Half-day Turkish Istanbul Accessible Guided Tour

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Half-day Turkish Istanbul Accessible Guided Tour

The Grand Bazaar is over 500 years old and contains over 3000 shops…. don’t try to visit them all in a single trip! This Istanbul accessible guided tour will bring you to accessible shops in the Grand Bazaar and also give you a tour of two of the most fascinating sites in Istanbul: the Hagia Sophia and the Basilica Cistern.

Like all of our private tours, the tour guide can push a manual wheelchair user if necessary.

Other tours that you may be interested in include the Turkish Istanbul Accessible Walking Tour by Tram (if you’d like a cheaper half-day tour and are okay with walking/rolling longer distances) or the Sultanahmet Istanbul Accessible Private Tour (if you’d like a full-day tour).

Tour Highlights

– Grand Bazaar
– Basilica Cistern
– Hagia Sophia

Accessibility Details

The Turkish Istanbul Accessible Guided Tour has a 4 Star Sage Accessibility Rating because it uses a van with a wheelchair ramp that is suitable for heavy electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters. It also involves step-free routes between the tourist attractions, and the tour guide can push manual wheelchair users. It involves more walking than the Half-day Highlights of Istanbul Handicap Accessible Tour. It did not receive a higher accessibility rating because there are cobblestones and hills on the tour route (they are found almost everywhere in Istanbul).

After you depart your cruise ship, you’ll pass through the red buildings shown in the photo on the left. The Turkish Istanbul Accessible Guided Tour starts with your professionally-licensed tour guide greeting you at the Istanbul cruise terminal exit (shown in the photo on the right).

You will be comfortably transported into the Istanbul city center using a wheelchair accessible van.

Grand Bazaar

Your accessible Istanbul guided tour includes a visit to the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. It consists of 61 covered streets and over 3000 shops. You will have time to shop in this 500+ year old market before heading to the next accessible tourist attraction

The Istanbul Grand Bazaar accessible tour will use one of the wheelchair accessible gates to enter the market (shown in the photo on the left). It will avoid entrances that have one or multiple steps (shown in the photo on the right).

Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern (also known as the Underground Cistern) is one of the most unique attractions you’ll see on the Turkish Istanbul Accessible Guided Tour. This 6th century water storage cistern was fed by a 19 km long aqueduct, and it can hold 80,000 cubic meters of water. The ceiling is supported by 336 nine meter tall columns. Your accessible Basilica Cistern tour avoids the 52 steps at the entrance and includes permission to use the wheelchair lift at the exit (shown in the photos below).

Hagia Sophia

The Turkish Istanbul Accessible Guided Tour includes a visit to the Hagia Sophia which was a church from 360 AD to 1453 AD, a mosque from 1453 AD to 1931 AD, and a museum since then. It contains numerous mosaics and was the world’s largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years.

Your Hagia Sophia accessible tour will use the step-free ticket entrance located on the west side of the building (shown in the photo on the left). Your tour guide will escort you to the building entrance with the wheelchair ramp (shown in the photo on the right).

The tour route inside will use the wheelchair ramp up to the former location of the altar (shown in the photo on the left). The Turkish Istanbul Accessible Guided Tour will avoid the steep, cobblestone covered ramp shown in the photo on the right.

Tour Details

Tour duration: 4 hours
Cost: €625 for 1 peson, €650 for 2 people, €720 for 3-4 people, and €790 for 5-6 people.
* €50 off if booked as part of an accessible cruise & excursions package.
* €20 off if booked as part of an accessible Istanbul travel package.
Days of the week the tour is offered: Every day except Monday (when the Hagia Sophia is closed) and Sunday (when the Grand Bazaar is closed)
Meet-up time: 8:30 am or 1 pm
Meet-up place: Cruise dock or accessible hotel lobby
Dress code: In mosques you will need to cover your knees and shoulders. Mosques can typically supply you with a piece of fabric to cover yourself. In the Blue Mosque, ladies do not need to cover their heads.
Maximum number of people on tour: The accessible van can hold 6 people.
Entrance tickets: Not included. Some entrance tickets are free for disabled visitors if they have an ID card from their home country stating the percent of their disability. Otherwise, the Hagia Sophia is 40 TL and the Basilica Cistern is 20 TL.
To review our cancellation policy, please click: HERE. Tours run rain or shine.
Not included: Entrance tickets, snacks/lunch, and gratuities.

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