Old City Sultanahmet
0.2 miles from city centre
Begin your adventure in Sultanahmet Square, gateway to the historic centre. In Topkapi Palace, Byzantine artefacts sparkle through the display cases as light beams in. Hagia Sophia’s mosaics are time worn, reflecting the history of a space that has been both mosque and church across 1.5 millennia. Zany bars and cosy cafes beckon you.
Places to stay from £4 per night
Taksim
2 miles from city centre
Street culture, energetic cafés and antique shops with quirky treasures await in this cosmopolitan district. Dandies and divas will have a field day at the boutiques on Istiklal Avenue. Concerts, cinemas and exhibition centres provide family-friendly entertainment, while trendy clubs and bars bring out the bold and the beautiful after dark.
Places to stay from £4 per night
Ortakoy
4 miles from city centre
Ortakoy’s residents are youthful and cosmopolitan. Among the swathes of modern art galleries, you'll find eateries tempting you with delicious local delicacies. One of the area's oldest buildings is the Turkish Bath, followed by the neo-Baroque Ortakoy Mosque. Take a cruise across the Bosphorus, or shop for trinkets at the emporiums.
Places to stay from £10 per night
Kadikoy
3.8 miles from city centre
To stay in Kadıköy means full-scale immersion in Turkish culture, and it’s a fast ferry ride from this residential district to the city’s prime attractions. Elaborate wooden houses that creak with the passing of time and remnants of the Roman Empire await as you wander the streets. Indulge in mouth-watering Turkish Delight from Akustik Market.
Places to stay from £5 per night
Besiktas
4 miles from city centre
Fragments of the Ottoman Empire lie in this coastal district. Picnic or play in the flower-filled groves of Yildiz Park, followed by a walk toward Ortakoy – inviting cafes by day and plush clubs by night. Salute the sea at the Turkish Naval Museum, see and be seen in trendy Bebek and Kurucesme or crown your day at Dolmabahce Palace.
Places to stay from £10 per night
Sisli
3.3 miles from city centre
Sisli is a large district on the European side of Istanbul, near the Bosphorus Bridge. A mix of mosques, churches and synagogues make the area eclectic, while Trump Towers and Cevahir Shopping Mall are reminders of the growing tide of commercialism sweeping the area. The narrow streets of Nisantasi are loaded with boutiques and galleries.
Places to stay from £5 per night
Topkapi
1.9 miles from city centre
Take a decent pair of walking shoes to navigate the 5.5 km stretch atop the 8th-century City Walls of Constantinople. Be sure to spend some time at Kara Ahmet Pasha Mosque, a medieval centre of learning that contains painstakingly detailed mosaics. The area maintains its learned nature, on account of the scholarly cafés and student haunts.
Places to stay from £9 per night
Beyazit
0.7 miles from city centre
There’s a haze around the palaces, towers and gardens around Beyazit Mosque that gives the feeling of being lost in time. The mosque has stood proudly since 1506 and weathered many storms over its cut-stone exterior. The Grand Bazaar is filled with the sights, smells and sounds of an authentic Turkish market.
Places to stay from £5 per night
Asian Side
6.6 miles from city centre
The Asian side of Istanbul lives on the razor’s edge of the past and present. Kadıköy is a feast of scents and sound – In Moda, buy tapas-style food from a zany street vendor, then wander past hip tattoo parlours and street art for a street-eye view of hip urban living. Buy branded clothing on Bagdat Avenue, then dine out in style.
Places to stay from £5 per night
Straddling the border between Europe and Western Asia, Istanbul acts as an ancient crossroads of cultures, religions and civilisations.
Greek, Persian, Byzantine and Ottoman influences can be seen across the city. The mesmerising Hagia Sophia, for instance, stood for over 1,000 years as an ornate church before being converted into an Imperial Mosque, which it remained as for over half a millennia. And there’s Topkapi Palace, a lavish complex of halls, courtyards and terraces with commanding views over the Bosphorus Strait. Today, both structures are religious museums attracting millions of visitors every year.
The Blue Mosque is another glinting example of Byzantine-Ottoman fused architecture, with its domes, towering minarets and blue İznik tiles that adorn the interior. For a full view of the mosque’s design, enter through the crumbling remains of a Roman-era hippodrome in Sultanahmet Square.
Yet Istanbul’s oldest monuments could easily escape you. Deep beneath the ground are several hundred ancient cisterns, where water was once delivered via 20 kilometres of aqueducts from a local reservoir. The largest of these is the Basilica Cistern, which you can explore along raised wooden platforms.
Back on ground level, the Grand Bazaar will entice you with its maze-like network of craft stores and cosy teahouses. Go explore a little, before treating yourself to a Dürüm wrap on a street corner, or a mouthwatering meze in a bistro-style restaurant in Sultanahmet.
Tonight
From £14 per night
This weekend
From £35 per night
Next weekend
From £35 per night
| Most popular time to visit | October–December |
| Cheapest time to visit | January–March |
| Local currency | € 10 = £8.63 |
| Language | Turkish |
| Average weekend price | £70 per night |
| Average weekday price | £72 per night |
| Typical stay | 2 nights |
Taksim Square
2.1 miles from city centre
Blue Mosque
0.2 miles from city centre
Topkapi Palace
0.6 miles from city centre
Grand Bazaar
0.4 miles from city centre
Hagia Sophia
0.3 miles from city centre
Istiklal Street
2 miles from city centre
Bosphorus Bridge
4 miles from city centre
Galata Tower
1.2 miles from city centre
Pierre Loti
3.8 miles from city centre
Suleymaniye Mosque
0.8 miles from city centre
Istanbul is an incredible city, however walking around the...
21 April 2024
Istanbul is an incredible city, however walking around the city and the grand bazaar has become a painful experience as smookers pollute the air so badly that one feels suffocated. This negative and unpleasant experience will prevent me from coming back to this city again.
Faulty advertising.
21 April 2024
Faulty advertising. We payed for a three bedroom apartment for 8 people and were given two rooms one for 4 people and another for two people. We were 7 persons so for first night I didn’t get to sleep in a bed and didn’t get a good night sleep at all. Had problem with all of the room and had to change room 3 times. Room had issues like:- hole in the ceiling where water was leaking from, iron wasn’t working properly and didn’t look safe to use, door handle came of the door at first touch, bathroom sink was blocked up and flooded (it left a bad smell), the blinds in the bathroom were permanently fixed open so you could see directly from the bedroom into the bathroom (no privacy) so had to hang a sheet up. The restaurant food was terrible, both the breakfast and the buffet. There was stray cats that were allowed to come in from the streets and roam around the resturant area. One of the saunas wasn’t working properly and the other wasn’t working at all. The steam room stopped working after two days. The pool had a weird salty taste to it (not that you deliberately try to drink the water but it does get in the mouth sometimes), didn’t feel like it’s being regularly cleaned. Came back from that holiday ill, no surprises there.
Fascinating city with so many layers of history and culture...
21 April 2024
Fascinating city with so many layers of history and culture to explore. We found people to be wonderful, welcoming, helpful and friendly. We were here for a week and could easily have spent another week. Public transportation was great and easy to use. We look forward to coming again to experience other areas of the country as well.
Forget Paris.
20 April 2024
Forget Paris.. Istanbul is the city of love! A perfect mix between old history and modern new architecture, a mix of European and Asian culture that make Istanbul one of the best cities I've ever been!
Istanbul is a beautiful and historical city, but it's...
20 April 2024
Istanbul is a beautiful and historical city, but it's also a bit insecure. Our iPhone 15 Pro was stolen on Istiklal Street, and unfortunately, the police didn't provide adequate assistance. Stay alert and keep your belongings secure.
I liked that my hotel was in the middle of several tourist...
19 April 2024
I liked that my hotel was in the middle of several tourist attractions. There were lots of local restaurants with authentic traditional meals to choose from. The shopping area were excellent. The Spice Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar. Jewelery stores. Perfume shops. Spice shops. Coffee shops. Handbage, clothes and shoe shops. Turkish Delights (pastry and sweets). Cambios/change shops. There was also a great variety of street vendors.
Old City Sultanahmet, Istanbul
From £149 per night
Old City Sultanahmet, Istanbul
From £211 per night
Old City Sultanahmet, Istanbul
From £233 per night
Old City Sultanahmet, Istanbul
From £103 per night
Old City Sultanahmet, Istanbul
From £143 per night
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