That depends on what you’re after. If you want a highlights reel – famous landmarks and set-menu meals – there are cheaper options. What we offer is different: access to places and people that visitors don’t find on their own. Our Tour Leaders are food journalists, chefs, and neighborhood residents who have spent years building relationships with the vendors, cooks, and artisans we visit. The money you spend goes directly to those businesses. Guests who join our tours typically leave with a list of places they’ll return to independently. That, to us, is the measure of a good food tour.

Very much so. Many of our guests join us alone – and a maximum of 7 guests per tour makes this one of the most comfortable settings for solo travelers we know of. There’s no large-group dynamic to navigate; it genuinely feels like eating with a small circle of like-minded people. Solo guests frequently tell us the tour was the highlight of their trip, and the social warmth takes them by surprise.

A few things set us apart. Our Tour Leaders are professionals – food journalists, chefs, longtime neighborhood residents – not general guides with a script. Our groups stay small (2–7 guests) so every stop feels like a personal introduction, not just another place to check off a list. And we practice honest tourism: we never accept free meals or commissions from the places we visit. Every business on our route is there because we genuinely believe in it. We’ve been operating since 2009, when we started as Istanbul Eats – one of the first neighborhood food tour companies in the world.

A maximum of 7 guests – one of the smallest group sizes in the food tour industry. Small groups are how we get into places that wouldn’t seat a larger party, how our Tour Leaders have real conversations with vendors on your behalf, and how the experience stays intimate rather than becoming a procession. If you’d like to book the entire tour privately for a birthday, anniversary, or corporate outing, select “Book Entire Excursion” when reserving, or write to us at [email protected].

It’s one of the best ways. We strongly recommend booking on your first or second day in the city. Your Tour Leader becomes a living resource – they’ll point you toward exactly where to eat, which neighborhoods to return to, and what to order for the rest of your stay. Many guests find the tour completely reshapes how they spend the following days. A city as layered and rewarding as Istanbul deserves that kind of early grounding.

Your fee covers your expert Tour Leader and all food consumed during the walk – almost a dozen different edible specialties across 9–12 stops. A limited selection of alcohol is included in the price. Come hungry. Not included: transportation to and from the meeting point, and gratuities (though tips are warmly appreciated if your Tour Leader earns one, and they tend to).

After shopping for ingredients together in one of Istanbul’s most food-centric neighborhood markets, your Tour Leader will teach you how to cook six of our favorite regional recipes from across Turkey – dishes like Circassian chicken, stuffed eggplant from southeastern Turkey, Aegean-style mincemeat pastries and more – before you sit down together to enjoy the feast you’ve made.

As early as you can – particularly during peak season, when our tours fill quickly. Our maximum of 7 guests means spots go fast. If a date shows as sold out online, write to us at [email protected] – we occasionally have availability that isn’t reflected on the booking page, and we’ll always try to help.

7 or more days before the tour: 90% refund.

3–6 days before: 50% refund.

Under 72 hours: Non-refundable.

If you need to reschedule rather than cancel, get in touch as early as possible – we’ll always try to find a date that works.

Full payment is required at the time of booking. We use Stripe for secure online payments – your card is only charged once the walk is confirmed.

Multi-walk discount: If you’re joining more than one of our walks – in the same city or across any of our cities – we offer a 10% loyalty discount. Email us at [email protected] to arrange it.

We do. Gift Certificates are available through our Shop and can be used toward any Food Tour across all our cities. They make excellent gifts for curious travelers – and an excuse for anyone to finally book a trip.

We do not offer walks during Ramadan and many local holidays.

Vegetarians: This activity is very suitable for vegetarians and pescatarians. We can plan the menu around your dietary needs.

Vegans: We can accommodate vegan diets on this activity. Please note this at booking so your Tour Leader can plan the shopping and cooking accordingly.

Food allergies: As this is a cooking activity, we can tailor the menu to most allergies. Please email us at [email protected] at least 48 hours before your tour with the specifics so your Tour Leader can plan the shopping and recipes accordingly.

This is difficult to answer simply. In Turkey the halal certification process is relatively new, so though many butchers are halal they may not be certified – and though many restaurants use halal products they may not advertise or even recognize it. Because of this, we cannot confidently say that all of the food on our walks is halal. We wouldn’t want to mislead you.

We have reinforced our commitment to safety with new guidelines to assure maximum safety of our guests on our walks in terms of social distancing and hygiene while maintaining the quality of the experience. For more details on our precautions, read here. Our routes have been altered during this period of time to ensure the safety of our guests, guides and community. Our cancellation policy is extremely flexible to deal with changes in travel plans.

Our walks cover 1.5–2.5km over 5–6 hours, with many breaks built around food stops – the eating is the pause. This is primarily a cooking class with a short market shopping walk beforehand. Most of the time is spent in the kitchen. We recommend comfortable walking shoes. Those in their 60s and 70s find our pace one of the most comfortable they’ve experienced on any tour – the food stops are built-in rest stops. If you have specific mobility concerns, please write to us before booking and we’ll give you an honest assessment of the route.

Alcohol: No alcohol is served on this experience.

Families are warmly welcome. Children 12 and under join at 50% of the adult price; children 6 and younger pay $25. In our experience, younger guests are often among the most enthusiastic – trying unfamiliar foods in a new city is a genuine adventure at any age. Our Tour Leaders naturally adapt the storytelling to whoever’s in the group. This is one of our least strenuous activities, with most of the time spent in a single residential kitchen.

There’s no obligation, and tips are never expected. If your Tour Leader earned one – and we’d like to think they did – it’s always warmly received. For those looking for a reference point, a generous tip outside the US would be around 10% of the ticket value; in the US, you might think of it as you would a restaurant: anywhere in the service range works.

We make between 9 and 12 eating stops – come hungry. The price includes as much food as you’re open to trying; we suggest a portion size at each stop and you follow your own appetite. Our walks often involve street food and sharing plates, which is part of how the group finds its rhythm. When the tour ends, your Tour Leader will help you find a safe, authorized taxi to your hotel or direct you toward public transport if you prefer. Transport to the meeting point is not included in the fee – you’re responsible for getting yourself there.

We have reinforced our commitment to safety with new guidelines and have altered our routes to assure the maximum safety of our guests, guides and community while maintaining the quality of the experience. For more details on our precautions, read here.