I would definitely recommend experiencing the palace with a guide! Without the background information I wouldn't have been able to guess what all the different parts were and what they were used for. On top of that I learned a lot about how the political and social systems around sultans worked and interesting aspects like cultural changes over the course of centuries. I was lucky enough to be the only person in my tour and my guide was fantastic! She was very knowledgeable and great at answering all of my questions. Another great part of the tour was getting to skip the ticket line. Especially on busy days, that is worth a lot!

Excellent tour with Ilke. Only 5 of us on this day. Very knowledgeable and friendly. Perfect overview of the Ottomon’s and then the palace. The 90 min tour covered the right level of detail and provided sufficient information to allow us to explore on our own for another 2 h after. Definitely recommend.

The palace is beautiful but it’s a victim of its own success as it’s very crowded and chaotic. That’s not the fault of the guide, just something to keep in mind. Be prepared for some queuing chaos. The guide was energetic and insightful. It’s a bit difficult to hear the guide at times because the place is so crowded and noisy, but again not the fault of the guide.