Istanbul food tours compared: breakfast and ferry across two continents, Kadıköy, Beyoğlu street food, dinner and a dervish show, and cooking classes

💡 The Short Version: For a first food tour, book the Guided Food Tour with 20+ Tastings on 2 Continentsad: from €120.50, 5.5 hours, 1,391 reviews. It starts with a Turkish breakfast near the Spice Bazaar, crosses the Bosphorus by public ferry and eats through Kadıköy and Moda, with the ferry tickets and selected drinks included. For an evening, the Turkish Food Night and Rooftop Experiencead is from €69.78 for 3 hours. The Europe to Asia Food Tourad at €33.92 is a guided walk with no food or ferry included. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices and move with the date.

The tours, compared

Food walks across the Bosphorus

Guided Food Tour with 20+ Tastings on 2 Continents

From €120.50 · 1,391 reviews · 4.9 stars · 5.5 hours

This tourad is Yummy Istanbul’s signature walk. You meet at Viyana Kahvesi in Sirkeci, near the Spice Bazaar, for a Turkish breakfast of cheeses, olives, honey with kaymak and menemen, then cross to Kadıköy on the public ferry, about 20 minutes. On the Asian side there are market tastings, a lunch-style stop for İskender kebab at a family-run kitchen, and dessert in Moda, before the tour ends at Kadıköy pier. The group is capped at 10, and the price includes both ferry tickets and selected local drinks, with alcohol, tips and hotel pick-up extra. It is marked likely to sell out and unsuitable for wheelchair users and vegans.

A ferry in front of the old city skyline, with Hagia Sophia behind. Photo: Moonik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Guided Food Tour with Ferry Ride and Tastings

From €92 · 877 reviews · 4.9 stars · 6 hours

This 6-hour tourad meets at the dairy shop at the entrance gate of the Spice Bazaar, and the listing warns that other shops share the name, so wait at the one by the bazaar gate. It covers eight food spots with 20 samples and 5 local drinks: simit with honey and kaymak, menemen, İskender kebab, stuffed mussels, a fish sandwich in the Kadıköy fish market, künefe, ice cream and Turkish coffee. Round-trip ferry tickets are included, and tips are extra. Two of the eight spots have no vegetarian option, and it is not suitable for vegans.

Ground spices on a stall in the Spice Bazaar. Photo: Miomir Magdevski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Evening Food Tour with Ferry to Kadıköy

From €92 · 569 reviews · 4.9 stars · 4 hours

This evening tourad starts at Karaköy ferry pier, under the yellow sign on the right of the entrance. After the ferry it visits the Kadıköy markets, a fish-market stop for stuffed mussels, a café where locals play backgammon and a restaurant that cooks the home food of south-east Turkey, then returns by ferry for a dessert on the European side. The price covers a guide, the round-trip ferry, 8 food stops with 15 kinds of food and 4 drinks.

Bosphorus Bites Food Tour

From €87.47 · 194 reviews · 4.9 stars · 4 hours

This tourad meets at Coffeetopia in Eminönü, tastes its way through the Spice Bazaar area, a kebab house and a Gaziantep eatery with a garlic-spiked beyran lamb soup, then crosses to Kadıköy for mezze, fish wraps, stuffed mussels, çiğ köfte and künefe. The group is at most 8, the ferry both ways and bottled water are included, and alcohol and hotel pick-up are not. Vegetarians get three or four fewer tastings, and the listing marks it as unsuitable for vegans, pregnant women and people with food allergies.

Europe to Asia Food Tour, Local Markets and Ferry

From €33.92 · 98 reviews · 4.8 stars · 4 hours

This tourad is cheaper than the others because the price pays for the guide and a digital guidebook only: food, drinks, transport and personal expenses are not included, and you buy what you want to try from the vendors. It meets at MADO Café opposite the Karaköy ferry terminal, crosses to Kadıköy on a public ferry and visits markets, bakeries, dessert shops and street vendors, with more than 10 foods and drinks to choose from.

Evenings and street food

Turkish Food Night and Rooftop Experience

From €69.78 · 838 reviews · 5.0 stars · 3 hours

This tourad meets in front of Sirkeci Central Post Office. It tastes street food, stops at a rooftop in Süleymaniye for a view and refreshments, and ends with dinner at a local restaurant in Fatih with more than 10 dishes: five kinds of kebab, meze, salads and künefe. Soft drinks are included, a transfer takes you to a place close to your hotel, and vegetarian or gluten-free diets should be reported after booking.

Istanbul Culinary Tour: Local Hotspots and Gourmet Street Foods

From €95.74 · 125 reviews · 4.9 stars · 3.5 hours

This walkad meets outside Books and Coffee in Karaköy, two minutes from the T1 tram stop, takes the funicular and eats down İstiklal Caddesi: gözleme, çiğ köfte, mantı, tantuni, a dürüm kebab and baklava, with a tea to begin. The group is at most 8 and the walk is about 2 km, ending at Taksim Square. The funicular ticket is included. Vegetarians are accommodated, but not vegans or gluten-free diets.

Traditional Turkish Dinner and Whirling Dervish Show

From €72.99 · 204 reviews · 5.0 stars · 3.5 hours

This eveningad meets at Sirkeci Central Post Office, walks to a venue for a 60-minute whirling dervish performance and then goes to a family-owned kebab restaurant for five kebabs, meze, salads, drinks, tea, coffee and künefe. A private car takes you to a place near your hotel in Sultanahmet, Sirkeci, Eminönü, Taksim, Galata, Beyoğlu or Fatih. Ceremonies and venues are compared in whirling dervishes in Istanbul.

Morning Bosphorus Yacht Cruise and Turkish Breakfast

From €65 · 65 reviews · 4.9 stars · 2 hours

This cruisead leaves from the Karaköy area on a 20-metre yacht with at most 10 guests, passes Dolmabahçe Palace, the Ortaköy Mosque and the Bosphorus Bridge, and serves a serpme breakfast, a table of cheeses, vegetables, hot dishes and jams with unlimited tea, then baklava. Cruises are compared in the Bosphorus cruise guide.

Booking direct

Two operators sell tours on their own sites.

Yummy Istanbul

Taste of Two Continents US$135 · Kadıköy Street Food US$89 · Taksim Evening US$89 · private tours from US$490 · yummyistanbul.com

The company has run small-group food tours since 2013, with groups of at most 10. Its Taste of Two Continents tour is the 5.5-hour tour at the top of this page, with daily departures. The Kadıköy Street Food tour and the Taksim Evening tour are 3 hours each.

Secret Food Tours

Kadıköy €85.99 · Spice Market and Historic Centre €99 · secretfoodtours.com

The Kadıköy tour takes 3 to 3½ hours with 6 stops and up to 10 people. The Spice Market and Historic Centre tour takes 3½ to 4 hours with 7 stops and up to 12 people.

Cooking classes and workshops

The two cooking classes below have 65 and 40 reviews on GetYourGuide, and the large baskets of reviews belong to the coffee workshops, which are not cooking classes. Both classes meet at Highlights in Istanbul Workshops in Hacımimi, Beyoğlu.

Turkish Cooking Class with a Professional Chef

From €90.75 · 65 reviews · 4.7 stars · 3 hours

This classad is hands-on, taught in Turkish or English, and ends with the dishes you made at a chef’s table. The sample menu has soups, imam bayıldı, hünkar beğendi, mantı, meze such as haydari and ezme, and sütlaç, and the menu is settled with the chef after booking to fit your diet. It includes ingredients, an apron, tea and water and a recipe booklet, and not alcoholic drinks or hotel pick-up.

Traditional Simit and Breakfast Cooking Class

From €51.75 · 40 reviews · 4.9 stars · 2 hours

This classad has you knead and bake simit, the sesame bread ring, in a professional oven, and cook menemen, acuka (a walnut and pepper spread) and a jam while it rises. You eat the breakfast at a shared table with unlimited tea. The menu has wheat, sesame, dairy and eggs.

A simit cart in Eminönü. Photo: Enric, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coffee and Turkish delight workshops

The lokum made in the Turkish delight workshop is not eaten or taken home, because it has to rest. Children under 7 are not allowed.

Turkish coffee brewed in a cezve on hot sand. Photo: Miomir Magdevski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

How to choose

• A first full day: the 20+ tastings tour, from €120.50, or the 6-hour ferry tour at €92.
• An evening: the Turkish Food Night, from €69.78, or the evening Kadıköy tour at €92.
• Only a few hours: Bosphorus Bites, 4 hours from €87.47, or the Beyoğlu street-food walk, 3.5 hours from €95.74.
• The lowest price: the Europe to Asia walk at €33.92, with food bought as you go.
• Dinner and a show: the dervish dinner, from €72.99.
• Cooking: the Turkish Cooking Class, from €90.75, or the simit class, from €51.75.

Where to eat in Istanbul names the restaurants, Istanbul in one or two days and 3 days in Istanbul fit a tour into the sights. Hammams in Istanbul is the way to end a day. Where to stay in Istanbul compares the areas, hotels near the Blue Mosque lists the Sultanahmet hotels, and the best time to visit Istanbul gives the weather by month. The full list of bookings is in what to book before you go to Istanbul.