Istanbul Travel Guide
Three Days in Istanbul
The first-timer itinerary that works around the closing days and prayer times — Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque early, Topkapi on any day but Tuesday, the bazaars before Sunday — and adds a Bosphorus cruise, Galata at night and the Suleymaniye at sunset.
Three days is the minimum for a first visit to Istanbul and, planned well, it is enough to see the great monuments of the old city, cross to the modern city across the Golden Horn and spend an afternoon on the Bosphorus. The secret is to plan around the rules that catch visitors out: Topkapi Palace is closed on Tuesdays, Dolmabahce on Mondays, the Grand Bazaar on Sundays, and the mosques close to visitors at prayer times, with longer closures around the Friday noon prayer. Start early every day, because Sultanahmet fills with tour groups by late morning, and leave the evenings for Galata, Karakoy and Beyoglu. This plan assumes you stay in Sultanahmet, Sirkeci or Galata, so most of it is on foot or a short tram ride.
Before you fly: the booking cascade. Istanbul has fewer timed-entry systems than Rome or Athens, but buying ahead still saves hours in queues. Book skip-the-line tickets for Hagia Sophia's foreign-visitor gallery route, which costs twenty-five euros at the booth, and for Topkapi with the Harem, because ticket and security queues at both can stretch long in high season. Decide whether the official Museum Pass Istanbul suits you: it covers Topkapi and the Harem, the Archaeological Museums and the Galata Tower by day, among others, but not Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern or Dolmabahce. Book your Bosphorus cruise a day or two ahead in summer, especially at sunset. Load an Istanbulkart transit card on arrival; it works on trams, metro, buses, funiculars and ferries.
Arriving. From Istanbul Airport, the M11 metro connects to the city's metro network, Havaist buses run to Taksim, Besiktas and other hubs, and taxis take roughly forty-five minutes to well over an hour depending on traffic. Sabiha Gokcen Airport is on the Asian side, linked by metro to Kadikoy, from where ferries cross to Europe. If you arrive in the afternoon, use the evening for a first walk to the floodlit Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.
Day one — Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Cistern and the Hippodrome. Be at Hagia Sophia's visitor entrance near the Fountain of Ahmed III when it opens; the route up the long ramp to the galleries, past the Deesis mosaic and the imperial portraits, takes about an hour, and you exit past the glowing mosaic of the Virgin with Justinian and Constantine. Check the day's prayer times, then walk across the garden to the Blue Mosque and visit between prayers, shoes in hand and shoulders covered. Walk the Hippodrome, with its Egyptian obelisk and Serpent Column, then go underground into the Basilica Cistern, where the columns and the Medusa heads are at their best before the afternoon queue. After lunch, rest, browse the Arasta Bazaar or visit the Great Palace Mosaic Museum. At sunset, sit in the garden between the two great buildings as the call to prayer rings out, then cross to Karakoy or Galata for dinner.
Day two — Topkapi, the Archaeology Museums and the bazaars (not a Tuesday or Sunday). Arrive at Topkapi at opening and go straight to the Harem while it is quiet, then the Third Court rooms, the Treasury with the Spoonmaker's Diamond and the Topkapi Dagger, the Holy Relics and the Fourth Court terraces, where tea comes with a view of the Bosphorus. Walk down through the First Court to the Archaeological Museums for the Alexander Sarcophagus and the Tiled Kiosk, recently restored, then stroll through Gulhane Park. In the afternoon, take the tram to the Grand Bazaar and get lost for a couple of hours; leave by the Beyazit Gate and climb to the Suleymaniye Mosque, Sinan's masterpiece, for the tombs of Suleyman and Hurrem and sunset from the terrace over the Golden Horn. Eat a bowl of beans and rice at one of the canteens by the mosque, or walk down to the Spice Bazaar quarter.
Day three — the Spice Bazaar, the Bosphorus, Galata and Istiklal. Start early at the Spice Bazaar, when the shopkeepers are building their pyramids of spice, and visit the tile-lined Rustem Pasha Mosque nearby. Walk across the Galata Bridge past the fishermen, or, if it is not a Monday, take the tram to Kabatas for Dolmabahce Palace and its chandeliered Ceremonial Hall. In the afternoon, board a Bosphorus cruise for ninety minutes to two hours, ideally timed so you return in the golden light. Finish at the Galata Tower, either before sunset or on the night session to avoid the worst queue, then walk up Istiklal Avenue toward Taksim, detouring into the passages and the fish-market street for a meyhane dinner of meze and grilled fish.
If you have a fourth or fifth day. Take a ferry to Kadikoy on the Asian side for its food market and the seaside promenade of Moda; spend a morning in Fener and Balat for the colored lanes and the cast-iron Church of St Stephen, then visit the Chora, now a mosque again, with its Byzantine mosaics; ride the ferry to the Princes Islands for car-free lanes and sea air; or see a whirling dervish ceremony.
Adjusting for the season. In summer, front-load the outdoor sights and spend the hot middle of the day in museums, the cistern or a hammam. In winter, the days are short and often wet, but queues shrink and the light on the Bosphorus is beautiful. During Ramadan, the city is lively after sunset and restaurants stay open for visitors, while the first day of the holiday that follows closes some museums and bazaars.
Where to base yourself for this plan. Sultanahmet puts days one and two on foot: the Four Seasons beside Hagia Sophia for luxury, Hotel Amira for warm boutique value, Sirkeci Mansion by Gulhane Park for a pool and hammam. Galata and Pera make the evenings easier: Georges Hotel near the Galata Tower, the Pera Palace for history, and The Peninsula on the Karakoy waterfront for a resort-style finish.