Most memorable and enjoyable trip to visit Turkey!
Turkey | Jun 1 - Jun 7, 2026

Brenda
Brenda A.
France | Reviewed on Jun 11, 2026

We loved the special services of being picked up and brought to our lovely hotel, Armada in Istanbul then have our guide Zekiye meet us- she is awesome, so knowledgeable about the history and the stories shared about the places she showed us in Istanbul. She even recommended us to take a boat tour on the Bosphorus. We enjoyed spending two days with her. Then the guide for Cappodacia, Nihat was also equally knowledgeable and shared so much history about the area. We are becoming educated about this beautiful country, Turkey. We especially appreciate both guides’ flexibility to change some venues when we say we were more interested in architecture and visiting small villages to seeing more Christian paintings and churches in caves. We appreciate that. All in all the planning by KimKim’s team made our trip memorable and the transportation seamless.

Hotel Reviews
Armada Hotel
Istanbul

Wonderful location, ease of access via walking to the historical areas of Istanbul. Breakfast spread so much variety and delicious

Authenticity & Character
Love the antique pieces shown in the lobby around the hotel. Its quiet and clean. Love the view from the hotel terrace- awesome view of the waterfront and the Blue Mosque!!
Location
Perfect location, near the waterfront near the historical district and so many restaurants, also close to a well known hammam
Staff
Very nice and helpful, helped us with our bags too
Cleanliness & Comfort
Our room, the lobby area and the restaurant.
Kale Konak Hotel

It is a lovely cave hotel at the topmost part of Cappodacia. Our room was beautifully appointed and surprisingly very comfortable. Cool in the heat and warm at night. Plenty of lights as there are no windows. The only negative was the deep steps, as its an ancient site, the steps were difficult for us as older people to handle going up and down to get to our room.

Authenticity & Character
It is an authentic cave hotel, there is also a meditation/Turkish room with pillows for us to lie and read. Its lovely.
Location
It is located just across from the famous cave formation called the Castle.however pretty far from most restaurants in the area. We had limited choices where to eat in the evening as the hotel only served breakfast which were plentiful, sumptuous and very delicious. Luckily our guide would take us to nice restaurants before dropping us off for the day.
Staff
The hostess is a lovely young lady who made sure our breakfast was served promptly as soon as we arrived. She was very warm and friendly.
Cleanliness & Comfort
The room was very clean and the room made up daily.
Activity Reviews
Eminönü Heritage Tour: Explore the Historical Bazaars and Ottoman Architectural Sites of Istanbul
Eminönü Heritage Tour: Explore the Historical Bazaars and Ottoman Architectural Sites of Istanbul
İstanbul

Loved visiting the spice and the Grand Bazaar. I liked that our guide took us to the spice market the first day as its smaller and to acquaint us to “bazaars” then the Grand Bazaar which can be a bit overwhelming with its size but we only chose a few “streets” as we had specific things we wanted to buy. We also visited the oldest Turkish delight candy store, visited Rustum mosque with its beautiful blue tiles, and went on a boat tour on the Bosphorus to see both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul which fascinated us. It was a wonderful ending to a lovely tour to just sit on the boat, relax and drink tea seeing the sights. Highly recommend to end with that as we were a bit foot weary by then.

Quality of Experience
As explained above, we get to see bits of history in the places we visited, we even had lunch at the famous Pudding House, delicious food- very authentic Turkish which we appreciate. We even visited an old notable cemetery. Fascinated at the different approach to burials. Fascinating
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Our guide was amazing navigate us to places on the route.
Transport
We took the tram then walked back to our hotel. Not a complicated route. Our landmark was The Blue Mosque which is nice.
Explore the Sultanahmet Square, Blue Mosque + Hagia Sophia
Explore the Sultanahmet Square, Blue Mosque + Hagia Sophia
İstanbul

The Blue Mosque is a beautiful building. I kept staring at it. I have so many pictures of this mosque during the daytime and nighttime. Hagia Sophia has an interesting history we learned from our guide, Zekiye, also the Hippodrome, the scupltures in the area and some buildings have an interesting history. We also visited a carpet store and learned how they made rugs. Fascinating too.

Quality of Experience
So much interesting history shared about Turkey. We learned so much.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
All were prompt and ready, the guide was very knowledgeable about the history and her stories fascinating which is most appreciated.
Transport
We walked and used public transport which was seamless.
Explore the heritage of the wonderful Topkapi Palace + Harem
Explore the heritage of the wonderful Topkapi Palace + Harem
İstanbul

It was an interesting and beautiful palace. We learned so much about palace and harem living and dispelled some myths originally thought. We did not visit all the museums but saw most of it as we were tired and a bit hungry by then. We appreciated our guide being flexible. We did watch the palace guards band which was a nice way to see a sort of reenactment as it was in the olden days.

Quality of Experience
Seeing how the people worked and lived, including politics, harem living, guards’ responsibilities etc.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Our guide, Zekiye is as usual amazing. We walked to the palace from our hotel- it was not very far which is nice.
Local specialist: Berat Ornek
Berat
Berat Ornek
Local specialist in Turkey | Replied on Jun 11, 2026

Dear Brenda,
Thanks so much for this great review!
It was a joy to host you and we are glad to hear you had a nice time in Turkey.
Kind regards,
Berat