastic off the beaten path places to visit. Furthermore, she is a very kind person, and we feel that we made a great new friend in Istanbul! Thanks Safiye for a wonderful visit!

My friend and I spent two wonderful days with Safiye as our private guide seeing the highlights of Istanbul. She was easy to understand, entertaining and accommodating. The activities she suggested and planned were great and the last minute adjustments she had to make on short notice (the Istanbul Marathon was held one of our days and some of the public transport was shut down) didn’t infringe on our fun. She showed us cool, hidden away spots, used her connections to get us to the front of lines more than once and was quick to give good advice for the remainder of our stay. I felt very comfortable with her and it was like spending the day with a friend. I will recommend her to anyone I know visiting Istanbul and I hope to use her services again one day bc the city is so huge two days is just the tip of the iceberg!

Our tour with Safiye of the most important sites in old Istanbul was wonderful. Her knowledge was extensive adding a great deal to our understanding and enjoyment. We also had a chance to ask a lot of questions about Turkey and its culture which was as helpful since my wife and I are very interested in how regular people live. Finally, having a licensed guide helped us to get into each area more quickly. That alone was an important benefit. I would happily and unreservedly recommend Safiye.

I highly recommend doing a private tour with Safiye. She took me to all the amazing places in Istanbul and she has extensive knowledge of the city!!! She answered all of my questions and showed me all the best foods. It was a great experience, and I’m very happy I was able to do the private tour with her!

Our tour over the 2 days was truly amazing. All down to our tour guide Hamide. She treated us just like her own family from start to finish, and with professionalism. Her knowledge of Istanbul history was outstanding. We have learnt so much about our history, our culture and our mosques in this beautiful country. I would definitely recommend anyone visiting Istanbul to book. Well done Hamide and keep up the great work you are doing. Keep sharing your wonderful knowledge!

Safiye was AMAZING!!! We had a perfect day in Sultanahmet area visiting the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar! We were a large group of 6 with children and Safiye made it so manageable. She was SO KNOWLEDGEABLE about everything and made it so interesting! She even helped with our other questions after our tour during the rest of our stay in Turkiye! I cannot recommend her enough!!

We spent a great day with Safiye who showed us around the historical highlights of Istanbul. Safiye was generous with her time, warm, funny, and very knowledgeable. She went out of her way to make sure we had a great day, even helping those of us with dietary requirements to locate special meals, and find specific gifts. If you’re visiting Istanbul, I couldn’t recommend a tour with Safiye highly enough.

We made a 2 day walking tour with Safiye. I can only say wonderful things about her. She is very friendly, flexible with our desires , very knowleadgeable of Istambul and very optimistic with great sense of humour...