VIP Istanbul Tours: Mercedes S-Class, Helicopter or Private Yacht

Our premium tours of Istanbul run from a private helicopter flight lasting 30 minutes to an entire VIP day with a licensed guide, a Mercedes S-Class and your own yacht on the Bosphorus. The sights stay the same, because everyone sees the same Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace. What the money buys is time: you skip standing in queues, you are not stuck in traffic on your own, and the boat or helicopter is reserved for your group alone.

Comparing our premium Istanbul tours

Check how each tour is priced. Because the VIP S-Class day has a group price, a couple pays less per head than on the luxury tour, which is priced per guest. The luxury tour, in turn, is planned as a longer and more relaxed day, and every museum ticket is included. Neither one covers meals. To compare with more basic choices, our private tours of Istanbul begin at $199 per group with a private guide, and cruises on the Bosphorus start at $75.

A VIP day, hour by hour

Your chauffeur picks you up in the S-Class at the cruise port or your hotel. A private guide leads you through Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia with the tickets bought in advance, so in summer you avoid waiting at the ticket office. Lunch is at a restaurant you pick and is paid for separately; afterwards you can visit the Grand Bazaar or go to Nişantaşı, where the designer shops of Istanbul are. You finish aboard a private yacht on the Bosphorus, cruising by the palaces of Dolmabahçe and Çırağan and the waterside mansions at Bebek and Arnavutköy.

You can change the plan. Guests who already know the Old City can trade the monuments for a longer cruise with lunch served on the yacht, or start the day with the helicopter flight.

Before you book the helicopter

There are 5 seats in the helicopter. Once the guide is on board, it works for groups of 4 or fewer; bigger groups can fly with no guide or request a larger helicopter. In 30 minutes of flying you pass over the Golden Horn, the Old City, the Asian side and the Bosphorus Bridge. Prices begin at $798 per person and vary with the date and season; contact us for the current rate. Including the hotel transfers, plan on roughly 2 hours overall. Weather can ground the flight, so avoid scheduling it for your final day in Istanbul.

Private yachts on the Bosphorus

Of all the premium options, the yacht adapts most easily, since you pay for the entire boat by the hour, at a rate set by its size, the season and the weekday. The shortest charter is two hours. With three or four hours, there is time to sail further up the Bosphorus and eat dinner aboard. Every yacht and pier is listed on our page for yacht hire on the Bosphorus.

When a premium tour pays off, and when it does not

It pays off:

• during July and August, when the lines at Topkapi and Hagia Sophia are at their longest and the heat makes walking and riding the tram tiring;
• for senior travellers or guests who cannot walk far, since the car is waiting at every stop;
• on a brief visit, when a single well-planned day must cover what would normally need two.

In January or February the monuments are quiet anyway, so it helps less then, and also for travellers who love the ferries and life on the streets, which you mostly miss from a chauffeured car. Walking with a licensed private guide, booked through our private tour guide in Istanbul page, gives you just as much insight for much less money.

Hotels and longer premium trips

If you are staying several days, our Istanbul package list lets you pick an economy, middle-class or luxury hotel for each city, with the rate for your dates added on top. You can pair a package with a single VIP day or a yacht evening. Every premium experience we offer sits under our luxury tours, and the Istanbul hotels we use page shows the properties we reserve.

For a wider choice of boats and event setups, see the luxury charter guide on TakeYacht, a sister site of ours for chartering yachts in Turkey.

Frequently Asked Questions