If you are coming to Istanbul on your own as a solo female traveler, Off The Beaten Path Istanbul is the right travel agency for you. Most of the women who write to us are traveling alone, and often it is three or four days they have finally taken for themselves. We plan those days privately, from the first email to the last, with a female licensed guide whenever you ask for one.
We plan them for women traveling together too — a mother and a daughter, after years of promising each other Istanbul, or friends who booked the flights first and left the rest until later.
Can I request a female guide in Istanbul?
Yes. On request, and subject to her availability for your dates, we arrange a female licensed guide.
It is a request we are glad to receive, and there is no need to explain it. Some guests simply feel more at ease that way, and a day is better when you are at ease in it. Ask early if your dates are set — the guides worth having are booked well ahead, and the sooner you write, the more likely we are to hold her for you.
Is Istanbul a good city for a woman traveling solo?
It is one of the more rewarding cities in the world to arrive in by yourself.
Turkish hospitality is generous toward guests, and most of what makes a first day here tiring has little to do with Istanbul. It is the ticket line, and the junction where you are quietly deciding which way looks better. A private tour takes that off you.
You will know what the day holds long before you land. We plan it with you by email, and the itinerary and the price are agreed together, so nothing is left to be worked out once you are here. Your guide simply meets you and the day begins, and from then on the pace belongs to you. Lunch is yours to choose, and she will tell you where she would eat if she were not working.
For a first visit we suggest the Old City — Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, the four that brought you here in the first place. Then, on another day, Two Continents, which is the local Istanbul: the old Ottoman book market at Beyazit, the Iznik tiles of Rustem Pasha reached by a small staircase above the market, a rooftop tea in Galata, and the ferry across to Kadikoy and its fish market on the Asian side.
What is a private tour like with women friends?
If you are coming with friends, the day has to suit everyone, and everyone has an opinion about it. That is easier when the day belongs only to you. The pace is yours, the stops are yours, and nobody outside your party joins at any point.
The Istanbul Food Tour is the one friends tend to book without much discussion. It can begin with breakfast, or with coffee and baklava if you have already eaten at your hotel, and from there it is a day of eating your way through Istanbul together. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free are all accommodated — just tell us in advance.
What should a mother and daughter do in Istanbul?
These are our favorite bookings, and they have a shape of their own.
What we notice is that it is rarely the monuments they remember most. It is the hours spent sitting down together. So we suggest two days that give you both: the Old City and its great monuments with your guide, and then the Bosphorus on a private yacht, reserved for the two of you alone, with tea on board and the palaces going past on both shores. The yacht is yours alone, so a longer afternoon on the water is simply yours to ask for when we plan the day. Late afternoon into sunset is the most beautiful hour on the water.
If one of you tires before the other, we plan for it. Tell us when you write and your guide will build the day around you both.
How many days do you need in Istanbul?
Two is what we suggest most often, whoever you are traveling with, and it is enough to see Istanbul properly.
The first day is the Old City and the great monuments. The second is yours to choose: the food tour, the local neighborhoods on both continents, or the Bosphorus by private yacht. Our two-day Istanbul tour puts the pair together under a single quote, with your guide and every entrance fee included in it.
Where should I shop in Istanbul?
Shopping is the day women ask us for most, and it deserves to be a day of its own. Our shopping tour is spent in the Grand Bazaar and the quarter around it, with introductions to firms we have known for years, chosen for what you have come to buy:
- Carpets and rugs — hand-knotted wool and silk from the great weaving regions, Hereke, Usak and Kayseri, read with you thread by thread so you know what is in front of you.
- Tiles and ceramics — the Iznik tradition in cobalt, turquoise and the Armenian bole red, from a single bowl to a whole panel.
- Turkish leather — jackets and coats from tanneries that have supplied Europe for generations, with a tailor to alter the fit while you are still here.
- Gold and jewelry — gold trades at close to the same price everywhere in the world. What changes from country to country is the making, and the craftsmanship here is remarkably good value.
Your guide is there to read quality, materials and workmanship with you, to translate, and to tell you what a piece should cost before the conversation begins. The figure you hear at the start is the real one, and she will say so plainly when a piece is not worth what is being asked for it.
Nothing is decided quickly. You see as much as you want to see and take a piece home only when you are sure of it. If it is too large to carry, we advise you on packing, shipping and the customs paperwork before you leave. This is a day you choose and ask for; on every other day with us, no one is taken into a shop at all.
Can women visit a hamam in Istanbul?
Yes, and ending a day of sightseeing in one is easy to arrange.
The historic bathhouses keep a separate section for women, and women are attended by women throughout. The ritual is old and unhurried — warm marble, steam, a scrub, and then the foam — and it is the closest thing Istanbul has to undoing a long flight.
Tell us and we will book yours in one of the beautiful old hamams of Istanbul. You settle it with the hamam directly on the day, so it sits outside your tour quote. The rest of our private experiences sit alongside it, from a cooking class to a whirling dervish ceremony, if you would like to add one to your days.
What is arranged before you arrive?
Off The Beaten Path is a registered travel agency in Istanbul, which is what allows entrance tickets to be held for you in advance. Yours are arranged before you land, so your morning starts inside Hagia Sophia. The Basilica Cistern is the one place where entry is arranged at the kiosk on the day.
Your guide and the entrance fee for every site on your itinerary are quoted together, as one clear figure in US dollars, agreed before you travel. There are no hidden costs and no shopping stops. Where your hotel calls for it, transport and a driver are arranged as well.
How do I book a private tour in Istanbul?
Write to us with your dates, who is traveling, and what you would most like to see. Ask for a female guide in the same message and, if she is free on your dates, we will confirm her with your itinerary.
We reply with a plan and one clear price, usually within a day.
Tell us about your trip and we will arrange it.