Istanbul Travel Guide
Where to Stay in Istanbul
The neighborhood decision that shapes an Istanbul trip: the monuments on your doorstep in Sultanahmet, the restaurants and nightlife of Galata, Karakoy and Pera, or a palace on the Bosphorus — with our hotel picks for each.
Istanbul is huge, its traffic is notorious and its neighborhoods have very different personalities, so where you stay matters more here than in most cities. The good news is that the areas that matter to a visitor are linked by the T1 tram, the funiculars and the ferries, and each has excellent hotels at every price. The right choice depends on what kind of trip you want: monuments, evenings or water.
Sultanahmet: the monuments on your doorstep. The heart of the old city is the obvious choice for a first visit. From a hotel here you can walk to Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern and Topkapi in minutes, which means you can be first in line at opening and rest in the middle of the day. The streets around the Kucuk Ayasofya quarter, sloping down toward the Sea of Marmara, are quieter and more residential than those around the Hippodrome. The trade-offs: Sultanahmet is dominated by visitors, many restaurants are aimed at tourists, and the area is quiet at night. Our picks: the Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, a former prison around a garden courtyard two minutes from Hagia Sophia, for luxury; and Hotel Amira, a warm, family-run boutique hotel near the Blue Mosque with family rooms and a seasonal roof bar, for value.
Sirkeci and Eminonu: old city, more local. Just north of Sultanahmet, Sirkeci and Eminonu are the old city's commercial district, around the historic railway station, the Spice Bazaar and the ferry piers. It is busier and more everyday, with better and cheaper food, and the ferries to Asia and the Bosphorus leave from here. Our pick: Sirkeci Mansion, beside Gulhane Park and ten minutes on foot from Topkapi, with an indoor pool and Turkish bath that make it especially good for families and winter visits.
Galata and Karakoy: the best of both. Across the Galata Bridge, Galata climbs the hill around its tower and Karakoy lines the waterfront below. This is the area many repeat visitors choose: full of cafes, design shops, galleries, restaurants and bars, with the old city one tram ride or a walk across the bridge away, and ferries to the Asian side from the Karakoy pier. The hills are steep and the lanes busy, and weekends can be noisy. Our picks: Georges Hotel Galata, a 20-room design townhouse on Serdar-i Ekrem Sokak with Bosphorus balconies and a rooftop restaurant; and The Peninsula Istanbul, four restored waterfront buildings at Galataport with gardens on the Bosphorus and two 25-metre pools, the most complete luxury hotel in the city.
Pera and Beyoglu: the nineteenth-century city. Uphill from Galata, Pera is the old European quarter around Istiklal Avenue, with grand apartment buildings, consulates, museums and the meyhane lanes of Beyoglu. It is lively, central for nightlife and well connected to Taksim's metro, but a ride from the old city's monuments. Our pick: the Pera Palace Hotel, the grand hotel of the Orient Express era, with Agatha Christie's room, the Kubbeli Lounge and the Orient Bar.
The Bosphorus: palaces and water. Along the European shore from Kabatas through Besiktas to Ortakoy and beyond, the city's grandest hotels sit on the water, with views of ships passing and the Asian shore. You trade walking access to the monuments for space, gardens, pools and calm. Traffic on the shore road can be heavy, so plan taxi times or use boats. Our pick: the Ciragan Palace Kempinski, a nineteenth-century Ottoman palace with a waterfront infinity pool and its own boat quay, for honeymoons and special occasions.
The Asian side: live like a local. Kadikoy and Moda, a twenty-minute ferry ride from Eminonu or Karakoy, are lively, affordable residential districts with a superb food market, bars and the seaside promenade. They are a great base for a longer or repeat stay, if you do not mind a ferry ride to the monuments every day.
How to choose. For a first visit of three or four days focused on the monuments, stay in Sultanahmet or Sirkeci. If you care as much about dinners and evenings as the sights, choose Galata or Karakoy. If you want history and atmosphere with nightlife nearby, Pera. For a special occasion with a pool and the water, the Bosphorus. And whatever you choose, budget for the two percent accommodation tax, which is added to the room rate, and check whether rooftop bars and outdoor pools are open in the season you visit.
Transport between the areas. The T1 tram is the spine for visitors: it runs from Sultanahmet and Gulhane through Sirkeci and Eminonu, across the Galata Bridge to Karakoy and on along the waterfront to Kabatas, near Dolmabahce. From Karakoy, the historic Tunel funicular climbs to the bottom of Istiklal Avenue, and from Kabatas another funicular climbs to Taksim. Ferries link Eminonu, Karakoy, Besiktas and Kabatas with the Asian side. Wherever you stay, being within a few minutes' walk of a tram stop or ferry pier makes a huge difference, and in hilly Galata and Pera it pays to check how steep the walk is from the nearest stop.
When to book. Spring and autumn are high season, and the best small hotels in Sultanahmet and Galata fill up weeks or months ahead. Summer is busy with cruise passengers and big events. Winter, outside the holidays, brings the best rates and the shortest queues, and is a good time to treat yourself to a Bosphorus palace hotel or a room with a view.