Istanbul

Where Europe meets Asia across the Bosphorus.

Istanbul has been an imperial capital for over 1,500 years. Explore Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, bargain in the Grand Bazaar, cruise the Bosphorus between two continents and eat your way through mezes, kebabs and baklava.

Best time to visit: April to May and September to November. Language: Turkish. Currency: Turkish lira (TRY).

Did you know?

Istanbul is the only major city that spans two continents.
Hagia Sophia was completed in 537 AD and was the world’s largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years.
The Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, with around 4,000 shops.

Things to do in Istanbul

Hagia Sophia (Mosque): Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Mosque, free): The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as the Blue Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey.
Topkapı Palace (Palace): The Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey.
Süleymaniye Mosque (Mosque, free): The Süleymaniye Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey.
Galata Tower (Museum): Galata Tower, or Galata Tower Museum, its name since it began to be used as a museum, is a tower located in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul.
Dolmabahçe Palace (Palace): Dolmabahçe Palace is a 19th-century imperial palace located in Istanbul, Turkey, along the European shore of the Bosporus, which served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1887 and from 1
Taksim Square (Square, free): Taksim Square, situated in Beyoğlu in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey, is a major tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops, and hotels.
Maiden's Tower (Lighthouse, free): The Maiden's Tower, also known as Leander's Tower since the Byzantine period, is a tower on a small islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait, 200 m from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey.
Chora Church (Mosque): The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque was a Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque, in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey.
Şehzade Mosque (Landmark, free): The Şehzade Mosque is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey.
Basilica Cistern (Palace): The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
New Mosque (Mosque, free): The New Mosque and later New Valide Sultan Mosque after its partial reconstruction and completion between 1660 and 1665, is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey.
Ortaköy Mosque (Mosque, free): Ortaköy Mosque, formally the Büyük Mecidiye Camii in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, is a mosque situated at the waterside of the Ortaköy pier square, one of the most popular locations on the Bosphorus.
Hagia Irene (Church, free): Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene, sometimes known also as Saint Irene, is a former Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.
Fatih Istanbul Mosque (Mosque, free): The Fatih Mosque is an Ottoman mosque off Fevzi Paşa Caddesi in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (History museum): The Istanbul Archaeology Museums are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace.
Rumeli Hisarı (Castle): Rumelihisarı or Boğazkesen Fortress is a medieval Ottoman fortress located in Istanbul, Turkey, on a series of hills on the European banks of the Bosphorus.
Beylerbeyi Palace (Historic site): The Beylerbeyi Palace is a 19th-century Ottoman palace located in the Beylerbeyi neighborhood of Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus.
Yıldız Palace (Palace): Yıldız Palace is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman pavilions and villas in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Çırağan Palace (Palace): Çırağan Palace, a former Ottoman palace, is now a five-star hotel in the Kempinski Hotels chain.
Anadoluhisarı (Fort): Anadoluhisarı, known historically as Güzelce Hisar is a medieval Ottoman fortress located in Istanbul, Turkey on the Anatolian side of the Bosporus.
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha I Mosque (Mosque, free): Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque is a 16th-century Ottoman mosque in the Kadırga neighborhood in Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey.
Rüstem Pasha Mosque (Mosque, free): The Rüstem Pasha Mosque is an Ottoman mosque located in the Hasırcılar Çarşısı in the Tahtakale neighborhood of the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey, near the Spice Bazaar.
Bayezid II Mosque (Mosque, free): The Bayezid II Mosque is an early 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in Beyazıt Square in Istanbul, Turkey, near the ruins of the Forum of Theodosius of ancient Constantinople.
Zeyrek Mosque (Mosque, free): Zeyrek Mosque or the Monastery of the Pantokrator, is a large mosque on the Fazilet Street in the Zeyrek district of Fatih in Istanbul, overlooking the Golden Horn.
Laleli Mosque (Mosque, free): The Laleli Mosque is an 18th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in Laleli, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey.
Mihrimah Edirnekapı Mosque (Mosque, free): The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque is a 16th-century Ottoman mosque located near the Byzantine land walls in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey.
Pammakaristos Church (Mosque): The Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos, is one of the most famous Byzantine church buildings in Istanbul, Turkey, and was the last pre-Ottoman building to house the Ecumenical Patri
Church of the Holy Apostles (Church, free): The Church of the Holy Apostles, also known as the Imperial Polyandrion, was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Nuruosmaniye Mosque (Mosque, free): The Nuruosmaniye Mosque is an 18th-century Ottoman mosque located in the Çemberlitaş neighbourhood of Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey, which was added to the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey in 2016.
Great Palace of Constantinople (Palace): The Great Palace of Constantinople, also known as the Sacred Palace, was the large imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula today making up the Fatih district of Istanbul, in mo
Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (History museum): The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum is a museum in Sultanahmet Square in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey which first opened in 1914 and in 1983 moved into the palace of Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, the second grand vizier o
Dolmabahçe Mosque (Mosque, free): The Dolmabahçe Mosque is a baroque waterside mosque in Kabataş in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, close to the Dolmabahçe Palace.
Eyüp Sultan Mosque (Mosque, free): The Eyüp Sultan Mosque is a mosque in Eyüp district of Istanbul, Turkey.
Çamlıca Mosque (Mosque, free): The Grand Çamlıca Mosque is a landmark complex for Islamic worship which was completed and opened on 7 March 2019.
Boukoleon Palace (Palace): The Palace of Boukoleon or Bucoleon was one of the Byzantine palaces in Constantinople.
The Museum of Innocence (Museum): The Museum of Innocence is a museum in a 19th-century house in Istanbul created by novelist Orhan Pamuk as a companion to his novel The Museum of Innocence.
Kafes (Palace): The Kafes, literally "cage", was the part of the Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Palace where possible successors to the throne were kept under a form of house-arrest and constant surveillance by the palace guards.
Gülhane Park (Park, free): Gülhane Park is a historical urban park in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey; it covers an area of 9.7 ha, is adjacent to and on the grounds of the Topkapı Palace.
Bodrum Mosque (Mosque, free): Bodrum Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans.
Eski Imaret Mosque (Mosque, free): The Eski Imaret Mosque is a former Byzantine church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans.
Fenari Isa Mosque (Mosque, free): Fenâri Îsâ Mosque, known in Byzantine times as the Lips Monastery, is a mosque in Istanbul, made of two former Eastern Orthodox churches.
Arab Istanbul Mosque (Mosque, free): Arap Mosque is a mosque in the Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey.
Yıldız Hamidi Mosque (Mosque, free): The Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque, also called the Yıldız Mosque, is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in Yıldız neighbourhood of Beşiktaş district in Istanbul, Turkey, on the way to Yıldız Palace.
Handan Agha Mosque (Mosque, free, hidden gem): Handan Agha Mosque is a mosque near the Golden Horn in the Hasköy neighborhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey.
Sea Life İstanbul (Aquarium, hidden gem): The TurkuaZoo also called Sealife is a public aquarium located in Bayrampaşa in Istanbul, Turkey.
Surp Takavor Church (Church, free, hidden gem): Surp Takavor Church is an Armenian Apostolic church in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul, Turkey.
Museum of the Ancient Orient (Museum, hidden gem): The Museum of the Ancient Orient is a museum in Istanbul, Turkey, and part of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums complex, located opposite the main Archaeology Museum building.
Şehzade Cihangir Mosque (Mosque, free, hidden gem): Congregational mosque in İstanbul, Turkey.
Hemdat Israel Synagogue (Synagogue, hidden gem): The Hemdat Israel Synagogue is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Izzettin Street, in the Yeldeğirmeni neighbourhood of the Jewish quarter of Haydarpaşa in Kadıköy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey.
Yanbol Synagogue (Synagogue, hidden gem): The Yanbol Synagogue, also known as the Bulgarian Synagogue, is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Ayvansaray Mahallesi, Kürkçü Çeşmesi Sk, Istanbul, in the Istanbul Province of Turkey.
Etz Ahayim Synagogue (Synagogue, hidden gem): The Etz Ahayim Synagogue, also known as the Beit Yaakov Synagogue or the Ortaköy Synagogue, is a Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Icadiye Street, in Ortaköy, on the coast near the right leg of Bosphorus Brid
Yeraltı Camii (Mosque, free, hidden gem): The Yeraltı Mosque is a mosque located in the Karaköy part of the Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, Turkey.
Istanbul Postal Museum (Museum, hidden gem): The Istanbul Postal Museum, aka PTT Museum Istanbul, is a postal museum dedicated to the historical development of mail and telecommunication services in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, exhibiting related equipment and in

Where to eat and drink in Istanbul

Karaköy Güllüoğlu, Karaköy: Legendary baklava since 1949.
Hamdi Restaurant, Eminönü: Kebabs with a view over the Golden Horn.
Mikla, Beyoğlu: Modern Anatolian cooking with a skyline terrace.
Spice Bazaar, Eminönü: Spices, Turkish delight and dried fruit since 1664.
Rüya Istanbul, Beşiktaş: Modern Anatolian cooking at Çırağan Palace on the Bosphorus.
Herise Istanbul, Istanbul: The clearest expression of Istanbul’s new generation of chefs.

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Plan a trip to Istanbul