Turkey
Istanbul
The only city standing on two continents, and the capital of two empires that ran the known world.
Istanbul is the only city built across two continents, with the Bosphorus running through the middle of it and ferries crossing between Europe and Asia all day. Two empires ruled the known world from here, and Hagia Sophia holds the whole story in one room: Byzantine gold under Ottoman calligraphy, cathedral to mosque to museum and back again. It is also loud, enormous and one of the great eating cities, which is what stops it feeling like a monument.
Suggested stay
4–6 days
Language
Turkish
Currency
TRY
Timezone
UTC+3
Why you'll love Istanbul
The Bosphorus The strait is the city's main street rather than its backdrop, and commuter ferries cross between Europe and Asia all day. The best view of the skyline is from the deck of one.
Layered history Roman aqueducts, Byzantine cisterns and Ottoman mosque complexes sit on the same few hills, often on the same block, and nobody has tidied them into a museum quarter.
The eating Breakfast spreads that run to twenty small plates, fish sandwiches off the boats at Eminönü, kebab traditions from every corner of Anatolia, and long meze evenings with rakı.
The scale Fifteen million people across two continents means the city never resolves into one thing. A conservative mosque district and a loud bar street can be a short walk apart.
Best time to visit
Mar-Jun, Sep-Oct
Mild · 12-27° days
41.006° N, 28.976° E
UTC+3 · Europe/Istanbul
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Weather & when to go to Istanbul
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Mar-Jun, Sep-Oct
Conditions Jan Cold & wet · Feb Cold · Mar Mild · Apr Tulips, pleasant · May-Jun Warm · Jul-Aug Hot & humid · Sep Warm · Oct Mild autumn · Nov Cool & wet · Dec Cold & wet
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Istanbul
July and August are hot, sticky and busy, and the old city's stone courtyards hold the heat well past sundown, so sightsee early or late. Midwinter is the other end of it: grey, wet and genuinely cold off the water, though the crowds thin right out and the domes look their best under snow.
Top things to do in Istanbul
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Hagia Sophia - stand under the dome
history culture arts 👍 PopularJustinian's sixth-century basilica, later the imperial mosque, and a working mosque again today. The dome floats on a ring of windows in a way that still does not look structurally possible, and Byzantine mosaics survive in the upper galleries under Ottoman calligraphy roundels.
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Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) - the six minarets
history culture arts 👍 PopularBuilt deliberately to face Hagia Sophia across a public square, and named for the tens of thousands of İznik tiles lining its interior. Still an active mosque, so it closes to visitors around the five daily prayers.
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Topkapı Palace - the Ottoman court and the Harem
history culture arts 👍 PopularFour courtyards of pavilions on the point where the Bosphorus meets the Golden Horn, run as the seat of empire for four centuries. The Harem is ticketed separately and is the part worth the extra queue; the terrace views down the water come free with the walk.
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Bosphorus ferry - cross to Asia and back
scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedThe commuter boats are the city's best sightseeing and its actual transport at once. Take one from Eminönü or Karaköy to Kadıköy or Üsküdar, or the longer run up the strait past the Ottoman waterfront mansions and the two fortresses.
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Süleymaniye Mosque - Sinan's masterpiece over the Golden Horn
history culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedThe architect Sinan's great Istanbul complex, quieter than the Blue Mosque and, most visitors think, the better building. It sits on a hilltop with a terrace looking down over the Golden Horn, and the surrounding streets still work as a neighbourhood.
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Basilica Cistern - the sunken columns
historyAn underground Byzantine water store held up by hundreds of recycled Roman columns, lit and floodlit with water still ankle-deep below the walkway. Two of the columns rest on Medusa heads laid on their side and upside down, for reasons nobody has settled.
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Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar - the covered markets
shopping foodThe Grand Bazaar is a roofed labyrinth of thousands of shops selling carpets, gold, lamps and a great deal aimed squarely at visitors. The smaller Spice Bazaar near the ferry piers is more useful for eating, and the streets between the two are where locals actually shop.
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Chora Church (Kariye Mosque) - the Byzantine mosaics
history culture artsOut near the land walls and worth the trip: the finest late-Byzantine mosaics and frescoes anywhere, covering the domes and vaults of a small church in gold and colour. Far fewer people than Hagia Sophia, and the art is better preserved.
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İstiklal Caddesi and Galata Tower - the Beyoğlu walk
culture arts nightlife musicThe nineteenth-century boulevard runs from Taksim down to the medieval Galata Tower, with an antique tram, side streets full of bars and music, and the passages and fish market off to either side. Best after dark, when the whole avenue is moving.
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Turkish breakfast and a meyhane evening
foodTwo set-piece meals worth planning around. Kahvaltı is a table covered in cheeses, olives, eggs, jams and bread, eaten slowly and late. A meyhane evening is the opposite end: rounds of cold and hot meze, grilled fish, and rakı cut with water.
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A historic hamam - the marble slab
wellnessSeveral of the working bath houses in the old city are Ottoman foundations, some designed by Sinan, with domed hot rooms lit by star-shaped holes in the roof. Expect a scrub and a soaping on a heated marble platform rather than a spa treatment.
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Istanbul Archaeology Museums - the imperial collection
history culture artsTucked below Topkapı and routinely walked past. Three buildings holding the Alexander Sarcophagus, a serious Ancient Orient collection including a Babylonian processional-way panel, and the tiled kiosk that is one of the oldest Ottoman buildings in the city.
Best areas to stay in Istanbul
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Sultanahmet
First-time visitors $$Monument-dense old city, quiet after dark
Explore hotels in Sultanahmet →
Beyoğlu and Galata
Most visitors $$Steep nineteenth-century streets, bars and music
Explore hotels in Beyoğlu and Galata →
Karaköy and Cihangir
Repeat visitors $$Old port turned design and cafe district
Explore hotels in Karaköy and Cihangir →
Kadıköy (Asian side)
Longer stays $Student bars, produce markets, no tour buses
Explore hotels in Kadıköy (Asian side) →
Nişantaşı and Beşiktaş
Comfort seekers $$$Upscale shopping streets, residential calm
Explore hotels in Nişantaşı and Beşiktaş →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Istanbul
Getting to & around Istanbul
Getting there
Fly into Istanbul Airport on the European side, then metro or airport bus into the centre. Sabiha Gökçen is the Asian-side alternative.
Flight
Istanbul Airport (IST)
Roughly 40 km northwest of the centre. The M11 metro connects to the wider rail network, Havaist coaches run direct to Taksim and Sultanahmet, and a taxi takes about an hour when the traffic behaves.
Flight
Sabiha Gökçen (SAW)
The Asian-side second airport, used heavily by low-cost carriers. Further from the historic centre; the M4 metro plus a Marmaray transfer is the rail route in.
Train
Halkalı and Söğütlüçeşme
Long-distance and international services terminate on the city's outskirts and hand off to the Marmaray commuter line, which runs under the Bosphorus.
Coach
Esenler Otogar
Intercity buses from everywhere in Turkey arrive at the enormous Esenler terminal, which sits directly on the M1 metro line.
Cruise
Galataport
Cruise ships berth right in Karaköy, within walking distance of Galata, the ferry piers and the tram.
Getting around
Tram and metro
The T1 tram threads the whole old city and crosses the Galata Bridge; the metro lines cover most of the rest and keep expanding.
TBC
Ferry
Public commuter boats cross the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn constantly, and at rush hour they beat every road route between the continents.
TBC
Marmaray
The rail tunnel under the Bosphorus links the European and Asian sides in minutes, and connects the long-distance train stations to the centre.
TBC
Funicular
Short underground climbs where the hills are steepest, including Karaköy to Beyoğlu and Kabataş to Taksim. Istanbul is much hillier than it looks on a map.
TBC
Taxi and ride-hailing
Yellow taxis are everywhere and metered. Booking through an app avoids the usual argument about whether the meter is running.
TBC
Walking
Sultanahmet and Beyoğlu each walk well internally, but the water and the gradients break the city into pieces, so plan on mixing walking with transport.
Free
Day trips from Istanbul
Princes' Islands
Full dayCar-free island escape
A chain of pine-covered islands in the Sea of Marmara where private motor traffic is banned. Büyükada is the largest, lined with wooden Ottoman summer mansions; you get around on foot, by bicycle or in an electric shuttle, and swim off the rocks in summer.
Getting there
ferry
About 1 to 1.5 hr by ferry from Kabataş or Bostancı
Bursa
Full dayFirst Ottoman capital
The Ottomans' first capital, at the foot of Uludağ. The Green Mosque and Green Tomb are the set pieces, the covered silk market is the old commercial heart, and a cable car runs up the mountain, which is Turkey's main ski hill in winter.
Getting there
ferry | bus
About 2 hr by fast ferry to Mudanya plus a connecting bus
Edirne
Full dayOttoman border city
Sinan called the Selimiye Mosque his masterpiece, and it towers over a quiet city near the Greek and Bulgarian borders that served as the Ottoman capital before Istanbul was taken. Long in the coach, but it is the one building that arguably beats anything in the city.
Getting there
bus
About 2.5 to 3 hr each way by intercity coach
Gallipoli and Troy
1-2 daysBattlefields and ruins
The First World War cemeteries and trench lines above the Dardanelles, usually paired with the excavated layers of Troy across the strait. Doable in one very long day from Istanbul, but almost everyone stays overnight in Çanakkale or Eceabat instead.
Getting there
bus | tour
About 5 hr each way by coach, or on an organised tour
A little history of Istanbul
Founded as the Greek colony of Byzantion in the seventh century BC on a defensible promontory between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, the city took its historic shape when Constantine refounded it as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. As Constantinople it outlasted Rome itself by a thousand years, governing the Byzantine world from behind the Theodosian land walls and raising Hagia Sophia as the largest enclosed space in Christendom.
Mehmed II took the city in 1453 after a siege that ended the Byzantine Empire, and it served as the Ottoman capital for the next four and a half centuries, with mosque complexes, palaces and a bazaar economy grafted onto the Roman street plan. The empire fell after the First World War, the new republic moved the capital to Ankara, and Istanbul lost its official status while keeping everything else. It has since grown from a shrunken imperial city into a metropolis of roughly fifteen million, and remains the country's commercial and cultural centre rather than its political one.
Greek settlers from Megara found Byzantion on the promontory above the Bosphorus.
Constantine refounds the city as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire.
Justinian completes Hagia Sophia, the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years.
The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople; the city never recovers its former wealth.
Mehmed II breaches the land walls and Constantinople becomes the Ottoman capital.
Sinan completes the Süleymaniye complex, the high point of Ottoman architecture in the city.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is finished facing Hagia Sophia across the square.
The Turkish republic is declared and the capital moves to Ankara.
The Marmaray tunnel opens, running rail traffic beneath the Bosphorus.
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / F
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+90
Mobile network & SIM card
Get an eSIM before you fly
A Turkey eSIM installs in minutes and works the moment you switch off flight mode. No SIM swap, no roaming bill.
FAQs about Istanbul
▸ When is the best time to visit Istanbul?
March to June and September to October. Spring is mild and the parks are planted out with tulips in April, an old Ottoman obsession the city still leans into. Autumn is warm without the summer humidity. July and August are hot and sticky, and midwinter is cold and wet, but neither is a reason to cancel a trip.
▸ How many days do you need in Istanbul?
Four covers the old city, a Bosphorus ferry, Beyoğlu and one Asian-side afternoon without sprinting. Six lets you add Chora, the Princes' Islands and a proper market-and-hamam day. Under three and you will spend the entire visit inside Sultanahmet, which is the least representative part of the city.
▸ Is Istanbul walkable?
In patches. Sultanahmet's monuments cluster within a short walk of one another, and Galata up to Taksim is one straight climb. But the city is vast and steep, and the Golden Horn and Bosphorus cut it into separate pieces, so you will use trams, ferries and funiculars every day.
▸ Should I stay on the European or the Asian side?
Europe for a first visit: the historic sights, Beyoğlu and most of the hotels are there. The Asian side, Kadıköy especially, is cheaper and far more everyday, and the ferry across is quick and frequent, so it suits repeat visitors and longer stays.
▸ Do I need to cover up to visit the mosques?
Yes, and it is easy. Shoes off at the door, shoulders and knees covered, and a headscarf for women. The major mosques lend scarves and wraps at the entrance. Avoid the five daily prayer times, and expect Friday midday to belong to worshippers rather than visitors.
▸ Is Istanbul expensive?
It is the most expensive city in Turkey and still good value measured against western Europe. Eating and public transport are where that value shows most clearly; hotels in Sultanahmet and Beyoğlu are where it disappears. Turkish prices have moved fast in recent years, so older advice ages quickly.
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