We have a new logo!

We have a new logo designed by Dukkan Creative! 

Locally Istanbul is on GuidePal City Guides!

          Now you can reach Locally Istanbul via GuidePal! It's free, easy and fun! 

          GuidePal is a mobile and web-based application that provides free-of-charge city guide apps via iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone. Their city guides currently cover 50 destinations. As of December 2011, GuidePal has had approximately 2.5 million downloads.

          GuidePal’s city guides are created by collaboration between locals and travel journalists, and are targeted towards weekend travellers. In the guides, GuidePal aims to offer an unbiased selection of each city’s highlights, with all tips, and advice, provided by city locals.

          The content is broadly divided into six sections: Welcome to our City; Know the City, See and Do; Restaurants; Nightlife; Shopping. Subcategories: include Transportation, Airports and Useful Tips.

For more information;  http://guidepal.com/istanbul/see--do/locally-istanbul

          

          Best Turkish Films of 2011 will be at Istanbul Modern! Don't miss Nuri Bilge Ceylan's awarded movie " Once Upon a Time in Anatolia!" 
           Screenings at the Istanbul Modern Cinema Center are free with museum admission!
For more information; www.istanbulmodern.org


          2011'in en iyi filmleri Istanbul Modern'de! Nuri Bilge Ceylan'ın ödüllü " Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" filmini kaçırmayın!
          Film gösterimleri müze ziyaretçilerine ücretsiz!
Detaylı bilgi için; www.istanbulmodern.org

          During my first visit to Istanbul, I was lucky enough to spend a day with Erk Erkaya as my personal guide while I was researching upcoming Turkish designers. Erk has been invaluable to my research. And he just plain made my work fun. I hope to be lucky enough to have him as a guide in the future and I recommend him wholeheartedly to any visitor to Turkey. We took some time out to stop by the showroom / studio of menswear designer Hatice Gökçe to check out her collections and I was very glad we did.


Best,
Matthew Zorpas
www.filepmotwary.com

Bohemians rejoice!

          Locally Istanbul will tailor a flexible itinerary for you which is truly individual – offering a level of immersion in aspects of the city according  to your personal taste/interest, and insights which would be difficult to achieve without insider knowledge.

          The gents are so very pleasant and keen to assist, and they take the matter of whether you have a good time personally.

          I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone who wishes to experience and be a part of the “real” Istanbul. A very cosmopolitan, “on the pulse” approach is adopted, which made this trip far more memorable than otherwise it would have been”.

Susan Cockayne – Independent Legal Consultant, Australia.

Ioana & Sam, writing from Tokyo

          My fiancé and I arrived in Istanbul hoping to find a unique place where we can have an interesting but relaxing experience before heading to Romania to spend winter holidays with my family. I have to say that our expectations were pretty high from the very beginning as we never heard anything bad about the place from any of our friends who visited before. And I have to also say that Istanbul completely lived up to our expectations.

          There were two important factors though that I have to mention as without them I am convinced our experience would have never been the same. First is my lovely Turkish friend Ozlem who introduced us to The House Hotel right on  the Bosphorus. And secondly is the hotel staff who introduced us to Erk and Umit ( Locally Istanbul ) when we asked for a tour guide.

          When you research about Istanbul travel you easily come across numerous websites with information regarding things to see and do but from the very first click they breath a very touristy flavor. We really wanted to avoid being part of a big group, walking around the town following a ultra-detailed guide with a flag and ending up stuck in the restaurants that only target foreigners. We wanted something more customized and personal. And this is exactly what we got with Locally Istanbul!

          We liked Erk and Umit from the very beginning. They listened to what we wanted to do and what was important for us and they came up with a schedule that would match our preferences.  They picked us up at the hotel every morning and dropped us off wherever we asked them to which is always very handy in a huge city like Istanbul where all the street signage is in Turkish only.

          We opted to see the “must see” Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar and Spice Market. And the information we got was very comprehensive but not at all locked up into millions and millions of details we would probably remember only for a few minutes. 

We love Turkish food and we were very much looking forward to try this cuisine in Istanbul. Erk and Umit showed us some amazing placed where only the locals (and lucky foreigners like us) get to go. Places which have no name outside at the entrance. Places where you don`t even need a menu – you just need to say how hungry you are (and we were always hungry) and if there is anything you don`t eat or don`t like. And then enjoy. And we definitely enjoyed every single bite of it!

          In a nutshell, let me just put it this way – we felt like visiting and experiencing Istanbul with two good friends! Thank you very much guys, you made our time an unforgettable one!

Ioana & Sam