Türkiye · Istanbul Find a hotel
🌐 EN ▾
עבריתEnglishРусскийEspañolFrançaisDeutsch

Istanbul: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

Now in Istanbul--:--:--
·
--°

Everything that was the capital of two empires sits in half a square kilometre. Hagia Sophia was the largest building in the world for a thousand years, and across its life it has been a church, a mosque, a museum and a mosque again. The Blue Mosque faces it, and under your feet is a Byzantine cistern with three hundred and thirty-six columns.

Istanbul

A short history of Istanbul

According to tradition, Greeks from Megara founded Byzantium here in the mid-7th century BC, on the strait between Europe and Asia. In AD 330 the emperor Constantine made it the capital of the Roman Empire and called it Constantinople, and in 537 the church of Hagia Sophia was inaugurated. In 1204 the Crusaders sacked it, and on 29 May 1453 Sultan Mehmed II conquered it. In 1492 Sultan Bayezid II took in the Jews expelled from Spain, and many of them settled in the city. In 1923 the capital was moved to Ankara, but Istanbul remained the largest city in Turkey, with more than 15 million inhabitants.

The ten best sights in Istanbul

  1. Hagia Sophia
    1
    Hagia Sophia

    Church for 916 years, mosque for 481, and a mosque again

  2. Blue Mosque
    2
    Blue Mosque

    Twenty thousand hand-painted tiles, and six minarets

  3. Topkapi Palace
    3
    Topkapi Palace

    Four hundred years of sultans, and the harem is a separate ticket

  4. Basilica Cistern
    4
    Basilica Cistern

    336 columns underground, and two Medusa heads

  5. Süleymaniye Mosque
    5
    Süleymaniye Mosque

    Sinan’s masterpiece, and emptier than the Blue Mosque

  6. Chora Church
    6
    Chora Church

    The finest Byzantine mosaics that survived anywhere

  7. Dolmabahçe Palace
    7
    Dolmabahçe Palace

    Fourteen tonnes of gold leaf, and Atatürk died in it

  8. Archaeological Museum
    8
    Archaeological Museum

    The Alexander sarcophagus, and nobody else there

  9. Istanbul Modern
    9
    Istanbul Modern

    Renzo Piano on the water at Karaköy

  10. Galata Tower
    10
    Galata Tower

    Genoese, 1348, and the queue is worth avoiding at sunset

sleepntripFree with every roomThree audio walks in every city

A guide in your headphones, stop after stop.

To the walks

What is an audio walk?

Tours in Istanbul →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Istanbul:

Sultanahmet

Free walking tours in Istanbul

Sultanahmet

Everything that was the capital of two empires sits in half a square kilometre. Hagia Sophia was the largest building in the world for a thousand years, and across its life it has been a church, a mosque, a museum and a mosque again. The Blue Mosque faces it, and under your feet is a Byzantine cistern with three hundred and thirty-six columns.

  1. Hagia Sophia · Built in five years, in 537, and the dome was so wide that nobody managed anything larger for a thousand years. The marble floor still shows the ruts worn by the emperors’ guards.
  2. Blue Mosque · Twenty thousand İznik tiles, each painted by hand, and six minarets — which caused a scandal, because Mecca had six and no mosque was supposed to equal it. The sultan paid for a seventh to be built there.
  3. Basilica Cistern · Eighty thousand cubic metres of water under the city, held up by columns taken from older ruins. Two of them stand on carved Medusa heads — one upside down, one on its side, and nobody knows why.
  4. Topkapı Palace · Four hundred years of sultans, built as a series of courtyards that get quieter as you go in. The harem is a separate ticket and is the half worth paying for.
  5. Archaeological Museum · Inside the palace walls and almost always empty. The Alexander sarcophagus is here — carved in 320 BC and still carrying traces of its original paint.
  6. Grand Bazaar · Four thousand shops under sixty-one covered streets, trading since 1461. It has its own mosques, its own police station and its own post office. Closed on Sundays.

Galata and Beyoğlu

The other side of the Golden Horn was a separate city — a Genoese colony with its own wall, and later the European quarter of the empire. The Greeks, Armenians and Jews lived here and the embassies were built here. Climb from the water to the Galata Tower and walk İstiklal, three kilometres of pedestrian street with a red tram down the middle.

  1. Karaköy · The Tünel here is the second-oldest underground railway in the world, opened in 1875 — a single stop built because the hill was too steep to walk up.
  2. Istanbul Modern · Renzo Piano built it on the quay where the cruise ships dock, with a mirrored underside so the Bosphorus appears to run through the building.
  3. Galata Tower · Built by the Genoese in 1348 as the high point of their city wall. In 1632 a man strapped wings to his arms, jumped from it, and glided across the Bosphorus to the Asian side — the sultan rewarded him and then exiled him for being too clever.
  4. İstiklal Avenue · Three million people walk it on a weekend. The red tram has run since 1875, was scrapped in 1961 and brought back in 1990 — and the drivers still ring the bell by foot.
  5. Çiçek Pasajı · An 1876 arcade built as apartments and shops. After the Russian revolution, aristocratic refugees sold flowers in it — which is where the name comes from — and it is now a row of taverns.
  6. Taksim Square · The name means "distribution" — this is where the Ottoman water system split the supply to the city. It is now where Istanbul gathers for everything.

The Asian side

You cross a continent. The ferry from Eminönü to Kadıköy costs what a bus costs, takes twenty minutes, and puts you down in the half of Istanbul with almost no tourists in it — and where the city actually eats. A fish market, a street of taverns, and a promenade along the Marmara to Moda.

  1. Eminönü Pier · Buy a transit card, tap it, and get on. Sit on the right going over for the view of the old city, and buy tea from the man with the tray — he will find you.
  2. Maiden’s Tower · On a rock in the middle of the strait since 408 BC. The legend says a sultan put his daughter there to escape a prophecy about a snake, and the snake arrived in a basket of fruit.
  3. Kadıköy Market · Fish on ice, forty kinds of cheese, pickle shops with jars to the ceiling. The prices are what Istanbul actually pays, and nobody calls after you in English.
  4. Moda · A headland of tea gardens looking back at the old city across the water. People sit here for hours with one glass of tea and nobody minds.
  5. Ortaköy · A small baroque mosque standing at the water’s edge directly under the bridge between two continents — the most photographed juxtaposition in the city.
  6. Büyükada · Ninety minutes by ferry to an island with no cars at all — horse carriages were banned too, so it is bicycles and walking. Trotsky lived here for four years after Stalin exiled him.
sleepntripRoad and rail routesEvery night on the road, our hotel

Whole routes, with a room up to $80 at every stop.

To the routes

Getting to Istanbul and getting around

  • Istanbul Airport · The M11 metro reaches the city in 35 minutes
  • Sabiha Gökçen · The Asian airport — further, and where the cheap flights land
  • Sirkeci Station · Where the Orient Express stopped, from 1890
  • Eminönü ferries · The boat to Asia costs the same as a bus
  • Karaköy · The second-oldest underground railway in the world, 1875

Museums in Istanbul

  • Chora Church · The best Byzantine mosaics anywhere
  • Archaeological Museum · The Alexander sarcophagus, and almost no queue
  • Istanbul Modern · Renzo Piano on the quay, with the strait underneath
  • Pera Museum · Orientalist painting, and the famous tortoise trainer
  • Sakıp Sabancı Museum · A villa on the Bosphorus with a garden to sit in
  • Rahmi Koç Museum · Trains, planes and a submarine you can walk through

Parks and gardens in Istanbul

  • Gülhane Park · The palace gardens, free, and tulips in April
  • Emirgan Park · Where the tulip festival happens, on the Bosphorus
  • Yıldız Park · A hillside of woodland with two small palaces in it
  • Belgrad Forest · Ottoman aqueducts in a forest, an hour north

Things to do in Istanbul with kids

  • Miniatürk · Turkey in miniature, on the Golden Horn
  • Rahmi Koç Museum · A real submarine, and everything can be touched
  • Büyükada · An island with no cars — bicycles all day

Cheap eats in Istanbul

Eight counters where Istanbul eats standing. A baklava house that has cut the same way since 1871, a wrap grilled over charcoal at two in the morning, a fish sandwich handed up from a boat, and a breakfast from the far east of the country served on twenty small plates.

  • Karaköy Güllüoğlu · Baklava since 1871, eaten at the counter, 90₺
  • Dürümzade · A charcoal wrap off İstiklal, open till four, 150₺
  • Van Kahvaltı Evi · Eastern breakfast on twenty small plates, 250₺
  • Balık ekmek, Eminönü · A grilled fish sandwich handed up from a boat, 100₺
  • Hamdi · Kebab from Urfa, and the roof looks at the Golden Horn
  • Kadıköy pickle shops · Drink the brine from a cup — that is the point
  • Asmalı Cavit · A meyhane of eight tables, rakı and small plates
  • Çemberlitaş Hamamı · Not food — a 1584 bath by Sinan, and worth the hour

Holy places in Istanbul

  • Süleymaniye Mosque · Sinan’s own favourite, and far emptier
  • Rüstem Pasha Mosque · Small, above the market, and tiled floor to ceiling
  • Neve Shalom Synagogue · The main synagogue of the Jewish community, booked ahead
  • Bulgarian St Stephen Church · Cast entirely in iron in Vienna and shipped here in 1898

Nightlife in Istanbul

  • Asmalımescit · The meyhane streets below İstiklal
  • Kadıköy bar streets · Where the students drink, on the Asian side
  • Ortaköy waterfront · Under the bridge, open very late
sleepntripFree cancellationEvery room we sell cancels for free

Plans change? Until the date on the card it costs nothing.

Find a room

Frequently asked questions about Istanbul

What is there to see in Istanbul?

The top sights in Istanbul are Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Istanbul?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Istanbul without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Istanbul?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Istanbul, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Sultanahmet.

How do you get to Istanbul and get around?

The main ways are Istanbul Airport, Sabiha Gökçen and Sirkeci Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Istanbul, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Istanbul that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

Looking for a hotel in Istanbul for your dates?

Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.

All hotels in Istanbul
Plan a trip across TürkiyeBetween two continents→