Small-Group Topkapi Palace and Harem Tour: Highlights & History

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• Sultanahmet District (Pass by)

  Meet your expert guide and join your small group for a walking tour of Topkapi Palace and see its Harem, too. Visit the top site in Istanbul with priority admission tickets.

  Admission ticket free
• 1
  TopkapI Palace

  Start your tour after you pass Sultanahmet Square. Enjoy your guide's commentary about Topkapi and the Ottoman Sultans who lived in it. Visit the Palace complex of low buildings and pavilions, kiosks and courtyards. It’s a self-contained city that most of the inhabitants rarely left. There are many sections open for visits and you will get an in-depth walking tour through all the displays. Savor this romantic scene with the views of the Bosporus in Istanbul. Enjoy walking the outer terraced gardens, where flowerbeds blaze with tulips of many colors and climb the high terrace to admire the view over the Golden Horn,too.

  2 hours • Admission ticket included
• 2
  TopkapI Palace

  Visit the Harem in Topkapi Palace: the famous house of the Monarchy. Filter myth from reality as you listen to stories from your guide. Witness the very seat of the Ottoman Sultan’s power in Topkapi Palace lying within the deepest reaches of the Harem. Learn how it was ruled by the Queen Mother who wielded both domestic and political power. The Harem housed hundreds of women-mostly war captives- and family members as well as hundreds of eunuchs, who performed a whole range of administrative and personal duties. Walk through the sections where the eunuchs lived and were educated. Take photos of the courtyard of the concubines and the Queen Mother’s Rooms. See cupboard doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell. Our walk through the Harem is the only way you can see the very early exceptional Iznik tiles with verses from the Kuran and beautiful floral designs. End the tour seeing the Holy Relics and the Imperial Kitchens. You may choose to have free time afterward.

  1 hour • Admission ticket included

Additional info

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• Istanbul notoriously has bad traffic. Give more time to get to the meeting point than you may have planned
• Topkapi Palace is a vast complex with multiple sections open for visit. During our tour, we'll visit the most magnificent masterpieces. However, if you wish to explore all sections at your leisure, we recommend booking a morning tour and allocating the afternoon to explore the Palace grounds.
• Tickets are timed and expire within 5 to 10 minutes.
• Please be advised that it is not possible to join the tour after it has commenced.

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