Istanbul Travel Guide
Visiting Istanbul's Mosques
A deep dive into visiting Istanbul's great mosques as they work now: Hagia Sophia's separate foreign-visitor gallery route, the free Blue Mosque and Suleymaniye, prayer-time closures, Fridays, dress code, photography and the hidden tiled gems.
Istanbul's imperial mosques are among the greatest buildings in the world, and almost all of them are free to visit. They are also working places of worship, used five times a day, which gives a visit its own rhythm and etiquette. Understanding how they work, and how the rules at Hagia Sophia have changed, will help you see them at their best.
Hagia Sophia: what changed. For eighty-six years Hagia Sophia was a museum, and visitors could wander its vast ground floor. In 2020 it was reconverted to a mosque, and at first entry was free for all. Since 15 January 2024, a new system has applied: Turkish citizens and worshippers enter the ground-floor prayer hall from Sultanahmet Square, while foreign visitors use a separate visitors' entrance near the Fountain of Ahmed III and pay a ticket, set at twenty-five euros, for a route through the upper galleries. You climb the original cobbled ramp, walk the galleries past the great Deesis mosaic and the imperial portraits of Zoe and Constantine IX and of John II Komnenos, look down into the nave beneath the dome, and leave through the southwest vestibule, under the mosaic of the Virgin with Justinian and Constantine. Guides are not allowed to lecture inside, so use the audio guide or read up beforehand. Children up to six enter free, and the Museum Pass is not valid. On Fridays the route closes from shortly before the noon prayer until well after it, and since April 2025 a major dome restoration has been under way, with scaffolding in parts of the interior.
The Blue Mosque and the Suleymaniye: free and glorious. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Blue Mosque, fully reopened in 2023 after a five-year restoration and is free, with a visitors' entrance and a queue that moves quickly between prayers. The Suleymaniye, Sinan's masterpiece for Suleyman the Magnificent on the third hill, is equally free and far less crowded, with the tombs of Suleyman and Hurrem in its garden and a terrace over the Golden Horn. If you see only two mosques, see these, and compare the grandeur of one with the serenity of the other.
Prayer times. Each mosque closes to visitors during the five daily prayers: dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset and night. The midday and afternoon prayers are the ones that affect sightseeing, each closing the mosque for an hour or more. On Fridays, the noon prayer is the main congregational prayer of the week, and mosques close to visitors for longer around it. Prayer times shift every day with the sun, earlier in winter and later in summer, so check an app or a posted timetable each morning and plan to arrive just after a prayer ends, when the visitor line moves fastest and the space is calm.
Dress code. Everyone should cover shoulders and knees; shorts, short skirts and sleeveless tops are not appropriate. Women cover their hair with a scarf. The big mosques usually lend or sell wraps and scarves at the entrance, but bringing your own is easier and more comfortable. Shoes come off before you step onto the carpet; carry them in the plastic bags provided or leave them on the racks. At Hagia Sophia, gallery visitors keep their shoes on along the route.
Behavior inside. Stay in the visitors' area behind the barriers; the space in front is for prayer. Speak quietly, switch phones to silent and do not walk in front of anyone praying. Photography is generally allowed without flash, but never photograph people at prayer, and avoid posed shots. Children are welcome, but keep them close. Donations to the upkeep of the mosque are appreciated and usually collected in boxes near the exit.
The tiled gems. Some of the most beautiful mosques are small and overlooked. The Rustem Pasha Mosque, by Sinan, raised above the shops near the Spice Bazaar, is lined inside and out with some of the finest Iznik tiles anywhere. The Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque, another Sinan work in a quiet street below the Hippodrome, has exquisite tiles and fragments said to come from the Kaaba. The Kucuk Ayasofya, once the Byzantine Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, is a calm, intimate space. And the Chora, the former Church of St Saviour in Chora near the land walls, reopened as a mosque in 2024 with its famous late-Byzantine mosaics and frescoes still visible on a paid visitor route.
Ramadan and holidays. During Ramadan, mosques are busier, especially at the evening prayer, and the squares around them fill with stalls and families after sunset; visiting during the day remains possible, with the usual closures. On the major religious holidays, prayers are crowded and visiting hours may be reduced.
A suggested mosque day. Start at Hagia Sophia at opening for the gallery mosaics, then cross to the Blue Mosque after the morning rush. Walk down to the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque and the Kucuk Ayasofya, have lunch, then take the tram toward Eminonu for the Rustem Pasha Mosque and the Spice Bazaar. In the late afternoon, climb to the Suleymaniye for the tombs and stay on the terrace for sunset as the call to prayer rises from the minarets of the old city. It is one of the great days of travel anywhere. Take your time, carry a scarf and a bag for your shoes, and let the call to prayer set the pace.