Burak Plakay

Burak Plakay

Licensed Istanbul Guide | Conversational Historian | Intuitive Storyteller

Born and raised in Istanbul with proud Albanian roots, Burak brings the city’s heartbeat to life—not through rehearsed scripts, but through lived experience, neighborhood tales, and sharp improvisation. He blends a scholar’s curiosity with a comedian’s timing, making history feel relatable and irrepressibly alive. Fluent, intuitive, and endlessly empathetic, he adjusts to each group’s energy—whether you’re a bustling family or a quiet couple, he senses your pace.

Burak doesn’t just guide—he listens, adapts, and stays with you for as long as the journey resonates. His debut blog post on Gordion ventures beyond Istanbul to explore one of Türkiye’s oldest archaeological marvels, weaving together myth, ancient power, and the enduring legacies hidden in the landscape.

About us

We offer a unique, immersive travel experience across Turkey — not just Istanbul's lesser-known corners, but also the valleys of Cappadocia, the ruins of Ephesus, and the coastlines of Antalya and Bodrum, engaging guests in cultural activities like local home visits, market explorations, and Bosphorus cruises.


What we specialize in, above all, is matching each client with the right professional guide for wherever they're headed in Turkey — though if we're being honest, our roster is still concentrated mostly in Istanbul. As of August 2026, that roster stands at 54 professional tour guides, each one personally vetted rather than pulled from a directory. Most of what we arrange are daily and multi-day private tours, guided primarily in English, with guides available in other languages on request.


We also provide a full range of wheelchair-assisted guided tours, custom itineraries, and specialized tours covering historical, cultural, and niche interests like Jewish heritage, vegan spots, and bird-watching — now paired with a guide roster that reaches Ankara, the Black Sea, and the wider Mediterranean region. We also offer transportation services with professional guides for a more personalized and flexible experience.

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