72 + hours before
100%
Full refund to card
Any reason, no questions. Full ticket + add-ons refunded, including booking fees. Guide's committed time has not yet been triggered.
Mentions légales · Politique de remboursement · Version 2.1
Refunds, reschedules, and the four windows that decide.
Plain rules: the amount you get back depends on how close to the guided-entry start time you cancel. One handled case-by-case via support inside 48 hours for reschedules — that's the only surcharge in the whole policy. State-visit closures are always a remboursement intégral. Refunds run through Stripe and settle to your card en five jours ouvrables.
The four windows
Your refund amount is a function of one variable: hours between now and your booked start time.
Times measured in Istanbul local time against your guided-entry start. State-visit closures, Harem restoration, or any Ministry-issued closure: always a remboursement intégral regardless of window.
24 – 72 hours before
50%
Partial refund
Half back. Alternatively swap the whole amount for a date change — reschedules in this window cost only the a small handling fee (case-by-case).
0 – 24 hours before
0%
12-month credit
No cash refund. 100% of the paid amount becomes credit usable on any Istanbul Tourist Information booking en 12 months.
After the slot passes
—
No refund, no credit
The guide's time and palace inventory were committed. An unused ticket cannot be retroactively reversed.
What this policy covers.
This policy applies to every ticket sold on topkapi.istanbul-tourist-information.com: the Topkapi Palace ticket (Product 7, audio guide bundled) and the Istanbul Classic / Combo / Saver / Premium / Deluxe cards (Products 1 / 22 / 29 / 2 / 3, Harem inclusive). We do not sell a standalone Harem ticket or a Hagia Irene extension.
It does not cover tickets purchased from the Ministry of Culture directly, at the palace counters, or from any other reseller. Those are governed by their own refund terms.
Consumer law: the EU Consumer Rights Directive's 14-day cooling-off period does not apply to timed leisure services. This is a legal carve-out, not our choice — our windows above are significantly more generous.
How to request a refund.
Four steps, under five minutes end to end.
Step 01
Find your booking
Reference in your confirmation — six characters, starts with TP-. Can't find it? Email us with the cardholder's name.
Step 02
Check the window
Count hours between now and your guided-entry start time. That number picks the tier.
Step 03
Submit
Reply to your confirmation with "refund request" in the subject, or use the form on the contact page. No reason required.
Step 04
Confirm
Human review en eight business hours. You get an email with exact amount and expected landing date.
What is and what isn't refundable.
- Ticket face value + booking fees, en the window tiers above.
- Combo-card based Harem inclusion at the same tier as the original card purchase.
- Full amount if the palace is closed for a state visit or Ministry order.
- Full amount if confirmation isn't delivered en 60 minutes of payment.
- Duplicate charges — processed in under 24 hours regardless of window.
- Remboursement partiel si une section clé est fermée pour restauration le jour de votre visite — montant calculé au cas par cas via le support.
- No-shows after the guided start time passes.
- Arrival more than 10 minutes late for reasons outside our control.
- Transport, hotel, or onward travel costs — not our product.
- Foreign-exchange margin between banks.
- Third-party tickets sold by resellers we don't operate.
- Tickets where the guided-entry portion was completed and you left early.
Free reschedule window.
Reschedule is almost always better than a refund: you keep the slot, swap the date. Free up to 48 hours before your guided-entry start. Inside 48 hours, a handled case-by-case via support applies (covers the guide's committed time).
New date must fall en six months of the original. No cap on the number of reschedules as long as each one respects the 48-hour window.
Language changes are handled with the reschedule — if you want to switch to a French guide for the new date, tell us in the same message.
When the palace is the reason.
Topkapı is closed every Tuesday — the booking form excludes Tuesdays. On rare occasions, the palace closes for a state visit, a diplomatic ceremony, a security incident, or an emergency restoration. None of these are under our control.
When a closure falls on your booked date, you get a remboursement intégral regardless of window. The tiered rules don't apply. We detect closures from the Ministry operational feed and proactively refund every affected booking en two hours of the announcement.
Partial closures (Harem under restoration, one wing roped off) result in a proportional refund. You don't need to request this — we audit every booking against the day's operational status and refund automatically.
A note on chargebacks.
A chargeback is valid consumer protection, and we honour it. But our direct refund takes up to five jours ouvrables; a chargeback runs 30-90 days, involves paperwork, and costs both sides money.
If the chargeback is unjustified (e.g. a completed guided tour that was disputed after the fact), we submit evidence and the charge may be reinstated plus a dispute fee. Short version: talk to us first. If we owe you a refund, we'll confirm it the same business day.
Processing timeline.
0 – 8 hours
Human review. Support agent reads your request, confirms window and amount, approves. You get confirmation email with exact amount and landing estimate.
8 – 24 hours
Stripe submission. Refund submitted to Stripe's refund API; status moves to processing.
1 – 3 jours ouvrables
Stripe settles. Amount deducted from us; Stripe forwards instruction to your card network.
3 – 5 jours ouvrables
Your bank posts it. The variable step. Most European banks post en two jours ouvrables; some US banks take five; non-bank cards up to seven.
Day 10+
Still missing? Email support. We provide the Stripe receipt with ARN reference — your bank can locate the transaction instantly.
Need a refund
Write to us first — before your bank.
Fastest refund path is a direct email with the booking reference in the subject. We process requests seven days a week and target an eight-hour first response on jours ouvrables.
Refund requests
refunds@istanbul-tourist-information.com