Four days on both sides of the water: the Sultanahmet monuments before the coaches, the bazaars and a Bosphorus ferry at sunset, Galata and a Beyoğlu meyhane, then the Golden Horn and the Asian side. One Istanbulkart does every tram, ferry and metro.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
April to early June and mid-September to October: 61 to 77°F (16 to 25°C), dry enough, long evenings on the ferries. July and August sit near 86°F (30°C) with humidity and lines at everything in Sultanahmet. November to March is wet (December is the rainiest month) and 39 to 48°F (4 to 9°C), with a few days of snow; the sights are empty and hotels are half price. The two Eid holidays close the bazaars for several days.
Sultanahmet puts the big four on foot but empties after dark and the restaurants are aimed at you. Karaköy or Galata for cafés, the bridge and a tram or ferry to everything; Cihangir for Beyoğlu nights and views; Kadıköy on the Asian side for local life and a 20-minute ferry commute that is the best part of the day.
Buy an Istanbulkart (₺165 for the card) at any Biletmatik machine and load it; one card can pay for a group, tapped once per person. A ride is ₺46.20 on metro, tram and bus since the July 2026 rise, ferries ₺53 to ₺65. The T1 tram links Sultanahmet, Eminönü, Karaköy and Kabataş; Şehir Hatları ferries cross the Bosphorus every 20 minutes; the Marmaray train runs under it from Sirkeci to Üsküdar in four minutes. Taxis are cheap but call one with the BiTaksi app and insist on the meter.
Sultanahmet · 45 min
Free, through the visitors' entrance on the Hippodrome side; the 8:30 a.m. to about noon window never collides with a prayer closure. Shoulders and knees covered, women cover their hair (scarves are lent at the door), shoes off into a bag.
Sultanahmet · 75 min
Since January 2024 foreign visitors pay €25 and enter by a separate route to the upper gallery, where the Deesis mosaic and the view down the nave are. It is closed to visitors at each prayer time and for most of Friday midday, and the Museum Pass is not valid.
€25
Sultanahmet · 45 min
Tickets are sold at the door on Yerebatan Caddesi, card or Istanbulkart only, with no official online sale, so go before 10:30 a.m. or accept the line. The Medusa heads are at the far end; a separate Night Shift ticket (₺3,000) runs 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a light show.
₺1,950
Sultanahmet · 45 min
Divan Yolu 12, since 1920, open 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.: köfte with piyaz (white bean salad), pickled peppers and bread, around ₺600. Ignore the look-alike köfte shops either side.
₺600
Sultanahmet · 180 min
Closed Tuesday. One ₺2,750 ticket covers the palace, the Harem and Hagia Irene, sold at the gate or covered by the Museum Pass; do the Harem first, then the Treasury and the fourth courtyard terraces over the Bosphorus.
₺2,750
Sultanahmet · 45 min
The Egyptian obelisk and the Serpent Column on the old chariot track, then the Arasta's quiet arcade of carpet and tile shops behind the Blue Mosque. Prices are fixed here, which is a rest after the Grand Bazaar.
Eminönü · 90 min
A tram stop or a 15-minute walk downhill. Lamb kebabs from Urfa and a terrace across the Golden Horn to the Galata Tower; book a window table and ask for the pistachio kebab and a katmer to finish.
Beyazıt · 120 min
Closed Sunday and on public and religious holidays; opens 9 a.m., and shops are covering up by 6:30 p.m.. Enter at the Nuruosmaniye gate, find the Cevahir Bedesten at the center for antiques, and bargain on everything except food.
Süleymaniye · 60 min
Ten minutes uphill through the Sahaflar book bazaar to Sinan's masterpiece, free and open to visitors from about 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. except at prayer times (Friday only after 2:30 p.m.). The terrace behind it has a free view of the Golden Horn.
Eminönü · 45 min
Walk down to the water on the west side of the Galata Bridge. Grilled mackerel in half a loaf with onion and lettuce from the rocking boats, a squeeze of lemon and a cup of turşu suyu (pickle juice) from the cart, around ₺200 to ₺260.
₺250
Eminönü · 30 min
Up a hidden staircase from the Hasırcılar street market, on a terrace above the shops, lined with Iznik tiles inside and out. Free, with the same prayer-time closures as every mosque.
Eminönü · 60 min
Open every day including Sunday, about 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.: pul biber, sumac, dried apricots and Turkish delight by weight. Taste before you buy, and look for the line at Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, the coffee roaster at the west corner.
Bosphorus · 45 min
From the Eminönü pier, 15 minutes across the Bosphorus for about ₺53 on the Istanbulkart. Sit on the open deck on the right for Topkapı's point, the Maiden's Tower and the Asian shore.
₺53
Üsküdar · 75 min
Walk south from the Üsküdar pier along the water for 20 minutes to Salacak. The whole old city skyline sits across the strait and the sun goes down behind it, from the tea gardens where Istanbul comes to watch.
Üsküdar · 75 min
Selmani Pak Caddesi 9, up from the Üsküdar pier, since 1933 and open to 10:30 p.m.. Point at the steam counter for hünkar beğendi, Elbasan tava or olive-oil vegetables, then kaymaklı ayva (quince with clotted cream); go back by ferry or the Marmaray train to Sirkeci.
Karaköy · 45 min
Cross the bridge on foot from Eminönü between the fishermen, then have a pistachio baklava and a Turkish coffee standing at Güllüoğlu on Rıhtım Caddesi, open from 7 a.m..
Galata · 60 min
Open daily 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. for €30, with an elevator to the sixth floor and stairs for the last bit; the Museum Pass covers it in daytime hours. The line is small before 10:30 a.m..
€30
Galata · 60 min
Serdar-ı Ekrem for the design shops and the Doğan Apartmanı courtyard, the Camondo Stairs' art nouveau curve, and the music shops of Galip Dede Caddesi up toward Tünel. Steep in both directions.
Karaköy · 75 min
The turquoise-tiled room on Kemankeş Caddesi, a Bib Gourmand in 2026; at lunch it is an esnaf lokanta where you order from the day's trays. Zeytinyağlı vegetables, a stew and rice, with no booking needed at midday.
Karaköy · 90 min
Closed Monday. Renzo Piano's building on the Galataport quay, ₺1,000, with the Turkish collection upstairs and the roof terrace over the Bosphorus; an hour and a half is plenty.
₺1,000
Beyoğlu · 90 min
The Tünel funicular from Karaköy, running since 1875, climbs to Beyoğlu in 90 seconds for one Istanbulkart fare. Then walk the 1.4 kilometers of İstiklal to Taksim: the red tram, the Çiçek Pasajı arcade, St Anthony's church and the Balık Pazarı side streets.
Beyoğlu · 75 min
Pera Museum (closed Monday, ₺300) has Osman Hamdi Bey's Tortoise Trainer and the Orientalist paintings. Or drop downhill into Çukurcuma's antique shops and Cihangir's cafés, where the neighborhood's cats are at their fattest.
₺300
Beyoğlu · 120 min
Yakup 2 or Sofyalı 9, a few doors apart: cold meze from the tray, then hot ones, then a fish, with rakı and water. Book on Friday and Saturday; Nevizade Sokak off the Balık Pazarı is the louder version with tables in the street.
Edirnekapı · 60 min
Closed to visitors on Friday; otherwise 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with pauses at prayer times. Byzantine mosaics and frescoes, reopened as a mosque in 2024 with a €20 foreigner ticket (the Museum Pass is not valid), and women cover their heads.
€20
Fener · 60 min
Downhill to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the seat of the Orthodox church since 1601, where the small Church of St George is open to visitors most mornings, free and in modest dress. The red-brick Phanar Greek Orthodox College towers over the quarter from the hill above.
Balat · 75 min
The painted houses on Kiremit Caddesi and the Merdivenli Yokuş steps, the cafés that have moved in, the synagogues behind plain doors. On the shore, the Bulgarian St Stephen church is cast entirely from iron, shipped from Vienna in 1898 and free to step inside.
Golden Horn · 60 min
The Golden Horn ferry from Fener or Balat pier runs to Eminönü about hourly; change there to the Kadıköy boat, 20 minutes across for about ₺65. If the timing is wrong, the 99 bus to Eminönü does the first leg in 20 minutes.
₺65
Kadıköy · 75 min
Güneşlibahçe Sokak 43 in the market, open daily from 11 a.m.. Regional Anatolian cooking: point at the trays and leave room for the candied pumpkin with tahini.
Kadıköy · 60 min
The fishmongers, pickle shops, olive counters and the old Baylan patisserie around Güneşlibahçe and Serasker streets, then the bar lanes of Kadife Sokak. This is where the city shops, at roughly half Sultanahmet's prices.
Moda · 90 min
Fifteen minutes' walk through quieter streets to the Moda shore: ice cream on Moda Caddesi, the tea garden at the point and sunset over the old city from the sea wall. The nostalgic tram loops back to the pier if your feet are done.
Kadıköy · 120 min
One of the grills off the fish market for a last meal, then the 20-minute ferry back to Eminönü or Karaköy with the lit-up skyline ahead. Boats run late into the evening, with the Marmaray from Ayrılık Çeşmesi as the fallback.
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Pins are approximate. Tap one for the stop; the directions links open Google Maps.
From Istanbul Airport (IST) the M11 metro runs to Kağıthane and Gayrettepe in about 35 to 40 minutes for a standard Istanbulkart fare; change to the M2 for Taksim or to Vezneciler for Sultanahmet, about an hour door to door. The Havaist coach is ₺470: HVL-9 to Taksim in about 90 minutes, or HVL-1 to Aksaray and two tram stops to Sultanahmet, since there is no longer a direct Sultanahmet line. A metered taxi is 60 to 90 minutes. From Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) the M4 metro reaches Kadıköy and the ferries; the Havabüs to Taksim is around ₺450 to ₺485.
About ₺3,500 to ₺6,000 a day per person (roughly €70 to €120), hotel excluded. Day 1's tickets alone come to about ₺5,800 with Hagia Sophia, the cistern and Topkapı. A lokanta lunch is ₺400 to ₺600, a fish sandwich ₺250, a meyhane dinner with rakı ₺1,500 to ₺2,500, and a day of trams and ferries ₺200 to ₺300.
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Day 1: Hagia Sophia, the cistern and Topkapı's rooms are all under cover, and the Grand Bazaar on day 2 is a roofed city. A Waystop rain plan for day 2 or 4 is a second version with the ferries and Moda on a dry day.
Yes if the mosaics matter to you: the Deesis and the imperial portraits are all in the gallery your ticket covers. If you only want the space, Süleymaniye is free and a Sinan building.
Around ₺6,500 for five days. It covers Topkapı with the Harem, the Galata Tower in daytime, the Archaeology Museums and the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, but not Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, Kariye or Dolmabahçe. It pays only if you add two museums to Topkapı and the tower; most people on this plan should not.
Istanbulkart. Bank cards work at many gates but at a higher fare and with no transfer discount, and the Princes' Islands ferry wants the card. ₺165 for the card plus whatever you load; share one across the group.
Same country first, then the cities people tend to pair with Istanbul. Want two or three in one go? String them together in the trip builder.
Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.