Private Guided Bazaar Tour in Istanbul
Description
Istanbul is a great city for shopping lovers. You can find everything from traditional bazaars and markets to modern malls and designer shops. Let’s explore the real art and crafts away from tourist traps and kick back relationships in Istanbul. This tour is introducing Turkish art and handcraft than shopping. We pay kind of tip to shopkeepers to give good information and host us in the shops. Therefore, My guests do not have to feel to buy stuff from the shop. In the next days, when you come alone, this beatiful Grand Bazaar will not be overwhelming for them. The purpose of this tour navigate my guests like a local and let them to feel safe to shop in Istanbul. We are personally acquainted with dozens of Istanbul shops and shopkeepers, who are happy to give us no-nonsense, value for money prices. You pay only the fee of the private tour, so We are going to be working on your behalf, not for a commission on sales.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We start visiting art with Quartz tiles. We see ceramics in all over the world such as Morocco, Mexico, Egypt, Iran. All these ceramics were done by clay. But Turkish tiles you see in Topkapı Palace, Blue Mosque and other Ottoman buildings are quartz tiles. Instead of clay, these tiles had meen made out of quartz. That makes them special and most durable. We get enough information for tiles.
Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, with 67 streets and over 4,000 shops selling hand woven rugs, jewelry, ceramics, quartz tiles, spices, souvenirs, and more. We stop in spesific artisan stores to have good information about Turkish rugs, finest jewelery, Leather jackets and leather goods, calligraphy, tiles. First of all we walk to back streets where only locals go. Walk around in the streets to understand shopping style and see the stores there.
We start with Turkish Jewelry to our art tour in grand bazaar and visit little workshops of jewelry. Since 15th century, finest art of jewelry has been done and sold in these little workshops. Even one of Jewelry designer from Grand Bazaar have become awarded as best jewelry designer of the world.
We visit oldest part of Grand Bazaar to visit an old rug store who sells original Turkish rugs. This family has been running this bussiness since 18th century. We can get good information about Turkish rugs there and most probably no time for shopping. Our guest can come back safely to shop by themselves.
We understand Leather bussiness in the Grand Bazaar. we visit some leather jacket stores and leather bag stores in different quality. Leather tanning is the oldest jobs of Turks from central Asia. So it is worth seeing them as an art bussiness.
We have lunch break in local restaurant in Kadıköy to taste delicious local food here.
Egyptian Spice Market, Also known as the Egyptian Bazaar, this is a spice lover’s paradise. You can find hundreds of varieties of spices, herbs, nuts, dried fruits, teas, and sweets. You can also buy Turkish delight, baklava, cheese, honey, and other local delicacies
The Kadıkoy Market is a large and colorful bazaar that sells a variety of goods, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, spices, nuts, cheese, fish, meat, flowers, and more. You can also find clothing, accessories, books, antiques, and souvenirs. This is a huge open-air market that extends from the Kadıkoy Carsisi to the nearby streets and offers even more products.
We take public ferry to go to Kadıkoy where is on the Asian side of Istanbul.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We meet and pick up our guests from the lobby of hotel where our guest poınted. I will be holding sign of Viator to meet.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(10)
We had a fantastic day in Istanbul with Zerrin. She is very knowledgeable and professional. Would highly recommend her for your private tour of Istanbul.
Thank you very much for nice review regarding my guidance. Grand Bazaar tour is very important and precious tour to keep our guests from scams, tricks away. And introducing culture in a best and true style. Thank you again...
This was an exceptional experience and perfect way to experience the Bazaar. Zerrin was a fantastic tour guide who caters the tour to your liking. She is very knowledgeable about the Bazaar and town as a whole and takes you to some very unique places. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to visit the Bazaar in Istanbul.
Dear Mel and Eric; thank you very much for nice review regarding my guidance. I could have a chance to introduce Turkish art and hand craft in non commercial side. Unfortunately, Our culture is getting lost and cheap in mass tourism. I am so glad you loved the tour. Best Regards
What a tour. If love art and history, you’ve found the perfect tour! Zerrin is very professional, genuine and knowledgeable about Turkish history. It’s nice to go to bazaar, not just to shop but to appreciate the history behind it. She took us to many local artists’ shops, antique shops… We had such a wonderful time. I’d recommend her to all of my friends.
Our family booked two-day private Istanbul tour with Zerrin, and has just finished the first half of it. Zerrin is a very ethical and reliable professional guide and highly recommend ! Although Trip Advisor listed her Grand Bazaar Tour and Highlights of Istanbul Tour separately, she is totally flexible and tailor-made our tour to best fit our needs. She even made a special arrangement to make our two-day tour into two-and-half day tour when she found out one of my daughters became physically too tired to continue the first day tour. How kind and considerate ! So, on the first day, we only went to Ayasofya and Grand Bazaar. Just as expected, Ayasofya was very crowded, however, as Zerrin pre-purchased the admission tickets for us, we were able to skip the long que, smoothly enter the World Heritage and admire it's beauty. As to Grand Bazaar Tour, with Zerrin, it is not an ordinary souvenir shopping tour. Since she is a historian with indepth knowledge, she not only took us to reliable shops for shopping, but also introduced Grand Bazaar from cultural and artistic aspects, making our visit meaningful and memorable. Fending off vulture-llike vendors, she navigated us to precious antique shops and one-in-the-world craft shops, making us notice the hidden value and beauty of the historical market. Thank you, Zerrin ! We can't wait for the second round of the tour with you :)
We had a wonderful visit to the Istanbul Grand Bazaar with Zerrin! She made sure we could see the best of it, taking us to the different shops there are, always making sure that we feel comfortable and one thing we loved about her is that she took us to many shops without the pressure or mandate to buy stuff or anything, she was mainly focused on showing us to trust Turkish shops and to explore the diversity in such great Bazaar! Lots of shops in there, you can find basically anything you can imagine. So worth visiting with her, she knows the best places in there!
We were in Istambul in 2016 with touring with Zerrin. She took us to the Grand Bazaar October 2023 and it was as great as it was back then. Zerrin knows all the little nooks and the old world sites within the Grand Bazaar. It’s so unfortunate when money buys the front isles and the shops at the entrances. We were fortunate that Zerrin knows this area so completely. She took us to see Sisko Osman Carpets. This is the kind of place you would like to see in the Grand Bazaar. Out-of-the-way, up and around the corner, behind this and over that. This family has run the carpet company for many, many years and are very ethical. We bought beautiful rug. That’s what I like about Zerrin. She knows who to shop with and why it matters. The reason we went to the carpet shop is because we asked to go back where we had been in 2016. She also took us to shops selling items we were interested in checking out. Since we had been in the Grand Bazaar with her previously, it was great to have Zerrin again. She took his place we had never been before, and returned to shops she recommended the first time we visited. Thank you Zerrin for helping us get around the Grand Bazaar when we had so little time in Istambul.
At the beginning,I wasn’t sure to hire a tour guide to visit Grand Bazaar. It was my second tour with Zerrin. When l asked her where to go in Grand Bazaar, she asked me to do first visit to Grand Bazaar with a tour guide. Tour Guide Zerrin is the best to understand Grand Bazaar. All hidden artisan stores in back streets are worth visiting and it was impossible tonfind non touristic cultural stores without Zerrin. It was fabulous day Zerrin. Thank you.
Excellent fun visit in Grand bazaar with Zerrin! Zerrin took us to many cool stores and we met many wonderful people at the stores. She was a long time, good friend of the shop owners and they treated each other respectfully and kindly, which was so nice to see! We visited places for lamps, tile arts, rugs, etc. etc. She also took us to the spice bazaar which we spent lots of time. Great tea and Turkish delights! We had really fun time!
Grand Bazaar is very important place to visit. It was the place where some beautiful pieces of Topkapı Palace treasury had been made. It is tought as a touristic place which is true. But Tam so glad I could have a chance to show back streets of Grand Bazaar. Thank you very much for nice review. Best Regards...
After booking the 2 days private tour with Zerrin, She suggested to visit Bazaars with a guide before shopping there. We were planning to do it by our selves.But It was really good idea to step in to Grand Bazaar with someone who knows the streets well. We were thinking just to walk around in the streets. There are too many similar stores next to eachother and everyone invites you to their own store. After 15 minutes, we would be thinking just to go out. In next day we started day with Zerrin. She navigated us in shopping style and showed all real artist’s galleries in back streets of Grand Bazaar. We didn’t understand how the time running fast. Here, you can find unique Turkish products and souvenirs like spices, ceramic plates, ornamental lamps, rugs, and many other items. Zerryn is very knowladgable about history of tiles, rugs. Jewellry. We visited small jewellry workshops met with man who has been designing jewelry for59 years. We visited a rug store and had got really good information about the details of rugs. Thank you Zerrin. We were thinking, Grand Bazaar was only place where you can find touristic goods and bargaining place. We were totally wrong. Understood that Grand Bazaar is the hearth of art and craft. We recommend Tour Guide Zerrin. She is very knowledgeable about the history, culture, and food of Istanbul and can tailor the tour to your interests and needs.
Thank you for nice review. It was my pleasure guiding you in Grand Bazaar. Best Regards
We had a wonderful time with Zerrin. Would have been completely lost without her there. We couldn't have done it without her there. The place we ate was yummy and true Turkish food. We visited a rug store and we were treated there with a tea and had a very nice conversation with the owner. They have been doing rugs for generations. It's a family business and they carry it with a lot of pride. She showed us all of the best locations to find non-touristy goods and we even got to witness how they fashion together the jewelry for one of the stores.
Dear Olena, Thank you very much for nice review regarding my guidance service. The historical art in Grand Bazaar is as much as imporant other highlights in Istanbul. Unfortunately it looks very touristic but it is very important to introduce the art and handcraft in right way to visitors. Thank you for booking this trip with me. Best Regards...
