Istanbul
A city on both shores of the Bosphorus, one in Europe and one in Asia
- When to go
- October 17° · 6 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€price 3 of 5
- How many days
- 3–4days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 33 km Sabiha Gökçen · 34 km Istanbul
- Right now
Istanbul needs three to four days, because a first visit goes shore by shore: Sultanahmet with Hagia Sophia and the bazaars on the old peninsula, Galata and Beyoğlu across the Golden Horn, and Kadıköy across the Bosphorus in Asia. City ferries link them, on the same Istanbulkart as the tram and metro.
Greek Byzantion became Constantinople in 330, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, and from 1453 it was the Ottoman capital until the republic moved to Ankara in 1923. That is why, in Sultanahmet, the Byzantine church and the sultan's mosque face each other, while the obelisks beside them mark the track of the Roman hippodrome. The city now has nearly sixteen million people, but everything on a first-visit list fits into three waterside districts.
Mosques let visitors in between prayers: the doors close five times a day, and longest around midday on Fridays. Plan Sultanahmet around prayer times rather than opening hours.
Tea is offered even in shops where you'll buy nothing. It's hospitality, not an obligation — you can drink it and leave.
Guides for Istanbul
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Istanbul in 3 days
→The palace not on a Tuesday, the bazaar not on a Sunday, and a whole day up the Bosphorus on the city ferry — three…
What to see in Istanbul
Hagia Sophia
Built in 537 and the world's largest cathedral until 1520, under a dome 31 metres across. A mosque from 1453, a museum from 1935 and a mosque again since 2020: the ground floor is for prayer, and foreign visitors go up to the mosaic gallery on a €25 ticket.
The Blue Mosque
Facing Hagia Sophia. Six minarets and over twenty thousand İznik tiles that gave it the name. Entry is free; cover shoulders and knees, and hair for women.
The Bosphorus ferry
Public transport, not an excursion: Eminönü to Kadıköy takes about twenty minutes. Best just before sunset, when the old city turns into a silhouette.
The Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar
The Grand Bazaar dates from 1455 and holds over four thousand shops; it is closed on Sundays. Haggling is expected. The Spice Bazaar is smaller and easier to take in.
Galata and Beyoğlu
A tower from 1348 with a view across the Golden Horn to the old city, and İstiklal Avenue running from it to Taksim — over two hundred thousand people walk it on a weekday, over three hundred thousand at weekends.
Stories from Istanbul
How it actually was when we were there, and what was worth it.
A ticket between two continents: Istanbul from a city ferry
→For the price of one city ferry ride you see from outside everything the old city charges you to enter. You only need to know which side to sit on, and in which month to head back.
Three things you probably did not know
Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world for almost a thousand years. Its dome collapsed twenty years after it opened and was rebuilt steeper. It has stood that way for fifteen centuries.
The Basilica Cistern lay forgotten under the city for centuries. It was rediscovered in the sixteenth century when a French traveller noticed locals drawing water through holes in their cellar floors, and now and then a fish.
The Bosphorus carries two currents running opposite ways: fresher water from the Black Sea moves south on the surface, while saltier, heavier water travels back underneath it. Fishermen knew this for centuries before it was measured.
Ready for Istanbul?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Istanbul — day trips or weekends.
Turkey
→Istanbul, then one direction: Cappadocia by plane, Ephesus and Pamukkale by train, or the Lycian coast by bus
Greece
→The north by road, the Cyclades by ferry, Rhodes by air — pick the region first and the island second
Serbia
→The north an hour away by train, the mountains three or four by car — Serbia divides by the time you have
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Varna, Safranbolu and Veliko Tarnovo
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Istanbul if you have been.
Front row for the next trip
Leave your email and we'll let you know when a new destination or story goes up.