Some people will want a guide for a day or two (particularly in Istanbul), while others will prefer to have one at all times during their trip.

Here are a few more convincing reasons for hiring a private guide:

Tickets for tourist attractions are given priority to guides. Your guide will approach the ticket window immediately, purchase your tickets, and allow you to go in ahead of the crowd.

Guides know how to make the most of your limited vacation time—you won’t have to waste time backtracking or waiting unnecessarily in traffic if a better itinerary is available.

Guides are familiar with the methods and current circumstances. They’d be aware that this week’s Bosphorus cruise boats from Eminönü are quite crowded, but that the same boats leaving from Kadikoy aren’t.

Guides know the best photography angles and locations. Do you want to take nice souvenir photos without having to worry about it? Do you want to know if it’s acceptable to capture that moment in your culture? Inquire of your tour leader.

A good guide knows them all and can find the café, restaurant, or shop that is perfect for your taste. They’ll take you to anyplace you want to go if you tell them what you like.

In Turkey, tourist guides are required by law to complete a lengthy training course and obtain a government tour guide’s certificate.

Anyone who has not been trained and licensed to operate as a tourist guide in Turkey is breaking the law.

Anyone who has ever hired a guide knows that it isn’t just the tour’s knowledge that makes it successful; it’s also about the guide’s personality and sensitivity to your demands and desires.