Our Team

Best Adventure Guides & Support Staff

Hike’n Sail Team

Hike’n Sail Team

Hike’n Sail Team

Hike’n Sail Team

Training never stops

Best Adventure Guides with Multi-skills

Our adventure guides are both highly skilled and experienced outdoor people and intellectual university graduates with extensive training and excellent language skills. They can lead hikes to out-of-the-way locations, communicate with local people, lecture knowledgeably at classical sites, discuss all aspects of Turkish culture, history, and politics, and arrange menus that showcase local specialties and suit the tastes of individual guests. Perhaps most important, they are also warm, dynamic people with good senses of humor.

At Hike’n Sail, we know that our service can only be as good as our staff. Efficient coordination and smooth operation are essential to ensuring the pleasure and comfort of our guests.

Our staff members are well known for their professionalism, good manners, and ability to organize complex itineraries with care and precision. In addition, every guide working with Hike’n Sail is required to complete basic sustainable tourism training. This ensures that they not only deliver high-quality service but also actively promote and practice responsible tourism principles in the field.

We Train Our Adventure Guides

All adventure guides who are acquainted with Hike’n Sail tours participate in training programs provided by scientific institutions, NGOs, and Hike’n Sail Travel. In addition, Hike’n Sail provides opportunities for guides to take part in Travelife online training programs focused on sustainable tourism practices.

This combination of hands-on and online learning ensures that our guides are not only experts in the field but also fully equipped to promote and implement sustainability principles during every journey.

Every Member Of Our Team is Outstanding

Our support staff is equally well trained to fulfill the expectations of travelers. The crews of our gullets work quietly to stay on schedule and maintain spotless order while monitoring our guests’ safety and comfort. The cooks on board amaze our guests with the miracles they create in their tiny galleys. The drivers who take us from place to place conform to the sustainable standards of speed and safety.

Unlicensed Guides in Turkey are Illegal!!!

Please note that all Hike’n Sail guides are certified, official guides, and they are paid in full guiding fees to ensure your safety and a quality experience. Tourism is a leading industry in Turkey and in order to sustain the quality of services, tour guides in Turkey are certified by the government after they get their 4 years bachelor’s degree. Other means of tour guiding is illegal. Before you buy a tour, we recommend confirming that your guide is official.

 

Alper Ertübey

Founder Of Hike’n Sail, Certified Tour Guide

Founder Of Hike’n Sail, Certified Tour Guide
I am the founder and the senior guide of Hike’n Sail Travel. I studied Industrial Engineering at Istanbul Technical University. I am conducting active trips to experience the natural & cultural heritage of Turkey since 1988. I have participated in 3 bio-diversity programs and developed a passion for wildflower photography and I share my photos at www.floraofturkey.com. When I design new itineraries for our clients, I prioritize to honor the principles of responsible/slow tourism in order to minimize our carbon footprint, our impact on natural and cultural environments and help the local communities. I consider myself a happy hiker and a green-activist and one of the most experienced adventure guides in Turkey. I like to hike, kayak, photography, food, cooking, history.

Liliana Rios Santana

Sustainability Coordinator
Liliana is the Sustainability Coordinator at Hike’n Sail Türkiye, where she oversees the company’s sustainability practices and monitors its environmental footprint. Originally from Colombia, Liliana holds a university degree in Marketing and a Master’s in Languages. Her passion for responsible travel led her to complete GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) training, and she proudly represented Hike’n Sail Türkiye at the GSTC Global Summit in Stockholm. Liliana brings both analytical skill and cultural sensitivity to her role, ensuring that sustainability remains an active, measurable, and evolving part of every journey. During tour operations, she also supports the team with airline logistics and coordination.
Outside of work, Liliana enjoys Latin dancing, drinking tequila, tasting the food of the world, spending time in nature, and exploring new destinations — pursuits that reflect her vibrant personality and love for meaningful travel.

Ali Serkan Cömert

Partner Of Hike’n Sail. Operations Manager

Partner Of Hike’n Sail, Operations Manager
I am the partner and the Operations Manager of Hike‘n Sail Turkey. I studied to be a tour operator at Istanbul University. I like to be known for my precision and hassle-free planning so that everyone’s vacation proceeds smoothly and easily and they enjoy their experience to the highest extend. I love nature and I live in nature. I spend a lot of time in my olive grove and a walnut grove in my spare time. One of my biggest missions in life to keep the bears away from my walnuts. No big success so far. I like to hike, bike my bicycle or my motorcycle, cook and drink rakı, breed dogs and raise birds and chickens in my yard and I am famous for reading your fortune from a cup of Turkish coffee with great precision.

 

Özlem Şimşek, Ph.D.

Adventure Guide

Certified Tour Guide
Özlem has graduated from Law school, completed a master’s degree a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology. She participated in the excavations of the ancient Ionian site Klazomenai at her home town Urla.
Her special interests include Classical Choirs 20 years of participation as an alto: Boonville MO. Methodist Church Choir, Miami Bach Choir, Izmir French Cultural Association Choir, and Izmir Municipality choir, hiking, gardening, cooking, and sailing. Her vast experience, educational background, and charming personality make her an exceptional adventure guide.

Gökhan Köksal

Certified Tour Guide
Born in 1986, Gökhan Köksal is a professional tour guide with extensive experience in cultural and sustainable tourism. After receiving his degree in Ege University’s Tour Guiding program, he has been guiding since 2009. Alongside his guiding career, Gökhan has served as a full-time lecturer in the Tour Guiding Department at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, where he taught subjects including Sustainable Tourism, Turkish Folklore, and Classical Mythology. His academic focus includes experiential marketing in tourism, cultural heritage, and sustainable tourism, supported by his published scholarly works. As a member of the Arapgir Archaeological Survey Team in Malatya, he brings scholarly depth to his fieldwork. Outside guiding, he enjoys hiking, camping and enduro motorcycling amid Türkiye’s diverse landscapes.

Cemil Bezmen, Ph.D

Adventure Guide

Certified Tour Guide
Cemil has a background in physics at Bosphorus University and received his Ph.D. degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge for his work on Cappadocia. He was active at the mountaineering club of the university and upon graduation became one of the first generation adventure guides in Turkey. He organized and guided mountaineering and trekking tours all over the country. Meanwhile worked as an archaeometry field assistant at some prehistoric excavations. He is one of the most experienced guides for ecotours, arts and history, and archaeology as well as active tours.

 

Meltem Ayaz

Certified Tour Guide
Graduated from  French high school Notre Dame de Sion İstanbul,  got an BA degree in Economics from University of İstanbul  and MBA degree in Eco-tourism Tour Guidance from University of Şırnak.
Meltem is seasoned for tailor-made, private and boutique tours with english and  french speaking guests. Her special interests are sustainable & environmental tourism activities, eco-tourism activities as well as hiking tours. She is also specialized in Prince’s Island tours and İstanbul city sightseeing tours. She likes archeology, history, photography, cooking and Turkish coffee. She lives in Prince’s Island, Büyükada.

Teoman Erdoğan

Adventure Guide

Certified Tour Guide
I was born in 1966. I completed my Agriculture Engineering degree in Aegean University in Izmir and my economy masters in Istanbul Univercity, then moved to Bodrum. I ran 400 m in Turkish National Team. I am a licenced sailor/instructor, advanced scuba diver and a wine and food enthausiast. Books of Cevat Sakir Kabaagac (The Fisherman of Halicarnassus) is my inspiration to be a proffessional tour guide. I grew up admiring his way of describing the Anatolian Mythology, lives of fisherman and sponge hunters, the magic of Aegean and Mediterranean. He wrote many novels and stories which had a big influence on my generation, while he was on exile in Bodrum (Halicarnassus) in the 50s being an anti-war activist and later he became one of the first certified Turkish tour guides. I see my myself as an ambassador of Turkey and try to be accurate, update, efficient and a good host to my guests, so that when they are back home, they remember Turkey and me with a smile. I also guide Turkish people in other countries. I have been to I have to most countries in Asia.

Hülya Özbek

Adventure Guide

Certified Tour Guide
Hülya had her degree in English Language and Literature in 1994 at Ankara University. She started working as a licensed tour guide in 1997, which was a childhood dream. She lived on the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey for long years and this gave her a great chance to do many outdoor sports such as hiking, rafting, rock climbing, diving, biking, and sailing. She loves nature and she counts it as the essence of life.
Her participation in the eco-tourism educational programs of Tubitak in the Kackar Mountain, Cappadocia, and Mediterranean parts of Turkey makes her a special adventure guide. She is also specialized in archeology, history, art history, and city sightseeing tours. She is married and has twins, a boy, and a girl. She is an amateur violin and guitar player. She has been living in İstanbul since 2009.