Private Tour in Istanbul Great Domes

Active

(1 reviews)

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Instant confirmation

Mobile or paper ticket accepted

About this experience

People in Turkey call the sky the 'skydome,' so you will start your tour under the enormous dome there has ever been. You will explore the city's topography by walking under the skydome at Augustus Forum on the acropolis of Byzantium/Constantinople.
Each step will unveil the secrets of urbanization in Istanbul during the last 2500 years. Then you will enter Hagia Sophia, once the world's largest cathedral with the highest dome for a millennium, now a mosque.

You will then stroll through the Grand Bazaar, where domes cover interlocked streets of shops and marvels. You can hunt for information from the masters of traditional handicrafts, or hunt for anecdotes & stories that bring the city alive from shopkeepers, and eventually hunt for bargains, purchasing souvenirs.
You will visit Süleymaniye, the imperial mosque built by Sinan, the architect with its second highest dome in Istanbul, the Ottoman capital's most prominent Islamic worship building.

Available options

Private Tour in Istanbul Great Domes

Pickup included

What's included

Transportation from/to your address via proper, comfortable vehicle

Professional tour guide experience in various languages

Detailed itinerary

Stop 1

Under the highest dome for a millennium
Hagia Sophia (/ˈhɑːɡiə soʊˈfiːə/; from Koinē Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, romanized: Hagía Sophía; Latin: Sancta Sophia, lit. 'Holy Wisdom'), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebir Camii Şerifi)[2] and formerly the Church of Hagia Sophia,[3] is a Late Antique place of worship in Istanbul. Built in 537 as the patriarchal cathedral of the imperial capital of Constantinople, it was the largest Christian church of the eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) and the Eastern Orthodox Church, except during the Latin Empire from 1204 to 1261, when it became the city's Roman Catholic cathedral. In 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque. In 1935 the secular Turkish Republic established it as a museum. In 2020, it re-opened as a mosque.

Stop 2

Under the largest dome in Istanbul
The Süleymaniye Mosque (Turkish: Süleymaniye Camii, pronounced [sylejˈmaːnije]) is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan. An inscription specifies the foundation date as 1550 and the inauguration date as 1557. Behind the qibla wall of the mosque is an enclosure containing the separate octagonal mausoleums of Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana). For 462 years, the Süleymaniye Mosque was the largest mosque in the city, until it was surpassed by the Çamlıca Mosque in 2019.

Under Domes & Around Marvels
The Grand Bazaar (Turkish: Kapalıçarşı, meaning ‘Covered Market’; also Büyük Çarşı, meaning ‘Grand Market’) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar at Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world.