Istanbul is wonderful, there is so much to see there. I didn't go with a tour company, I just booked flights and hotel separately. I have stayed in Beyoglu, which is the livelier part with all the shops and nightlife and I have also stayed in Sultanahmet, the older part where the Blue mosque, Aghia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar are situated.

Both areas are nice and aren't too far apart.

I think there are some reviews of Istanbul on here so maybe have a read through. I'm sure you will enjoy your trip.

Kedi

Thanks for that Kedi. We would be looking to travel in November from Glasgow so it would be a flight down to London and then out to Istanbul, I think maybe a package would work out cheaper for us.

we have recently returned from istanbul and it was our second trip in 8 mths , we booked flights with easy jet and got them very reasonable and booked hotel direct too, it was much cheaper for us to do a diy, ive done 2 reviews on here of all the places we went to and ive loaded photos from our first trip so you can look at those, havent had chance to load from the last trip , its a fabulous place so if you want any help let me know. both times we stayed in the sultanahmet area and were happy with this location, if we go again we will stay there again , here are a few of the places we visited

blue mosque

hagia sofia

topkapi palace

cistern underwater

grand bazaar

walked through the hippodrome and saw the columns

eyup mosque and pierre loti cafe, outstanding view of istanbul

bosphorus boat trip, this was great

princes island trip , lovely day out

beylerbeyi palace, fab

spice market

dolmabahce palace, wonderful

kariye church

ortakoy fab on sun with street stalls

new mosque

suleymaniye mosque

galata bridge

we done it and loved every minute done all the tourist things and more then drove in a hire car down to olu deniz 940 km what a great journey
flew to istanbul with easy jet got a shuttle transfer to our hotel in gulhane park 20 euro's for the two of us ( i think he was jenson button relative ) but thats how it is in turkey,there are loads of hotels look around gulhane area or sultan ahmet if you want to be in the middle near the tram service

we done it and loved every minute done all the tourist things and more then drove in a hire car down to olu deniz 940 km what a great journey
flew to istanbul with easy jet got a shuttle transfer to our hotel in gulhane park 20 euro's for the two of us ( i think he was jenson button relative ) but thats how it is in turkey,there are loads of hotels look around gulhane area or sultan ahmet if you want to be in the middle near all the tourist area's which are on the tram route

john on our return journey i was sat next to hubby and mother in law and the hostess said jenson button had sat in my MIL seat on his way out lol, i thought someone with that amount of money would use first class or private planes not good old easy jet

i knew he was moonlighting driving shuttle buses lol