Daily departures · max 10 guests
From iconic bites to hidden neighborhood favorites.
About Yummy Istanbul
Yummy Istanbul is an Istanbul food tour company. Since 2013 we have run small-group walking food tours through the city's markets, backstreets and neighborhood restaurants, with group size capped at 10 guests. More than 50,000 guests have eaten with us.
We are rated 4.95 out of 5 from more than 7,800 verified guest reviews across Viator, Tripadvisor, GetYourGuide, Google and Airbnb. Our Istanbul Taste of Two Continents Food Tour was voted a Top 10 Food Tour in Europe on Viator in 2022, 2024 and 2025. Every tour is led by an English-speaking local guide with deep culinary knowledge: Turkish cuisine, the markets and the city's everyday food culture.
Our most popular tour is the Istanbul Taste of Two Continents Food Tour: a Turkish breakfast near the Spice Market, the scenic ferry across the Bosphorus, then tasting stops through Kadıköy and Moda on the Asian side. Eight food stops, more than 20 tastings, two continents in half a day. It is the one we recommend for your first full day in Istanbul.
Happy and yummy moments from our tours.
Choose your tour
You meet near the Spice Market and start with a traditional Turkish breakfast. Then the scenic ferry across the Bosphorus and tasting stops through Kadıköy and Moda. It replaces breakfast and lunch. Voted a Top 10 food tour in Europe on Viator in 2022, 2024 and 2025.
Already done the European side? Cross over: stuffed mussels, lahmacun and goat's-milk dondurma, from the Kadıköy market stalls to the backstreets of Moda. Ferry to Europe included.
Spend an evening on the European side. Kebabs in the backstreets off İstiklâl after dark, traditional desserts to finish, Beyoğlu in its evening mood.
Any of these can run privately, with your own English-speaking guide, a start time that fits your day and nobody else at the table.
What you'll taste
On Yummy Istanbul's Taste of Two Continents tour, start near the Spice Market with a Turkish breakfast, cross the Bosphorus by scenic ferry, then eat through the markets and backstreets of Kadıköy. Two continents, eight stops, more than 20 tastings, in half a day.
A guided walk through the Mısır Çarşısı, trading since 1664, past sumac mounds, smoky isot pepper, lokum and dried fruit. This is also where breakfast comes together: fresh simit off the cart, then cheeses, olives, pastırma and kaymak, gathered to carry to the table.
Everything you just bought, now spread across a café table, the menemen arriving hot and çay refilled while you eat.
Some of what you'll taste Cheeses olives honey with kaymak (buffalo cream) hazelnut and pistachio spread sucuk (Turkish sausage) pastırma (cured beef) simit çay, refilled while you eat
Cross from Europe to Asia by ferry, with twenty minutes on deck for photos, sea air, and the city's stories from the water.
Now you're on the Asian side, where the tour moves into Kadıköy's everyday food streets and the pace picks up. Pass fishmongers, cheese shops, olive stalls and pickle counters, then continue into Moda's quieter backstreets. Five tasting stops, and your lunch is sorted, dessert included.
Some of what you'll taste Döner, thin-sliced with hot butter lahmacun midye dolma (stuffed mussels) slow-cooked lamb soup pistachio baklava and mastic dondurma to finish
See the full Taste of Two Continents itinerary →
Daily at 09:30, 10:30 and 11:30 · US$135 · Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Our guides
Every Yummy Istanbul guide is a local who leads in fluent English and knows Turkish and Anatolian cuisine, the neighborhoods and the history behind both. They eat at these places on their own days off. They know the shopkeepers by name.
Ask them anything. The questions no guidebook covers are the ones they answer best.
Our tables
Choosing where you eat took years. We've tried far more places than made the route, keeping the restaurants, street food counters and market stalls that hold up, on both sides of the city. We pay full price at every one, so every stop earns its place on the food alone.
These are the spots Istanbul itself eats at, full of locals on an ordinary day.
What guests mention again and again
The praise is remarkably consistent across our tours. Guests describe generous portions and a tremendous selection of dishes, guides who are clearly well liked at every stop and who teach Istanbul's history and daily life alongside the food, and locally owned spots in the backstreets they would not have found alone. Many call it one of the best experiences they had in Istanbul, with the Europe-to-Asia ferry crossing a memorable bonus. The evening walks and the Asian-side street food draw the same praise.
Perfect for our first full day in Istanbul. I'd highly recommend it.
Incredible value for money, and a great way to see both sides of Istanbul. No need for breakfast before or dinner after.
As a chef and farmer myself, this tour was spot on. Our guide wove the facts in with fun and efficiency.
Our guide knew the owners personally and took us off the beaten path, to locally owned places we'd never have found.
Taking the ferry across the Bosphorus was the perfect blend of rich history, stunning views, and phenomenal food.
A standout guide, knowledgeable, warm and effortlessly engaging. One of the highlights of our whole trip.
Our guide led a small, intimate tour and was excellent at explaining the local culture and food traditions.
We tasted every dish you're recommended to try in Turkey, with great quality, quantity and pacing.
Featured on YouTube
Travel YouTubers Kara and Nate filmed their day on the Taste of Two Continents: the Spice Market, the Bosphorus ferry, then lunch in Kadıköy.
Kara and Nate · Travel YouTubers · Watch on YouTube
Before you book
Updated June 2026
Yes. On a good food tour you eat through markets and backstreets you would not find alone, and it replaces two restaurant meals. Many of Yummy Istanbul's 50,000+ guests call their tour the best thing they did in Istanbul, and it works best early in a trip.
You can eat well on your own in Istanbul with some research and getting around, since the best places are spread across neighborhoods on both sides of the Bosphorus. A tour saves you that time, which matters most when your trip is short. What it adds is a route and stories: 8 stops and more than 20 tastings arranged into half a day, at places local guides have chosen since 2013. Many guests go back to a favorite stop later in their trip.
Yummy Istanbul pairs iconic stops like the Spice Market with the hidden local favorites on the same streets: the lokantas, market stalls and street food counters our guides actually eat at. Our most popular tour ends in Kadıköy and Moda, a side of Istanbul most visitors never reach.
Small-group food tours in Istanbul typically cost between US$75 and US$250 per person. Yummy Istanbul's tours are US$89 for the Kadıköy Street Food and Taksim Evening tours, and US$135 for the most popular tour, the Taste of Two Continents, every tasting included. Private tours start from US$490. Booking direct means no booking fees and free cancellation up to 24 hours before your tour.
On Yummy Istanbul's most popular tour you taste more than 20 dishes across 8 stops: a Turkish breakfast with cheeses, menemen, honey and kaymak, simit and çay, lokum at the Spice Market, then İskender döner with hot butter, lahmacun, midye dolma, beyran soup, and pistachio baklava with mastic dondurma. Vegetarian and some other diets can be arranged with notice. See dietary details
Both, and a good food day does both. The European side has the famous sights, and the tourist districts around Sultanahmet and Sirkeci are full of restaurants geared toward visitors. The Asian side is where locals actually eat: Kadıköy and Moda are full of markets, street food counters and small restaurants people line up at every day, and the food there is some of the best in the city. The two sides are about twenty minutes apart by ferry, which is why Yummy Istanbul's Taste of Two Continents has breakfast on the European side and lunch in Kadıköy.
Most Istanbul food tours run between three and six hours. Yummy Istanbul's Taste of Two Continents lasts 5.5 hours and replaces breakfast and lunch. The Kadıköy street food tour and the Taksim evening tour each run about 3 hours and focus on a single neighborhood.
Yes, if you eat where locals eat. The established places that have served the same dishes for years are the safe ones, and a local guide knows exactly which they are from eating there. Yummy Istanbul has guided more than 50,000 guests since 2013 to places its guides know and trust. Read our Istanbul street food guide
Yummy Istanbul's Taste of Two Continents is the most popular food tour in Istanbul, with 7,800+ verified reviews at 4.95 out of 5 across five platforms and more reviews online than any other Istanbul food tour. It is also a Top 10 Food Tour in Europe on Viator in 2022, 2024 and 2025. When comparing Istanbul food tours, check the group size, the number of tastings, and the review record across platforms.
Yes. Yummy Istanbul has run small-group food tours since 2013, formerly under the name Istanbul on Food, and has guided more than 50,000 guests in groups of at most 10. Its tours have been featured in Lonely Planet and Condé Nast Traveler. You can verify the 4.95 out of 5 rating across 7,800+ reviews on Tripadvisor, Viator, GetYourGuide, Google and Airbnb.
Didn't find your answer? Visit our FAQ page for more or contact us. We reply within a day.
Four food tours, one city. If you can't decide, start with our most popular tour, the Taste of Two Continents. Book now and we'll see you at the meeting point.
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