Hagia Sophia Guided Tour with Skip-the-Line Tickets

The pre visit talk outside was interesting and well delivered but we hadn't been made aware that the guide would not be coming inside with us. And although we spent in total only 30mins queuing we skipped nothing at all so ticket sale promise was disingenuous . I also want to mention that as a picture conservator I was amazed by the quality of the overpainting of the interior Orthodox artwork ...such angel's wings in this site of legendary cultural importance.........

I was in Istanbul during Eid, with huge crowds , so happy to have purchased these tickets. Easy process and excellent guide

To be honest, my partner and I felt a little bit underwhelmed by the tour. We did get to skip the line for the Hagia Sophia, but we got a 10 min briefing before we went in and then as soon as we entered our guide showed us to the audioguide area and left us saying "he wasn't allowed to guide us through" which we saw a sign for, however there were probably 50 groups that we saw that were being guided, so that felt weird. As for the Blue Mosque we could barely hear our guide and we only spent about 15 minutes inside, and it was free entry... So it definitely didn't feel worth €112 for two people. We more or less paid that much for just the Hagia Sophia and a 30 minute tour. Overall it was a fun day though and they are definitely sites worth seeing.

The Headout tour guide (sorry can't remember his name) was friendly, thorough and knowledgeable. He provided a summary of Hagia Sophia history therefore I had a bit of understanding going in. Hagia Sophia experience especially after visiting HS Museum was outstanding!!

Interesting,informative and fun experience. The tour guide was very humorous and open to questions. The skip the line part was also amazing,as we just passed through the very long line of people waiting to buy tickets.

A lot of Information about the history of the Hagia Sophia and things which vanished and things which are still visible!

Even though our entry was delayed to the President's visit, the wait was worth it. The experience of getting inside, having the space to view the mosque and the peace inside was the recipe of a great experience.

The guide was very good but it was a busy day and the security queue was very long - coupled with the fact that the Turkish president was due to attend that day it meant that it was not certain we would gain entry. In the end we got in but other than the building itself there was little information inside to look at. Paying attention to the guide was difficult as we shuffled along the queue and he was frequently interrupted.

I would have loved the tour to be a bit longer and was somewhat disappointed how short it was and that the guide couldn't come with us into the mosque. I know that this is due to official guidelines but I would have loved to still learn a bit more about the history of Istanbul and Hagia Sophia

Our guide was disinterested and unenthusiastic. He did not come to the Hagia Sofia with us because he said guides were not allowed in. There were a lot of people accompanied by guides.

The guide did a good job explaining and giving background information outside. Getting into the venue was very easy. Everything was well organised. My dissatisfaction stems from the site itself which is quite underwhelming and overpriced after all.

Guide found very easily at the indicated meeting point, fluent English but at the same time easily understandable (even by one not proficient in the language) during the whole OUTER tour of Hagia Sophia. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond their control, the guide is no longer allowed inside Hagia Sophia so you miss the most important piece of the entire tour, too bad. There is, however, an audio guide inside.

Everything went smoothly, didn't experience any issues, the support team was helpful, also the tour guides were reliable. Thumbs up

Had a great guide "Hakan" who gave us a great roundup of information about the history of Istanbul but it wasn't too much, it was on the point.

He was a good guide, but being such a big group it was very difficult to hear clearly everything he was saying. It could be better if he had a headset or something like that.

Informative and guide was lovely and polite. He also came on time as scheduled. The WhatsApp information is helpful to inform customers on the exact location to wait as the location on website is slightly different.

Unclear meeting place. Very friendly guide. Too many details given by the guide which made the experience unclear.

The guide was nice and interesting. We could ask a lot of questions. The timeslot of our tour was 15minutes earlier than planned/booked due to prayer time. We were already there so it wasn't a problem for us but got no call or emails from Headout or the people organising the tour.

Good guide, Deniz. Blue Mosque visit interesting and informative. Hagia Sophia visit a disaster!!!!! Stood for over 1 hour in queue. Headout has to take responsibility for the scheduling of these tours. Headout should also include realistic warnings about the wait times

Guide for Blue Mosque good. Guide for Hagia Sophia was fantastic, really put her energy and passion into telling and presenting. Only issue is the tour was advertised to be two consecutive hours 11 am to 1 pm, where in realty it was 11-12 am for Blue Mosque and 2-3 pm for Hagia Sophia, which messed up our day a little.