Istanbul Food Tour

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Top 10 food tours & experiences around Istanbul

From exploring cool neighborhoods to eating with the locals to seeing iconic sites, these are some of our favorite experiences

When in Osaka
make sure to try
“kushikatsu”!

See the city like
you would with a friend who lives there

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When in Osaka
make sure to try
“kushikatsu”!

See the city like
you would with a friend who lives there

The best private food tours & experiences with locals

Perched in its prime position between two continents, Istanbul has seen its fair share of people passing through (it’s the final stop on the ancient Silk Road, after all). Centuries ago, traveling merchants passing through made a pitstop in Istanbul and decided to stay. Today, Istanbul benefits from diversity stretching back hundreds of years, and the city’s food scene celebrates it. Uncover the culture of the Turkish capital on unforgettable food tours of Istanbul with City Unscripted and one of our food-loving local guides. Our Istanbul food tours are the perfect way to explore iconic sights and taste the most spectacular cuisine the city has to offer.

Meet some of our food-loving local hosts

Like the people who travel with us, they have different backgrounds and interests – but they’re all so passionate about the place they call home, they choose to spend their free time sharing it with the like-minded travelers matched to them.

We’ve handpicked them and we’ll match you to your perfect one!

A taste of Turkey

Few cuisines in the world have reached icon status like Turkish food has, and it’s not difficult to see why. Turkish foods took the best flavors from around the world to create tastes and textures that are tough to beat. Discover the very best of them on food tours of Istanbul with a knowledgeable local guide! A taste of Turkey is like a trip around the world spread across a silver platter. Let your host tell you fascinating stories of Istanbul’s homegrown cuisine – a fusion of flavors from the Mediterranean, Middle East, Eastern European, and Armenian. Ready to try it for yourself?

Mealtime at the market

It’s impossible to explore the city without getting lost in a colorful, fragrant marketplace, and food tours in Istanbul are no different. Forget Istanbul restaurants – there are over 200 authentic markets serving up some of the best food in Istanbul, and the Grand Bazaar is just the tip of the iceberg. Get going early on an Istanbul food tour to try a traditional Turkish breakfast, or squeeze in some sightseeing and build up an appetite for street food like fish sandwiches on fresh bread, Turkish pizza, and kumpir – a fluffy baked potato topped with cheese, corn, mayonnaise, peas, and carrots.

Try foods unique to the city

In Turkey’s capital city, you’ll find every food the country is famous for. Discover them on Istanbul food tours (and taste a whole lot of them too!). Your local guide has already scoped out the city’s food scene, and can share all the best-kept secrets with you. Try Şiş Kebap, a juicy kebab cooked over glowing coals, or grab a quick meal of Turkish coffee and a traditional flatbread topped with ground beef and veggies. Or, skip right to the sweet stuff, like jewel-toned Turkish delight or baklava dripping in honey – this is your Istanbul food tour, so you make the rules.

Istanbul travel tips and inspiration from our Travel Magazine

Find the best things to do, places to eat, must eat foods and lots of travel tips in Istanbul and around the world recommended by our local hosts

Latest reviews from our guests

Hands down this was the best tour we’ve ever done! And hands down this tour made our trip special. We filled in a questionnaire before our tour and specified we wanted to go off the tourist trail and immerse ourselves in local life. And what we got was beyond our expectations. Atilla was our guide and he was just amazing. We all clicked from the moment we met and it was like seeing the city with an old friend. He planned the day around what we had said we wanted to do and took us to Kadikoy in the Asian side. We just loved that part of the city. It is so vibrant and full of character. We stopped to have some local food at a little place we never would have found on our own and it was great! We walked through narrow streets, busy streets, quiet streets discovering so much and mostly things we would have totally missed on our own. Atilla was amazing to our 6 year old and she really enjoyed his company too. He took us to a little playground so she could have a little play and that was so sweet. We also got a list of restaurants which was great considering that there is so much choice! Doing this tour on our first day was the best decision ever as we got to understand this city in a way we would have missed had we started on our own doing the main attractions first. We totally recommend you try this tour, which apparently can be shaped to whatever you want from it!

April 2022

Junna T
I did a video call with Cerit to ask questions and get tips about my upcoming trip to Istanbul and it was great! Now I am confident about booking accommodation in the right area and I have a great list of things to do and most importantly, places to eat! I will never travel again without doing one of these video calls

March 2022

Junna T
I spent the whole day with Ilknur in Istanbul and she was the perfect guide you could ask for. She really knows how to personalize a tour according to your nature and needs. For anyone looking for a great tour of Istanbul, whether group or solo, I'll definitely recommend Ilknur a 100 percent.

December 2021

Moeed S
Margo is gorgeous, lovely lady and easy going, open and friendly

November 2020

Cerit C