Things to Doin Istanbul

What there is to do in Istanbul: the major sights, local experiences and the practical detail you need to plan around them.

Things to do

What deserves your time in Istanbul

Major attractions matter, but so do timing, price, accessibility and whether an experience actually deserves part of your trip.

Mosque and former Byzantine cathedral; ticketed gallery visit

Hagia Sophia

UNESCO names Hagia Sophia, designed by Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletus in 532 to 537, first among the architectural masterpieces of the Historic Areas of Istanbul, and says its vast dome reflects the architectural and decorative expertise of the 6th century and that it became a model for a whole family of churches and later mosques. It is an active mosque. Under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's arrangement in force since 15 January 2024, worshippers and foreign cultural visitors have separate entrances: visitors are taken up to the gallery floor and look down on the prayer hall rather than walking through it, passing the marble 'gate of paradise and hell' and the Byzantine mosaics at gallery level, with headphone commentary in 23 languages. In 2026 the building is in what the Ministry calls the most comprehensive restoration in the history of the Republic, with about 11,000 square metres of scaffolding on the north, east and south facades and minarets and a 43.5-metre temporary steel platform inside.

Booking: The gallery ticket office is opposite the Fountain of Ahmed III. Entry is through a tunnel and ramp beneath the Bayezid II minaret on the south facade, and visitors leave by a ramp on the north-east side. The Ministry's 2024 announcement does not publish hours, so confirm at the ticket office. Dress for a mosque.

Accessibility: Access is by a tunnel-and-ramp entrance and a ramp exit. The Ministry does not state their gradient or length, so step-free suitability is not established; ask at the ticket office.

Active mosque; free to visit

Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii)

UNESCO counts the 17th-century Blue Mosque within the skyline that carries the Historic Areas of Istanbul's value. The Ministry reported in February 2026 that its restoration is complete.

Booking: The mosque's own association publishes the rules: visits are free; open 08:30 to 19:00 from 1 April to 30 September and 08:30 to 17:00 from 1 October to 31 March, with last entry 30 minutes before closing; on Fridays visits do not begin until 14:30; and visits stop from 30 minutes before the noon and afternoon prayers until 15 minutes after them. Clothing must cover what worship requires, both inside and in the courtyard, and a loan-garment cabin is available. Loud talking is not allowed, smoking is not allowed in the courtyard, and the visiting and worship areas are separated.

Accessibility: Baby strollers are not allowed inside the mosque, per the association's visitor rules.

Ottoman palace-museum

Topkapı Palace

Built for Mehmed II between 1460 and 1478 and the sultans' residence and seat of government for roughly four centuries, Topkapı is organised as four connected courtyards surrounded by galleries and service buildings. Milli Saraylar, which runs it, says it became a museum on 3 April 1924, the first museum of the Republic, and today covers about 350,000 square metres excluding Gülhane Park. UNESCO cites the Palace of Topkapı under criterion (iv) as a supreme example of an Ottoman palace ensemble. The Harem is a separate part of the route from the courtyards, and the church of Hagia Irene stands in the first courtyard.

Booking: Closed on Tuesdays and open with a ticket office of 09:00 to 17:00 when checked. The standard ticket covers the palace, Hagia Irene and the Harem, with Harem-only and Hagia Irene-only tickets also on Milli Saraylar's page. Müzekart is not valid in the Harem or Hagia Irene sections, and visitors aged 0 to 6 enter free. Holidays that fall on the closed day keep it closed.

Byzantine underground cistern; municipal museum

Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı)

Commissioned by Emperor Justinian I (527 to 565), this rectangular reservoir measures about 140 by 70 metres, covers roughly 10,000 square metres and held 80,000 tons of water. Its 336 columns, each 9 metres high, stand in 12 rows of 28, 4.8 metres apart. In the north-west corner two Medusa heads serve as column bases, one upside down and one on its side, and are Roman-era sculpture.

Booking: Open daily 09:00 to 22:00, with separately priced day (09:00 to 18:30) and evening (19:30 to 22:00) sessions. Only credit or debit cards and İstanbulkart are accepted at the entrances. Address: Yerebatan Caddesi, Alemdar Mahallesi 1/3, Sultanahmet, Fatih.

Byzantine church with mosaics and frescoes; working mosque

Chora (Kariye Mosque)

The former church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, in Edirnekapı in Fatih, holds the mosaic and fresco cycles that Theodore Metochites commissioned. According to Columbia University's exhibition essay, the statesman Metochites restored and redecorated it from around 1316 and had finished by 1321: mosaics of the lives of the Virgin and of Christ fill the two narthexes, and the funeral chapel (the parekklesion) is painted in fresco and ends in the apse with the Anastasis, in which Christ raises Adam and Eve from their tombs. It was converted to a mosque between 1495 and 1511, became a museum in 1945, and after a restoration reopened for worship and visitors on 6 May 2024 under the Directorate General of Foundations. UNESCO names the church in its statement of value for the Historic Areas of Istanbul, but Chora is not itself a listed component.

Booking: The most recent arrangement XTOUR could retrieve is an Anadolu Agency report of 19 August 2024: open to visits six days a week from 09:00 to 18:00, closed to tourist visits on Fridays, tourist visits pausing 15 minutes before each prayer, and a fee for foreign visitors. That is two years old, so confirm hours, fee and the Friday rule before crossing the city.

Imperial mosque complex

Süleymaniye Mosque

Built by the architect Sinan between 1551 and 1558 for Süleyman the Magnificent. The Ministry's culture portal gives the dome as 27.25 metres across and 53 metres high with 32 windows, four minarets with ten balconies in total, and the tombs of Süleyman and his wife Hürrem beside the mihrab. UNESCO lists the Süleymaniye quarter, with the mosque complex, bazaars and the vernacular housing around it, as one of the four components of the Historic Areas of Istanbul, and singles out the complex (caravanserai, madrasa, medical school, library, bath, hospice and imperial tombs) as a supreme example of an Ottoman religious complex.

Booking: Address: Prof. Dr. Sıddık Sami Onar Caddesi No:1, Süleymaniye, Fatih. The culture-portal entry XTOUR retrieved gives no visiting hours or rules, so confirm at the entrance.

Historic covered market

Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı)

The Ministry's culture portal dates the Grand Bazaar to the reign of Mehmed II, with foundations laid in 1461 as a revenue-generating structure for Hagia Sophia, and gives it an area of about 45,000 square metres with roughly 3,600 shops in the Beyazıt neighbourhood of Fatih. It lists carpets, textiles, gold and silver jewellery, antiques, ceramics and souvenirs.

Booking: The culture portal lists 08:30 to 19:00 and closure on Sundays and religious holidays. The T1 tram stop Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı is named for it.

Historic covered market

Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı)

Begun in 1660 on the order of Turhan Sultan and completed in 1664 by chief architect Mustafa Ağa as part of the New Mosque (Yeni Cami) complex, to fund it. The two were separated in 1941 when a road was cut through the mosque's courtyard. It had six gates, three used by spice merchants and three by cloth traders, and today sells mainly spices and Turkish delight, with jewellery and gifts.

Booking: Address: Rüstem Paşa, Fatih. The culture portal gives no hours. Eminönü, on the T1 tram, is the nearest listed interchange.

19th-century Ottoman palace-museum on the Bosphorus

Dolmabahçe Palace

Built for Sultan Abdülmecid to replace the older Beşiktaş shore palaces, Dolmabahçe is described by Milli Saraylar as a single block of 285 rooms, 44 halls, 68 toilets and 6 hamams, in three parts: the Selamlık (state business), the Harem (the family's private quarters) and the ceremonial hall between them. Atatürk stayed there intermittently between 1927 and 1938, worked from it and died in it. It was a presidential residence until 1949 and opened as a museum-palace in 1984.

Booking: Closed on Mondays; ticket office 09:00 to 17:00 when checked. Milli Saraylar lists a single individual ticket covering the Selamlık, the Harem and the Painting Museum together, and visitors aged 0 to 6 enter free.

14th-century Genoese tower; Ministry museum with a viewing balcony

Galata Tower

The Ministry says the Genoese built the tower in the mid-14th century as part of the Galata walls; under the Ottomans it served as a dungeon and then a fire lookout. After a 2020 restoration by the General Directorate of Foundations it reopened as a museum on 6 October 2020. Turkish Museums gives its height as 62.59 metres, lists a museum shop on the first floor and describes no cafe.

Booking: The Ministry lists a day session from 08:30 to 18:30 (ticket office closing 18:14) and a separate night-museum session from 18:30 to 23:00 (ticket office closing 22:00), every day. Children under 18 must visit with their parents. Address: Bereketzade, Galata Kulesi, Beyoğlu.

Accessibility: The entrance door is reached by marble steps. A lift runs from the ground floor to the sixth floor; the panoramic balcony on the eighth floor is reached by a steel staircase, and the way down from the fourth floor is by stairs built into the walls. The balcony is therefore not a step-free visit.

The strait itself, seen from the water

Bosphorus (by ferry or cruise)

The Turkish Foreign Ministry describes the Istanbul Strait as a narrow route that twists and turns through the city, with strong currents, sharp turns and sudden changes in weather, and puts average daily transits at around 107 vessels. The official tourism portal says it narrows to about 500 metres in places, that some 360 waterfront mansions (yalis) have survived on both banks, and that the ferry is the way to reach another continent in a few minutes. Landmarks seen from the water include Dolmabahçe Palace, Ortaköy's Büyük Mecidiye Mosque beside the first bridge (the 15 Temmuz Şehitler Bridge, whose piers stand in Ortaköy and Beylerbeyi), Beylerbeyi Palace, Küçüksu Pavilion and Maiden's Tower, with the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge between Hisarüstü and Kavacık and the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge on the approach to the Black Sea.

Booking: An Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality announcement of the 2025 summer timetable described Şehir Hatları's Long and Short Bosphorus Tours running daily (the short tour once a day, twice on public and religious holidays) and Saturday-evening moonlight cruises on a Bostancı, Kadıköy, Eminönü, Üsküdar, Beşiktaş, Rumeli Kavağı and Anadolu Kavağı route. XTOUR could not open the operator's own timetable pages, so confirm current times at a Şehir Hatları pier or through the operator's app or the Alo 153 line. A cruise passes the palaces and towers; entering them is a separate visit.

Islet tower reached only by boat

Maiden's Tower (Kız Kulesi)

Maiden's Tower stands on a natural rock about 200 metres off the Salacak shore of Üsküdar, overlooking the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the mouth of the Golden Horn. The Ministry says most of what stands today dates from 1832 to 1833 under Mahmud II and that it was restored between 2021 and 2023.

Booking: Open daily 09:00 to 21:00 with the ticket booth closing at 20:00 when checked. Boats leave from Salacak (Harem Sahil Yolu Caddesi No:26/1, Üsküdar) roughly every 30 to 40 minutes from 09:30 to 20:00 and from Karaköy (Rıhtım Caddesi) seven times a day between 09:30 and 18:30. Children under 18 must visit with their parents.

Information last verified: September 21, 2026

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