When you join The Other Tour, you aren’t just booking a tour—you’re entering a living, evolving ecosystem built by Fethi Karataş: travel agent, route-scout, researcher, writer, and the founder behind one of Istanbul’s most original travel communities.
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Introduction to The Other Tour's Founder
Fethi’s work doesn’t begin with monuments. It begins with people—how they live, how they remember, how they argue, how they laugh, how they survive. He treats travel as a human encounter first, and a destination second. And he has spent most of his life refining that craft: not as a performance, but as a lifelong study.
Born in Istanbul in 1988, Fethi—known to many as Monti—has built a reputation for designing experiences that feel intimate, intellectually alive, and deeply grounded in real life. He is not “a guide” in the narrow sense, and he never aimed to be. His strength is building the full structure around meaningful travel: the routes, the people, the tone, the questions, the honesty.
Today, TheOtherTour.com is more than a website. It is a public notebook—part travel agency, part field journal—where Fethi and his teammates document Istanbul and Turkey in real time, and then turn that documentation into trips that feel current, layered, and human.
“He Paves the Way.”
Fethi’s leadership isn’t limited to guiding a day-long city tour (although he designed one of Istanbul’s most transformative). His vision has shaped The Other Tour into a full-fledged travel agency—organizing everything from private Bosphorus cruises to multi-day Anatolian expeditions, regional heritage experiences, and custom-guided journeys across Turkey. At the core of it all is his belief: that travel should be intimate, curious, and intellectually alive.
The Origin Story
From Neighborhood Leader to High School Organizer
Leadership was in Fethi’s nature long before tourism entered the picture. As a child in his working-class neighborhood, he was the go-to leader among friends—the one who brought people together, who rallied the group. In high school, this instinct evolved into something deeper. He took the initiative to organize school trips, often finding ways to discreetly include classmates who couldn’t afford it. He didn’t seek praise. He simply believed that no one should be left out.
A Travel Agent at 13 in Sultanahmet
Fethi’s relationship with tourism started unusually early—at 13–14 years old—in the beating heart of Istanbul’s old town: Sultanahmet. He began working at Istanbul Hostel, where the daily rhythm of international travelers quickly became his classroom. He learned what people actually worry about when they land in a new country: safety, curiosity, culture shock, trust, and the desire to meet someone real.
From there, he worked at Ayala Travel, under Bülent Albayrak—a mentor figure who remains active today as a travel agency owner through venividitravel.com. That period shaped Fethi’s early professional instincts: how to listen to travelers, how to build itineraries that match personalities (not just budgets), and how to handle the invisible work that makes a trip feel effortless.
Later, he continued at Istanbul Hostel’s new travel agency at the time: Magnaura Travel—a further step into the behind-the-scenes craft of building journeys, solving problems, and connecting visitors to places in a way that doesn’t feel generic.
Even in those early years, it wasn’t just “sales.” Fethi was already doing what would later define The Other Tour: going deep with people, learning their interests, and building their experience around curiosity and connection.
2011: Engineering Education, Then Choosing His Own Road
Fethi studied Mechanical Engineering at Yıldız Technical University—training that quietly shaped how he approaches travel today: systems-thinking, structure, precision, and an eye for how moving parts work together.
But in 2011, he made the defining choice: to go his own way. He stepped out from established agencies and began building what would become The Other Tour—not simply as a tour product, but as a philosophy of travel design.
Since then, he has been doing his thing under The Other Tour: obsessively refining routes, building a team, interviewing locals, writing, researching, and most of all—taking care of clients in a way that doesn’t feel transactional.
Years in Germany
Fethi’s open-mindedness was sharpened further by his time living abroad. For two years, he lived in Germany, where he continued to organize travel experiences—this time for European travelers curious about Turkey and the cultural overlaps in Berlin’s Turkish community. These years gave him an even broader perspective on identity, migration, and storytelling, shaping how he frames Turkey to international visitors today.
“Going Deep”: The Other Tour as an Intimate, Human Experience
Many travel professionals keep a polite distance. Fethi never fully did—especially in the early years.
He went deep with clients:
taking them into the Turkish bath alongside him,
bringing them into real conversations about the country’s contradictions,
and, at least in the past, even welcoming some into his mother’s home—a level of hospitality that turned “tourism” into something closer to friendship.
Life changes, grief changes you, boundaries shift—and today that intimacy often shows up differently. Now, Fethi’s version of closeness is sustained in another way: long conversations, shared meals, spontaneous moments, and then the act of documenting what he learns—writing it down, refining it, and sharing it with the world.
He doesn’t claim to “finish” understanding Istanbul. He intends to study Istanbul and Turkey for as long as he’s alive.
A Leader of Guides Across Turkey
The Other Tour is not a one-man show. Fethi leads and collaborates with a network of professional guides across Turkey—people with their own expertise and voice—while holding the bigger editorial vision: how Turkey is narrated, what gets included, what gets questioned, and how visitors are invited into complexity without being overwhelmed.
In Istanbul, he works with pro guides including:
Ömer Çelik, Burak Plakay, Duygu Sınırtaş, Ece Duluk, Rubil Gündüz, Binnur Eren, and many others.
- In Cappadocia, partners include:
Said Balcı and other local experts. - In Ephesus, he works with:
Hatice Kelek and Özgür Varol—along with trusted collaborators in many other regions.
Fethi’s role is both practical and creative: he scouts, curates, trains narratives, matches the right guide to the right guest, and keeps the entire ecosystem aligned with The Other Tour’s tone—curious, direct, research-backed, and human.
The Writer and Researcher: This Blog as a Public Notebook
What makes The Other Tour unusually influential is that it isn’t powered only by routes—it’s powered by writing.
Fethi interviews and documents local talent: artisans, musicians, coffee experts, makers, small businesses, tour guides, researchers—capturing a snapshot of Istanbul’s living culture in 2026 and beyond, and extending that documentation across Türkiye: Ephesus, Cappadocia,Ankara,Göbeklitepe, Antalya, and more.
His writing doesn’t sit in isolation. It becomes training material. It becomes narrative structure. It becomes a shared library that his teammates read and adapt from—so the storytelling evolves with what Istanbul and Turkey actually are right now, not what old guidebooks froze them into.
The result is a style of guidance that leans toward research and context rather than only anecdotes—without losing warmth, humor, or spontaneity.
And then there are the reviews that describe what’s hardest to “sell” but easiest to feel: frankness, truth, humor, and the sense that you’re seeing parts of Istanbul you’d never find alone.
That’s why so many travelers don’t describe The Other Tour as “a company.” They describe it as a community: a network of pro guides and local voices, anchored by a founder who stays engaged, invites real conversation, and treats each trip as something to be lived—not consumed.
Expedition Leader: New Routes, Untraveled Gems
Fethi works like an expedition leader in the purest sense—constantly scouting, testing, and refining routes that even frequent travelers don’t know exist. He leads pro tour guides into new terrain and overlooked stories:
mapping out hidden sites like Istanbul’s Yarımburgaz Cave,
developing relationships with local stakeholders, and
even coordinating access to living history—such as Bathonea’s active archaeological excavations, by communicating directly with the director of the dig and aligning visits with what’s possible, ethical, and meaningful.
This is not “tourism as consumption.” It’s travel as discovery—with respect for place, people, and process.
Present from Start to Finish
Fethi’s relationship with clients doesn’t end when the itinerary is sent. It often doesn’t even begin there—it begins the moment he understands why someone is coming to Turkey in the first place.
From the first message, he reads between the lines: Are you here for history? For food? For family roots? For the politics behind the headlines? For the feeling of a city that can’t be summarized? Then he stays close—checking in, adjusting, recommending, problem-solving—until the last dinner, the late flight, and often long after you’ve gone home.
Guests don’t just receive a schedule. They get a person—someone who listens closely, remembers details, and builds the trip like a story that should mean something afterward. In review after review, travelers describe the same pattern: the tour is deeply personal, but never performative; honest, but never cynical; intellectually serious, but still full of humor.
Multi-layered Travel, Orchestrated with a Real Team
Behind the scenes, Fethi coordinates complex travel like a producer: multi-day, multi-city, multi-theme journeys that require precision and creativity. He pulls together a versatile team—guides, drivers, captains, cooks, musicians, travel agents, and on-the-ground staff—and makes it feel seamless to the traveler.
Whether it’s a Bosphorus cruise with the right atmosphere, a long-distance road route through Anatolia, or a special event that needs both logistical finesse and cultural sensitivity, Fethi is the person connecting all the moving pieces.
At the core of it all is his belief: travel should be intimate, curious, and intellectually alive.
Beyond the Tour: A Mission-Driven Travel Agency
The Other Tour began as a full-day cultural immersion, but under Fethi’s guidance, it has grown into a dynamic travel platform. Today, the agency curates:
- Private yacht and dinner cruises on the Bosphorus
- Multi-day heritage tours all across Turkey (Armenian, Assyrian, Jewish)
- Street art, food, and architecture-themed experiences in Istanbul
- Expertly guided regional trips to Cappadocia, Ephesus, Pamukkale, and beyond
- Custom itineraries for solo travelers, families, and small groups
Through all of these offerings, Fethi acts less as a salesman and more as a connector—linking curious travelers with passionate local guides, unique places, and meaningful stories. Whether he’s finding the right guide for a family in Cappadocia or suggesting a hidden meyhane in Kadıköy, his attention to detail is relentless.
The Writer Who Chases Hidden Talent
Fethi’s curiosity doesn’t stop at routes and logistics. He writes obsessively about the people who make Istanbul and Turkey feel real: small businesses, local creatives, makers, researchers, and artists whose work rarely reaches mainstream tourism.
One day it’s ceramic artists and rug experts; another day it’s writers and researchers, musicians and war photographers, modern art painters and designers, craftspeople and exhibitions. He has a special instinct for hidden local talent—the kind of names you only discover if someone truly lives the city.
He’s the person who notices (and then shares) stories like:
the cute new café & brewery in Balat, Arc Coffee Co.,
or an Aqua Therapist, Begüm Koçak, whose work speaks to a different side of Istanbul—quiet, personal, and deeply human.
These aren’t “recommendations.” They’re portraits of a living culture, introduced through people.
Join the Journey
To know The Other Tour is to know Fethi. The company’s tone, ethics, creativity, and curiosity all come from his character. Whether through the legendary full-day city experience, a bespoke trip to Mardin, or a spontaneous dinner in Beşiktaş, Fethi’s influence is everywhere.
He is building something that transcends the typical categories of tourism. It’s not a company. It’s a community—one that invites travelers to be curious, open-minded, and engaged.
Come meet Fethi Karataş. Let him and his team guide you—not just through places, but through ideas. Through laughter. Through stories. Through Istanbul. Through Turkey.
Hello,
I just found your page about Fethi Karatas and The Other Tour. We’re looking for an English-speaking local guide to lead a large university group across Turkey — starting in Antakya, continuing via Pamukkale, and finishing in Istanbul.
We’d need the full package arranged (tour bus + driver, logistics, and day-by-day planning). Is that something you can offer?
Kind regards,
Sofia Keller
Thank you for your message — yes, this is potentially something we can support.
To keep everything clear and properly scoped (especially for a university group with transport and multi-city logistics), we’ll reply to you privately by email with:
a few quick questions (dates, group size, pacing, academic focus),
what we can include (guide team, bus/driver coordination, hotel-to-hotel flow),
and a rough structure + budget range.
Please keep an eye on your inbox shortly.
Looks like your company is expanding and doing very well. We really enjoyed the local small boat ride, riding the metro with you, and going to your home to visit your Mom (God bless) this is what made your tour so memorable along with you telling the local movie set person off lol) and meaningful. I hope you still offer these types of tours. I understand some people wash the flash of the big boat or fancy this or that, but we liked the authentic feel and pace. Keep it up!!
Thank you so much, Joy 😊 I hope your trip to China is going well!