Istanbul: Tourist Pass with Over 100 Attractions & Services

Posted By : JensenDK955
Vi havde købt IstanbulTouristPass (ITP) til tre dage, inklusiv fasttrack til Hagia Sophia og museet. De mest populære steder kan du kun komme ind med ITP, hvis du booker en guidet tur. Efter køb forsøgte vi straks at booke ture, men fik besked på, at dette først var muligt efter 26. maj, og at vi først ville modtage vores billetter til Hagia Sophia på den ønskede dag. Vi bookede de ønskede ture den 28. maj om aftenen, alt godt.

I Istanbul hvor vi ankom 4. juni begyndte problemer og aktiverede vores ITP 6. juni, begyndte problemer med ITP.

- Booket tur til Basilica Cistern kl. 10:00, men da jeg kontrollerer turplanen for mødested, kan jeg se, at turen ikke findes. Skriver til support, der blot meddeler at de har ændret planen 26. maj, og det har vi fået besked om. Vi bookede så den 28, så efter, og turen fremgik fortsat af appen. Aflyste og ombookede til kl 16:00 samme dag.

- Med aflyst Basilica ville vi i Hagia Sophia i stedet. Endnu ingen billetter, måtte skrive til support og rykke. De kom så indenfor 15 minutter på mail i form af QR-koder. Ved Hagia Spohia havde de aldrig set den type billet før, men vagten lod os slippe forbi så vi kunne prøve QR koden i scanneren. Det vrikede og vi kom ind, men uheldigt, at sende en billet som vagterne/kontrollørerne ikke kender.

- Guidet Topkapi tur kl 11:15. Mødte 11:00 som anbefalet på hjemmesiden. Ingen guide, stop I Topkapi Cafe, og tjeneren udenfor cafeen havde aldrig hørt om ITP, men sendte os et andet sted hen. Der havde de heller aldrig hørt om ITP og vi blev sendt videre igen. Til sidst gik vi retur til Topkapi Cafe og fandt en anonym billetsælger der fortalte, at det var hos ham vi skulle tjekke ind. Guide ankom 5 minutter før tid, alle andre guidefirmaer står klar mindst 15 minutter før, så gæsterne kan finde dem. Guiden talte så lavt at han var næsten umulig at høre, selvom hanhavde mikrofon på.

- Basilica Cistern kl 15:45 samme oplevelse. Ingen guide, ingen havde hørt om ITP, blev sendt rundt af de venlige folk der stod der, og tilbage igen. Her var der så dukket tre andre par op, der var booket ind på samme tur. Vi ringede og skrev til support, der først mente vi stod det forkerte sted, og langt om længe erkendte, at deres guidet ikke var dukket op (han var der sikkert kl 10:00). Efter lang tids diskussion frem og tilbage fik vi tilsendt QR koder pr. mail, og en lokal guide fra Basilica Cistern tog os med ind og gav os den bedste rundvisning, men ITP guiden kom aldrig. Igen ingen skilte intet, der kunne hjælpe med at identificere mødestedet.

- Hagia Sophia Experience museum. Vagten ville ikke lukke os ind på vores QR koder. Havde aldrig hørt om ITP eller set den slags billet før. Ned til billetkontoret, der efter lidt roden rundt sagde god for vores QR koder og sendte os retur til vagten. Der så skulle kalde frem og tilbage over radioen. Til sidst lykkedes det at komme ind.

- Fredag ville vi have været i Galata tårnet, der var genåbnet. Er egentlig på deres hjemmeside, men som der stod, grundet ombygning midlertidigt ikke tilgængeligt. Nu var det dog genbåbnet, men ITP havde stadigvæk ikke fået det med i passet igen.

- Lørdag morgen 8:45 ingen guide ved mødestedet for den Blue Mosque. Flere andre der gik rundt og ledte efter ITP guiden, mens der stod flere andre guider klar og ventede på deres gæster. 8:55 ankom guiden, tydeligt træt og uinteresseret. Kunne dårligt sige en sætning uden at gabe, og stod med en mobiltelefon med et cover hvor der stod "Allergic to stupid people". Any questions anyone??? OK, let's go. Efter 15 minutter var den guidede tur overstået, med en bemærkning om, at den skulle vare 30 minutter, så hun ville vente ved udgangen fra moskeen, mens vi selv gik ind. Der var andre guider i moskeen, så det vat ikke fordi hun ikke måtte gå med ind og guide, hun gad bare ikke, ville nok hjem og sove videre.

- 15:15 mødetid ved Dolmabache Paladset. Her var der sikkerhedskontrol, men lidt uklart om mødestedet var inden eller udenfor sikerhedskontrollen. Ced Topkapi er den før sikkerhedskontrollen. Vi gik ind og hen til klokketårnet. Så en guide, der så smilende, veloplagt og interesset ud, og havde et flag der så rigtig ud. Hun arbejde så for et andet Istabull Pass (som jeg vil købe en anden gang), men hun havde dog hørt om ITP, og vidst at vores guide ville komme om 10 minutter og udpegede ham også for alle os ventende ITP gæster. Guiden var egentlig faktisk god, men guidede blot 20-25 minutter udenfor. Måtte ikke guide indenfor, i programmet står der ellers 60 minutter. Årsagen var, at det hele lukkede kl. 17:00, og selve paladset tager 30 minutter i hastig gang at komme igennem og Haremmet som man også får billet til tager også 30 minutter. Så vi kunne kun lige nå at suse igennem det hele og få afleveret vores audioguides inden 17:30, så vi kunne få vores pas igen. Hvorfor lave en tur så tæt på lukketid, det bør ITP have styr på, og have taget os med ind en time tidligere, så havde der været god tid til det hele.

Overordnet set, elendige guider, der dukkede op i sidste øjeblik, med total forvirring om mødested hver eneste gang, og det var ikke kun os, det var alle grupperne der var fortabt. Appen logger hele tiden ud, så man skal genindtaste sit ITP ordrenummer, og ikke styr på deres egen guideplan og ingen har hørt om dem dernede, eller også kan de andre blot ikke lide dem og gør alt hvad de kan for at sabotere dem. Vælg selv, men vi skal ikke have et ITP igen, selvom det lykkedes at se altsammen, så skulle der bare bruges for meget tid på at tale med support og frustrationer over guides der ikke kom til tiden.
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Posted On : 2024-06-30 14:24:29

Posted By : janekT4987ON
Breakfast cruise excellent and we got beautiful weather. Good much better than evening cruise. Dolmabahci’s opulence must be experienced. You need a few hours to see it. We took a break and sat in the lovely cafe for afternoon tea and ran short of time to see the rest of the grounds. We went through the crowd quickly in the cistern which was also a marvel with great historical details from the guide who was however slightly green and didn’t manage the group as well. We spent a whole day in Topkapi palace along with the blue mosque etc. Bursa day trip not as worthwhile. Still many more things to see. Last week of June. Beautiful weather and not too crowded. The pass is worthwhile. We are running out of time to go to everything that’s included.
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Posted On : 2024-06-28 04:01:48

Posted By : 735nagehank
Everything was great thanks to easy access and warm guides. We spent 3 full days in Istanbul. Thanks to Istanbul Tourist Pass we had the best of it. We didnt wait any line, guides were perfectly informative, it was easy and comfortable experience overall.
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Posted On : 2024-06-21 02:51:11

Posted By : 570raresh
Quite disappointing this pass. I bought the card for the period of June 10-13, 2024, and apart from the fact that I didn't have to wait in a few ticket lines, it didn't convince me otherwise. At each attraction, you needed a guide to enter. I knew this and accepted it from the beginning. But along the way, certain problems arose. The first was that one of the guides, Aisha, was late to the meeting point. The people in the app didn't notify us of this until I contacted them to ask what was happening. After being late, Aisha just scanned the tickets for entry to the Museum of Islamic Art and said three words about it in the courtyard. Then, she wished us "Enjoy" and left, leaving us to visit the museum on our own, without any guidance.

We had the misfortune of encountering Aisha again at Topkapi Palace and Dolmabahce Palace. Although it was stated that the tour at Topkapi would last 2 hours, she rushed it in less than 1 hour, then wished us "Enjoy" and left. She practically took us through the four gates, we visited only two buildings together, and she left us to wander through most of the museum halls in Topkapi on our own. The same scenario repeated at Dolmabahce. Although the tour was supposed to last an hour, after 20 minutes, Aisha wished us "Enjoy" and we had to see the entire palace on our own. Practically, she comes to these attractions just to give us the tickets, which could be provided by Tourist Pass through the app.

Additionally, I had booked a Bosphorus lunch cruise. Since I did not receive confirmation from the cruise operator, I wrote to the Pass team, who told me it was canceled! It wasn't their job to keep in touch with the operator and inform us. Plus, I received no compensation. So, I decided to book two other Bosphorus cruises without meals, one during the day and one at sunset. When I arrived at Topkapi Cafe, the indicated place to pick up both cruise tickets, I found out from the people there that they operate both and thus only gave me a ticket for one cruise of my choice. And this, only after insisting and showing them the messages exchanged on WhatsApp with the Tourist Pass team, because they didn't want to recognize my reservations made through the app for both cruises.

In short, the only good thing was the first day's meeting with the guide Oguzhan, a nice and very knowledgeable guy who explained the histories of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque to us.

Please don't tell me that Aisha wished us "Enjoy" and left us hanging because guides weren't allowed in those museums. Oguzhan explained to me how he does a 2-hour tour at Topkapi and enters all the palace halls with tourists. Also, at Dolmabahce, I saw a small group of tourists with a guide who was whispering explanations to them as they exited after me.
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Posted On : 2024-06-20 06:23:18

Posted By : NorthStar49409649156
Nice sea atmosphere:) Excellent food :)Excellent service, panorama and music, people dancing, keep it this way:):):)
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Posted On : 2024-06-07 03:54:20

Posted By : Jet44799427144
I wish I could rate this a big fat 0. I researched extensively and this looked like a good option. I worked out that I could attend the attractions I wanted to on my one day in Istanbul and save some money and have a skip the queue and a tour guide. What a joke that turned out to be. Firstly, I booked and no attraction that I wanted to see was available. And every attraction I needed to book for and pay extra. It was over the weekend and no one was available to assist. When I contacted them on the Monday, I was told they had an issue and it was resolved. It looked to be except for one of the attractions which wasn't available (turns out it was closed on the day I booked BUT NO WHERE did the information or website say it was closed on the day I booked!). I booked several tours for the day I was there. I arrived at the meeting point more than 45 minutes before the tour (meeting time was 20 minutes before). I saw some nearby attractions and then waited at the meeting site. As the meeting time came and went, I took pictures of my hand and my watch (time) at the meet site. I also took the same about 3 minutes after the tour should have started - no one there. I bumped into 3 other travelers who were also waiting and who had to move their tour dates to my day due to no shows/cancellations the day before. I contacted the whatsapp number (the other travelers also called) after the tour time should have started. Their response was that the tour guide said no one was there. There were 5 of us, no one approached us, asked if we were waiting - nothing! The tour guide then sent the control centre a fuzzy, unclear pic of the meeting point (must have been about 50 metres from it) to say no one was there and he was leaving the area. The tour guide made no attempt to connect. I was there for 45 minutes and no one approached and asked me if I was waiting. No one was near with the promised sign for Istanbul TouristPass. If the guide was there, he made zero effort to see if he had clients. So all in all, my advise is find another tour guide/pass and DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY with this one. I am getting my credit card company to reverse the funds. Terrible experience, terrible client service and an operating model that doesn't hold tour guides accountable at all
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Posted On : 2024-05-30 14:28:15

Posted By : Marina P
Well organized tours with well-informed guides. We had three tours with Hasan, which were informative and detailed. The pass is worth it if you visit more than four sights. The quick contact via WhatsApp is great. All questions are answered quickly and if events are canceled, you receive information in advance with possible alternative dates.
Some tours have to be booked in advance, which was very easy to do via the app. Absolutely worthwhile experience.
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Posted On : 2024-05-21 13:58:18

Posted By : Stephkrill57
The formula, like all passes, is rather interesting. The guides are very friendly and know what they are talking about (special mention for Augustin)! The range of activities offered is important.
I ordered the Istanbul Card transport card which was delivered to my hotel just before my arrival which allowed me to benefit from public transport straight away.
Two things to improve however:
- the mobile application which does not store the codes in memory (you have to enter the identifiers each time); certain orders did not appear in my reservations (notably bus hop on-off)
- the meeting points of the guides should be explicitly mentioned, which would avoid having to request each time the assistance service, which is very responsive and very efficient.
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Posted On : 2024-05-13 04:13:56

Posted By : Seaside23498805010
Great experience from food to personel to music. If you go to Istanbul you have to do this ! It’s an absolute no brainer, you have to do it !
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Posted On : 2024-05-10 03:16:33

Posted By : Faten L
It is a good experience having a breakfast with a view of the bosphorus 😍. I recommend it 👌
The food is unlimited with the IstanbulTourist pass.
Good ambiance with the Turkish music 🎶 🎵 .

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Posted On : 2024-05-09 03:40:04