The people who guide you

Born in Uskudar, Istanbul in 1956. He read economics at Bogazici University and spent five years in corporate marketing before starting to guide in 1987, which makes this his thirty-eighth season.

He founded Runner with his wife Yasemin, and the two of them still set what the company is for. He works across Turkey and the Greek islands, and makes his own wine.

Born in Izmir. She is a horticulturist and the botanical half of the company: her tours are built around the bloom and around butterflies, and she has won several horticultural competitions.

She wrote Wildflowers of Turkey, Volume I: Bulbous Plants, published in 2013, which is both a field guide and an argument against collecting from the wild.

Born in Ankara in 1982. She worked in Istanbul for several years before joining the family business in 2009, and now runs tour operations: the part of a journey that nobody notices when it is done properly.

She guides bird-watching tours, and holds a degree in social media management.

He came to guiding in 2012 from agricultural investment banking, brought there by hiking and biking in the Turkish mountains. He works across Turkey and Greece.

He plays several instruments, the Turkish ney among them, and has been known to play in an ancient theatre when the acoustics ask for it. He also photographs, and writes the software this site runs on.

Born in Istanbul in 1986. He studied law with a master's in environmental law and practised briefly before moving into tourism, which is where the environmental half of that training now shows.

He guides individuals, families and small groups with an interest in the culture and the natural history of the country. A wildlife enthusiast, a swimmer, and a reader of Tintin.

Degrees in English language and literature from Ankara University and in history from Istanbul University; licensed as a guide in 1997. She taught English at Ankara and Akdeniz universities and at a foundation school in Istanbul until 2023, and it shows in how she explains things.

She has taken eco-tourism training across several regions, from the Black Sea to Cappadocia, and completed the Istanbul City Tour Expert programme. She plays the violin.

Born in Germany to a soldier and a schoolteacher, and moved often as a child, which is one way to end up studying linguistics and another to end up in this work. She has lived in Turkey since 2001, in hotels and agencies before guiding.

Licensed nationwide since 2021. She works with history readers, birdwatchers, photographers and hikers, and holds an IWC certificate from the international sommelier guild programme, so the wine tastings are hers too.

Born in Izmir in 1988. He read theatre at Ankara University and acted at the Ankara State Theatre between 2007 and 2009, then in television and in a short film that reached the Boston Short Film Festival.

He left acting in 2018, studied in Virginia, drove across the United States, and came back to guiding. He still plays percussion in a band, and taught drama to children for years.