Can Gokcel
Founder
Can founded Off The Beaten Path in 2020 to share the Istanbul and Turkey he knows and loves best. He shapes every journey around your interests and your pace, with a real belief in honest, private travel done properly.
Our Story
Istanbul, Shown the Way We Love It
Off The Beaten Path is an owner-operated private tour company in Turkey, founded in 2020 to share the Istanbul and the wider Turkey we know best.
Our team brings together four professional tour guides and two travel advisors, and every year we have the pleasure of welcoming over 400 guests from the USA, Australia, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil and every corner of the world. We create custom-made, private guided tours in Istanbul, Cappadocia and beyond, each one designed entirely around you.
Experience runs deep in our team. Our lead guide has 22 years of guiding behind him, our tour guides each have over 15 years, and our travel advisors bring the same depth of expertise. As an experienced, fully licensed travel agency in Turkey, we know this country inside out — and above all, we love what we do. We love travel, and it shows in every journey we craft.
Alongside our own guests, we act as a destination management company in Turkey for travel agencies abroad, handling the ground arrangements for their clients. If you are an advisor rather than a traveller, our travel advisor and trade page explains how we work together.
The People Behind the Journeys
Meet the Team
Furkan
Lead Tour Guide & Travel Advisor
Our lead guide, Furkan brings more than two decades of guiding and a deep love of Istanbul's history to every day. He has a gift for turning centuries of stories into a day that feels effortless, shaping each tour around the people on it.
Derya
Tour Guide
Derya knows the living side of Istanbul — its markets, its makers, its food — and loves helping guests tailor the wider Turkey journey around their dates and interests. Warm and endlessly patient, she makes every detail feel taken care of.
What We Stand For
Our Promise
Licensed & Trusted
A registered Turkish travel agency with fully licensed local guides.
Always Private
Only ever your group — your guide, your pace, your interests at the centre of the day.
Honest Pricing
Clear quotes agreed before you travel. No commissions, no surprises.
Local Expertise
Guides who live here, love the city, and tailor each day to what you most want to see.
Seamless Logistics
Tickets, timing and reservations handled for you, so your days flow effortlessly.
Travel That Gives Back
We plant trees with the TEMA Foundation for every booking we welcome.
Begin the Journey
Let's Plan Your Istanbul
Have a question, or ready to start? We would love to hear what you are dreaming of.