Although our company and experience in
general Turkish tourism dates back to 15 years, we
have been organizing tours and travel related services in
Turkey since 2001 exclusively for gay and lesbian
guests from all over the world. We are more focused on
independent and customized tours and travel
services for individuals and for groups rather than typical
scheduled gay tours, because of the limited potential of gay
visitors and also because the people need a personal touch
in a country like Turkey full of mysteries for new comers.
Below are just a few samples of some recent services
we have provided before and the testimonials of some of our
former clients. You can trust that all of these testimonials
are real and mostly our clients delivered them without being
requested especially. We are hoping many new ones will added
to our pages in time. For us personal satisfaction is the
best advertisement.
From left, our guide, Mr.
Berns and friends
You can click to enlarge this photo.
Mr.
Berns is director of Aces Entertainment, Inc.
modeling agency that is growing fast in North America and
Europe. For details see:
Ace Models:
http://www.acemalemodels.com
Testimonial:
Hi Mustafa - I just wanted to thank you for the great
service. Seljuk did a wonderful job. We all had a great time
and got to see people, places and things that would not be
possible on our own. Exactly what I had hoped for - Please
pass my thanks on to Seljuk well - he was great.
I'll certainly recommend you guys in the future.
My Best, Chris
DATE : January 07-11 2010 SERVICE : Accommodation and Various Tours in Istanbul for 2 pax CLIENT : Mr. Alessandro (Italy) Testimonial: Dearest Ms. Derya and Mr. Mustafa
Just a few lines to thank you for all the gentleness and
professionality showed towards us.
We've been around quite a lot and our initial expectations
on Istanbul were not exactly the highest. You swept away any
cliché about Istanbul and Turkish people.
Thanks to you Istanbul is now among my 5 top favorite cities
I've visited so far and Pride Travel ranks the best Travel
Agency we've traveled with. Please forward this message to
Ali (Mr. Silk for us buddies) so to let him know too how
much we appreciated his excellent work as a professional
guide. We've never felt so comfortable and relaxed with a
guide -it was like traveling with a good friend.
Sincere congratulations and keep up with the good work!
DATE : October 22 2009 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour for 4 pax CLIENT : Mr. Derek (New Zealand) Testimonial: Dear Mustafa,
Just wanted to pass on our thanks for helping make our stay
in Istanbul truly memorable. Our guide was amazing and gave
us an excellent insight to the gay scene in Istanbul, and
would ask that you let him know how much we appreciated his
time with us. He was just the best ! ! ! !
Keep up the good work. Many thanks
Derek
DATE : August 21 2009 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour for 1 pax CLIENT : Mr. Panca (Japan) Testimonial: Dear Mustafa,
Thank you very much for the arrangements for yesterday. I
had a great evening indeed.
The guide is a great guy, very friendly and kind (and cute,
too :-)).
I am looking forward to use your service again, the next
time I visit Istanbul.
thanks and regards,
Pance.
DATE : July 25 2009 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour for 1 pax CLIENT : Mr. Michael (Canada) Testimonial: Dear Ms. Derya, I would lıke to thank
you. Selcuk was a charming young man and I enjoyed his tour
very much. You offer a great service and you employ
excellent guides. This evening I will try to find the places
he showed me last night. Again, thank you..
DATE : May 31 2009 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour for 2 pax CLIENT : Mr. Matti and his friend from Finland Testimonial: Dear Mustafa, I would like to thank our
guide for an excellent city tour on 1.5. You were too
modest, when telling me, that the guide is average. He was
extremely good and fulfilled our wishes perfectly. If it is
possible, I would like to have the name of our guide,
because we would like to tell to our friends coming to
Istanbul about your office and him. We would like definitely
to ask our friends to have him as their tour guide.
Best regards
Matti
DATE : December 24
2008 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour for 1 pax CLIENT : Mr. Daniel C., USA Testimonial: Dear Mustafa
Mustafa,
Now that I am home and getting all settled back in, I wanted
to thank you for sending Ismael to tour around with me. He
was very sweet and a great help and I just wanted you to
know how appreciative I am. Thanks again. I had an amazing
time in Istanbul and can't wait to come back!!!!
Daniel
DATE : October 03
2008 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour for 1 pax CLIENT : Mr. Francis M. Testimonial: Dear Mustafa
Thanks for arranging my guide last niıght. I had a great
time and explored many places I would have missed if I were
on my own. The guide was great and very helpful and
friendly. Thanks again - I will say hi to you if I see you
again - I will recommend this service to other people I meet
who intend to go to Istanbul. Cheers; Francis
DATE : September 20
2008 SERVICE : Private Guided Istanbul City Tour for 2 guests CLIENT : Mr. Robert S (USA) Testimonial: Dear Pride Tours
I have just returned to San Francisco and wanted to let you
know how much I enjoyed the Pride Travel private tour of
Istanbul. Our guide and driver were excellent and the tour
gave us an experience of the city that we never would have
been able to achieve on our own. Thank you for making the
trip to Turkey so enjoyable.
Best regards
Robert S.; San Francisco, CA USA
DATE : September 08
2008 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour for 1 pax CLIENT : Mr. P. Bray (USA) Testimonial: Hello. I just wanted to drop a note of
thanks to your office and to Ismael. Ismael took me on an
early evening walk in early September. His promptness,
insights, and optimism all made for a wonderful view of my
time in Istanbul. Thank you. Peter
DATE : September 06-26
2008 SERVICE :
Customized Turkey tour covering Istanbul and Cappadocia for
2 pax CLIENT : Dr. J-P. Christopher Jackson and Mr. Ray
Robertson.
Dr Jackson and his partner Mr. Robertson are both Turkey
lovers & supporters. Although they were not fully satisfied
with some of the hotels they stayed, they seem to have
enjoyed their trip a lot and have reflected their
impressions and published the photos they have shot
during their Turkey tour on Flickr's Photo set pages.
Please click here to see these great photos and
their additional comments. (Slide Show
option recommended)
Testimonial:
Dear Derya,
Thanks to you and all of your staff for making our trip a
special holiday. You deserve a great deal of praise for
establishing the first gay-oriented travel agency in Turkey.
I am sure it was not an easy task. And although my partner
and I did not avail ourselves of the "gay" specific tours
and club guides, choosing instead for you to help us with a
more traditional, but customized tour of two specific areas
of Turkey, namely Istanbul and Cappadocia, we can say that
your agency performed in a very responsive manner. Your
internet manager is the most responsive communicator I have
encountered in the Internet world, and your sister and other
staff addressed the problems that arose promptly and without
complaint. You have an excellent team, and the problems that
did arise were not of their making.....
DATE : July 25-August 16
2008 SERVICE :
Ccustomized Turkey tour for 1 pax, a complete package
covering Istanbul, Fethiye, Boat cruise Cappadocia tours etc CLIENT : Ms. Donna M. (USA) Testimonial: Dear Derya,
I just wanted to say thank you so very much for an
unbelievable tour that you arranged for me. Everything was
arranged so beautifully! I really enjoyed touring Turkey,
and I would like to return to visit other parts, including
areas around the Black Sea and eastern Turkey. I will
definitely get in touch with you when I return.
Again, thanks for making my vacation one that I will always
remember.
Regards, Donna M.
DATE : June 10-16-2008 SERVICE :
Customized Turkey tour package for 2 pax, covering Istanbul
and Bodrum CLIENT : Mr. Michael Conway Testimonial: I wish to extend a big thank you to all
at Pride Travel for helping make our tip to Istanbul and
Bodrum a great success. Everything went as planned. We loved
the trip, the people and the experiences we had. I will most
certainly recommend you as the travel company of choice.
Turkey is a beautiful country filled with wonderful,
interesting people. I look forward to returning someday.
All the best,
Michael Conway
DATE : October 23-30-2007 SERVICE :
Customized Istanbul Package including tours, hotels dinners CLIENT : Mr. Scott B, USA Testimonial: Derya: I got back to Chicago safe and
sound last evening. All went well. I had an excellent,
excellent time in Istanbul. Thank you very much for all of
your help. (And Sedat and I had several very nice evenings
together before I left ). Best regards from Chicago. Scott
Baransk
DATE : September 02-2007 SERVICE :
Customized Istanbul and Turkey Travel Package for 4 pax CLIENT : Mr. Lois and his friends, USA Testimonial: Derya & Company:
I arrived home in New York on Sunday afternoon, 09/16,
leaving Louis, Robert and John still touring in Turkey
(those lucky people).
I just wanted to drop this note to say a very heartfelt
"Thank You" to you and your staff for the excellent
accommodations and tour plan you put together for us. There
were many variables in our itinerary and everything was
executed flawlessly.
My first visit to Turkey was fantastic and memorable and I
will certainly recommend your agency to any friends of mine
who might be considering travel to Turkey. I wish you every
success in your business.
Thanks again.
Steve
DATE : July 06-2007 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour CLIENT : Mr. Jeffrey Trent-1 pax USA Testimonial: Just wanted to let you know how much I
enjoyed my City Tour on July 6th. It was the best part of my
visit to Istanbul. My guide was prompt, professional and
lots of fun. He made me very comfortable and introduced me
to many friends. As it was late when we finished, I forgot
to get my guide's e-mail in order to correspond and thank
him. If appropriate, can you forward me that info?
Once again, I appreciate you and your staff and the
excellent service you provide. I will definitely be coming
back and working with you and your staff again in the near
future.
Thanks,
Jeffrey P. Trent
Attorney at Law
DATE : June 03-2007 SERVICE : Istanbul and
Ephesus Daily Tours for 1 pax CLIENT : Mr. Todd Austin-2 pax USA Testimonial:
Hello there,
I wanted to write and thank you for arranging our great
Istanbul and Izmir trips. They were the highlight of our
holiday. We so enjoyed touring Istanbul we our nice lesbian
friend. When I hear of friends heading to Turkey I will
certainly give them your email. Thanks again and it was a
pleasure meeting you!
Todd Austin
DATE
:
April 29-2007 SERVICE : Private Gay Bar & Club Tour CLIENT : Mr. Christophe Durand, France, who is a
well known artistic director, event organizer, and studio
make-up artist
http://www.christophedurand.com Picture: Ms. Derya, our guide Kenan, Mr. Durand,
Kenan's boy-friend and our another guest. Testimonial: Hello the nice family,
I just want to tell you that I spent a magic night with your
very good guide. he is good in English, cool nice to talk
with and I hop I will do it again. please let him know it.
he is so professional
he even came to pick me up late at night to be sure every
thing was ok. Please say hello to his friend to, and give to
Kenan, my contact, so I can guide him once in Paris. it was
one of the best night in Istanbul. I hope to do it again
sooooon! so we keep in touch, and if I come back to Istanbul
I ll let you know.
I left on Monday to Rio for more sun and heat at the
beach.... I will com in turkey in July for a cruise with
some friend. magic country
Tesekkur ederim (thank you)
Gorusuruz (see you again)
DATE : April 25-24 2007 SERVICE :
Customized Tour of Turkey + Athens CLIENT : Mr. Ian Campbell and his friend Max,
Australia Testimonial: Dear Derya & Mr. Korkmaz.
We would like you to know that we were pleased with the
itinerary and that we saw the parts of Turkey we hoped to.
We were pleased with the quality of hotels during our tour.
The Hotel Helen, Atinc, Pearle Mare were satisfactory and
their menu and service was adequate to our needs. The
Gordion in Ankara is a good hotel we would happily
recommend.
Our travels to the various itinerary locations was
satisfactory, we were well looked after by the various bus
companies we encountered and our journeys ended
satisfactorily. The bus station pickups were very very good
and were pleasing to meet. Many had waited patiently for
late buses. They should be thanked.
We both are very happy with our travels in Turkey. Your
organization of our itinerary proved most successful.
Thank You for your help.
Our only crisis, the departure time on our itinerary for
first tour day.
We heard no more from Gurkan?
The Hotel Amaryllis in Athens its a dump. However it does
have reasonable location. The room standard is very low,
(not even a small fridge in the room). The breakfasts were
limited in size and range. Athens is a filthy dirty city. If
it was not for the antiquities, you would not go there.
I hope everything works out with the elections for
President.
Ian Campbell & Max
DATE : December 27-Jan 01 2007 SERVICE : Hotel reservation and
Private Gay Tours CLIENT : Mr. Derrick Leon, Singapore citizen working
in U.A.Emirates Testimonial: Hi Derya & Mustafa,
Dear Derya (& sis) & Mustafa,
Thank u so very much for the arrangement of the tour guide
Emir. I had a wonderful time in Istanbul and will always
keep the fond memories of my short stay there.
Derya, it was nice to have lunch with u and your sis (sorry
I can't remember her name) and the nice chat over the
wonderful lunch.
Emir & I spent the New Year Eve together till 7 a.m. the
next day. The dinner & show at TT'S were good & met lots of
nice people around. Thereafter we went to one of the clubs &
danced throughout the night. It was so packed inside that we
could hardly find place to stand.
After the club we walked along the streets & met the people
who had just finished their party & we exchanged New Year
greetings.
I really enjoyed my time there in Istanbul. THANKS. And I
will be looking forward to my next visit - hopefully to
spend a bit more time in Turkey.
Please covey my thanks to Emir ... and tell him I really
enjoyed his company. (heehheeee.... actually I kinda fancied
him)
Happy New Year.
Regards,
Derrick
DATE : August 13-19 2006 SERVICE : Customized private charter cruise from
Bodrum for 19 guests CLIENT : Mr. Stavros, New York- USA: Testimonial: Hi Derya & Mustafa,
Firstly, THANK YOU so much for your patience in helping me
coordinate this trip. All of our friends had a wonderful
time. The crew on the boat went above and beyond to make it
a fun time. When we do it again in a few years, we hope to
get the same crew: Taner, Unal and Murat. They were amazing.
Thank you for confirming those last-minute items for our
final day on the boat. The boat owner had a different
timeline then what was agreed upon.
........
With all of that said, we all had an amazing time: the boat
was impressive, clean and well-maintained; the crew (again)
were just fabulous -and worked very hard the entire time.
The food was fantastic - and the cook was very helpful in
changing some menu items when we requested. We changed
captains after 3 days (the owner of the boat took over) so
we really didn't get to know either of them well.
Even our wine and cake arrived on time!
We thank you again for arranging the private tour of
Istanbul - Gokhan was excellent. You should use him more
often!
If anyone you are dealing with asks for a recommendation,
please feel free to contact me.
We look forward to working with you again!
Warm Regards,
Stavros
DATE : July 20-25 2006 SERVICE : Customized Turkey Tour covering
Istanbul Bodrum and Cappadocia CLIENT
: Mr. Max Snow and Frank J.Ellison. Log Angeles - USA:
We had very important guests from Hollywood in July 2006.
Frank and Max are important figures in American film
industry and they have been in charge as financial
controller, production accountant and producers in very
famous films such as Swordfish, Lake Placid, Father of the
Bride, Mississippi Burning etc. Frank was about to start a
film with Angelina Jolly soon after. They surprised us with
their modesty and treated us as friends.
Testimonial: Hello Derya- Just a quick note to say
hello and thank you again for everything. We hope that you
are well. We arrived home safely 12 days ago and started
back in to our routine. We hope that you will be able to
make it to Los Angeles one day soon. Please send our best
wishes to everyone. I am attaching the picture of me, you
and Max.
Hugs, ......... Frank and Max
DATE : July 22-August 01 2006 SERVICE : Customized Turkey Tour covering Istanbul
and Antalya for 2 guests. CLIENT : Mr. Peter Mauceri, USA: Testimonial: Dear Mustafajust wanted to send you a
note of thanks for your excellent work in setting up our
trip to Turkey. Both hotels were terrific .the one in
Antalya a real mind blower!! (I didnt know daily dinner was
included as well so that was a very pleasant surprise) .Your
personal tour was also very helpful and a nice way to orient
ourselves to the city .though we really didnt have much
time to go back to most of those places!! Were already
thinking about our next trip .hopefully sometime toward the
end of the year this time in addition to Istanbul wed do
five nights in Bodrum what hotels do you recommend there??
Again thanks you and Derya were terrific. We are telling all
our friends to talk to you before they plan a trip to Turkey
Peter
DATE : July 22-July 26 2006 SERVICE : Customized Turkey Tour covering
Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Bodrum, Fethiye, Kas,
Antalya for 6 guests CLIENT : Geoff Kerins, Lancefield-Australia and
friends Testimonial : Hi there Derya
Helen, Brian and I are back home while the others go onwards
with the rest of the tour. Id like to thank you for
everything you arranged for us all. It all went absolutely
according to plan and were all very grateful for your
extreme efficiency.
So hoping to be in touch with you again next time Helen
and I are definitely coming back soon. We loved it.
CLIENT : Henk Eijsbouts
& Dono Hardjowisastro, a 16 years gay couple from
Netherlands chose our company for Henk's 60th birthday
celebration, when they had to be in Istanbul according the
their scheduled rally of classic cars starting from
Amsterdam, ending in Beijing. We organized every detail for
them and their gay and family friends over 150 people. Henk
(who is a dentist & implantologist) and Dono came to
Istanbul driving a Citroen DS from 1975.
DATE :June 05-07 2006 SERVICE : Customized Istanbul Package for Mr
Marcos, who is a travel agent himself. CLIENT : Mr. Marcos Da Silva-BFirst Travel Australia Testimonial : Dear Derya.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for
arranging my short break in the beautiful Istanbul.
Everything was perfect and my stay was a memorable one.
I don't have Ozzy's email address (the tour guide who did my
private day tour in Istanbul). Could you please forward the
attached picture to him for me, thank you.
Kind regards,
Marcos
DATE : May 06-07 2006 SERVICE : Customized Private Guided Istanbul Tour
for 34 guests CLIENT : 34 Guests calling themselves "Mature
Friends" leaded by Mr. Jerry Jordheim, Seattle-USA,
who came to Istanbul with Perla Cruise-ship of Louis Cruise
Lines Testimonial: Back in Seattle last night with no
problems. Mustafa, you appeared and disappeared so never did
talk with you. Now Derya, you were right there beginning and
end. Good to have met you and will keep my eye out for your
magic lipstick princess. Enjoyed working with you all. Jerry
DATE
: May 06-07 2006 SERVICE : Customized Private Guided Istanbul Tour
for 34 guests CLIENT : 34 Guests calling themselves "Mature
Friends" leaded by Mr. Jerry Jordheim, Seattle-USA,
who came to Istanbul with Perla Cruise-ship of Louis Cruise
Lines Testimonial: Back in Seattle last night with no
problems. Mustafa, you appeared and disappeared so never did
talk with you. Now Derya, you were right there beginning and
end. Good to have met you and will keep my eye out for your
magic lipstick princess. Enjoyed working with you all. Jerry
DATE : August 05 2005 SERVICE : Customized Private Guided Istanbul Tour
for 32 guests CLIENT : 32 Guests visiting Istanbul with a gay
cruise of Celebrity Millenium leaded Mark Lehman from West
Hollywood - CA- USA Testimonial: ....we thank you again for a
marvelous introduction to your fantastic city. We all
enjoyed it thoroughly.
Mark
DATE
: July 19-20 2006
DATE
: May 06-07 2006