The Sultanahmet Blue Mosque
One of the world’s most impressive and recognisable buildings. A major site of spiritual importance, it dominates the skyline of the Old Town area in Istanbul. Since it is a functioning mosque, it is also free to enter – just remember to dress appropriately and take your shoes off on the way in.

Grand ('covered') Bazaar

Supposed to be the oldest marketplace in the world, Istanbul’s Grand (or ‘Covered’) Bazaar can come as a bit of a shock to the system. It is a hive of streets, shops and stalls selling all manner of pottery, spices, jewellery and, of course, carpets.

Hamams (Turkish baths)

Istanbul is home to several traditional hamams (or Turkish baths) and the experience is a central part of life in the city. One hamam is the 300 year-old Cagaloglu Hamami, featured in the film ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’, but there are several other bath houses to choose from.

Topkapi Palace

For sheer opulence and grandeur, the Topkapi Palace is unmissable. The palace was the spiritual and administrative heart of the great Ottoman Empire for nearly 400 years. In addition to its four courtyards, it boasts great views across the Bosphorous.

Hookah

If you want to take part in an old Turkish tradition, why not try a puff on a hookah? The different types of herbs, fruit extracts and varieties of tobacco which can be smoked on a hookah (or ‘narghile’ as they are known in Turkey) are practically limitless. Like the hamam, they still play an important social function in Turkish life.

Nightlife in Istanbul

 

The best way to start an evening is over a ‘narghile’ (hookah pipe). There are various places allotted for this purpose on Yaniceriler Caddesi and, especially during the summer, they make an excellent place for people watching as the city gets going again after the heat of the day.

Akbiyik Caddesi is one of the livelier streets of the Old Town of Sultanahmet. Down between the Blue Mosque and the walls of Topkapi Palace, there are a number of bars where an international travellers’ set congregates from the early evening. Although the streets surrounding Yerebatan Saray can also get quite lively, most of the best nightlife in Istanbul is to be found elsewhere. As the evening gets going, much of the action is transferred to the other side of the Golden Horn in Beyoglu. It is in this area, spreading out from Taksim Square at the heart of Beyoglu, that the city really begins to buzz. Although the area is also popular with young people during the day for its fashionable stores and cafés, it is after dark that it comes into its own. Istiklal Caddesi has a number of small hip clubs and live music venues that are full to bursting most nights. Not far away, the area of Nisantasi has an altogether smarter scene and a couple of the city’s swankier places. Abdi Ipekci Caddesi boasts excellent restaurants that turn into bars later on and cater for a slightly more mature crowd.