Great experience - The Palace was fantastic and the tour guide was great too. We got there early for the 9:00am tour which was lucky because it was getting busy as we left.

Great tour - Excellent guide, provided right level of information and answered all our questions. Kept to a good schedule. Excellent English.

Great tour of the Dolmabahce Palace - Great small group tour of the Dolmabahce palace. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and provided many details. A must see for visitors.

RECOMMENDED (make sure you have internet everywhere) - Let me start by saying that you definitely need internet on your phone, otherwise you will get (almost) nowhere, but we bought a bundle for 12 euros and that was enough for us. The E-pass is SUPER. Everything is so well arranged, you have support via WhatsApp and you can always ask your questions quickly To be answered. The guides are great and it's great that you can skip lines with a guide. Indeed, they do not always go inside buildings, but that is because that is not allowed and you can get a free audio tour there. We did almost everything, including a day trip to the Princess Islands by boat, which was wonderful. The only thing that really disappointed us was the rug making, which was more like a carpet sale; you walked in and saw a woman working on a carpet. Then you could sit down and as soon as you let us know that you did not want to buy a carpet, you were thanked and you could go. A pass for public transport is also highly recommended, valid on bus, tram, metro and ferry, usually a ride costs 18 Turkish lira. It takes some time to figure out how it works. Buses actually run everywhere, and if your tour ends at Minitürk you can easily return by bus. It stops in front of the door and a lot goes in an hour

Easy entrance ticket (Palace, Harem and Museum) - The palace in itself is quite beautiful, fully decorated with gold and crystal and such. Note that the tour guide isn’t allowed inside, and free audio guides are available (need to give passport, licence, ID or 2000TL/100€ as deposited refundable). The guide does give you an overview of the history outside in the gardens. Mine was very informative and professional. Aside from that, this is simply an entrance ticket so to speak, with a group of 10-15 people. And then you can roam around as you please and lose the group to do your own thing and visit the Harem, Palace and Museum.

Fabulous Palace, Bad Guide - The palace was beautiful and is definitely worth the time to visit! The two star review is solely for the guide we had. Unfortunately I never got the name of the guide because she never introduced herself. The tour began with the guide walking so quickly and never turning back to see if the group was keeping up with her pace. At one point she was at least 100m in front of the entire group. We got two bits of information and were told to go around in the palace for 45 minutes. The information she did tell us was interesting. Our guide did not tell us how long we should spend in each section or where we should be at the halfway point; it was our first time at the palace so we never knew how close or far we were from the end. Aside from not being able to get historical bits of information from the guide, the guide said that she would not wait for us if we did not get out of the palace on time. We ended up running through several sections so we could still get into the Harem. The guide just seemed like she wanted to get the tour done as quick as possible so she could leave. This was definitely not a guided tour. Left with disappointment from not being able to learn as much as I thought I would have. Definitely visit the palace but make sure you have a good guide that actually cares to share their wealth of knowledge.

The Tour Guide didn't show up! - I arrived at the Dolmabahce Palace clock tower, the meeting place, well before the 9:00 AM starting time. At 9:10 I went to the Information Office and asked for help. The clerk called Viator for me. They told me that the starting time would now be 10:00. At 10:15 I said 'to hell with it', bought a ticket and toured by myself. My ticket included a listening device that described everything I was looking at. When I get home I'll call VISA and have the $45 charge reversed! BTW, I have photos of the clock tower to prove what I've said is true! .

Pointless - You really don’t need a guide for this attraction. Don’t waste your money. The tour guide isn’t allowed in the buildings so you get very little information about the place.

Not so much - Here’s the review - didn’t happen! Got an email morning of tour asking to reconfirm - which I did. Then hour later “sorry it’s been cancelled.” Some lame excuse they’re “cleaning or repairing.”. Huh?? Asked for refund - not automatic apparently - was told they couldn’t issue refund. I have to go through the broker that booked the tour - Viator. Allegedly, Viator is refunding me. Not a great experience.

Bad experience with epass with terrible service - The pass I'd not value for money. The service provided was terrible. I gave the feedback in their WhatsApp group and asked for refund I was told that they won't give it. In guided Tour, guides do not go inside unlike other tour companies