Golden Horn Sightseeing Bus Tour and Bosphorus Cruise
A half-day tour combining a panoramic Golden Horn bus tour, a stop at the Spice Bazaar, and a Bosphorus cruise from Kabataş. Check the current itinerary and booking details on SkyGate.
Market · Rüstem Paşa Mahallesi (Eminönü), Fatih, İstanbul
Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı)
Mısır Çarşısı · Egyptian Bazaar · Valide Çarşısı
Mısır Çarşısı, the covered market built in 1660–1664 beside the New Mosque in Eminönü, Fatih, where over a hundred shops sell spices, Turkish delight, jewellery and souvenirs.
Where it is
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41.0165, 28.9705
Why go
The bazaar was built as the arasta, the row of shops whose rents paid for the upkeep, of the Yeni Cami (New Mosque) complex at Eminönü: work began in 1660 on the order of Turhan Sultan, mother of Mehmed IV, and was completed in 1664, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's culture portal. Seventeenth-century chroniclers called it the New Bazaar and the Valide Bazaar; from the mid-18th century it was called Mısır Çarşısı because so many of the goods sold here came from Egypt, spices above all. It has six gates, named Balık Pazarı, Hasırcılar, Ketenciler, Yeni Cami, Haseki and Çiçek Pazarı, and some shops still hang a symbol from the eaves, such as a fire tower, a boat, an ostrich egg or a pair of scissors, so that customers could recognise them. The bazaar suffered two major fires and was restored in 1940–1943 and again, by the General Directorate of Foundations, in a programme completed in 2018. The Istanbul Governorship's 2019 profile counted 113 shops, selling mainly spices and Turkish delight alongside jewellers, food shops and souvenir sellers. The bazaar is a market of individual shopkeepers rather than a single ticketed attraction.
Getting there
The bazaar stands beside the New Mosque at Eminönü, on the Golden Horn side of the Historic Peninsula, and has six gates: Balık Pazarı, Hasırcılar, Ketenciler, Yeni Cami, Haseki and Çiçek Pazarı. The Ministry gives its postal address as Rüstem Paşa, 34116 Fatih, and no source read publishes gate coordinates or a preferred entrance.
Best time to visit
No official source gives a best season or time of day; the Governorship's 2019 profile gives 08:00 to 19:30 as the general trading window.
Through the year
The bazaar is a year-round market with no seasonal timetable in any official source read. The Istanbul Governorship's 2019 profile says it closes on 29 October and during the religious holidays; the dates of those holidays change every year, and no current-year closure dates are published in the sources read, so check before travelling around Ramadan and the two bayram holidays.
Accessibility
No official source read describes steps, ramps, a step-free or stroller route, toilets, baby-changing or seating inside the bazaar, so none is claimed; ask a shopkeeper or the local district office before you go if you need one. The Istanbul Governorship's 2019 profile says the restoration renewed the building's electrical and communication systems underground; it says nothing about accessibility.
Getting here
How to get to Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı)
Vehicle
Vehicle suitability unknown
We have not verified what this approach needs. That is a gap in our research rather than a statement that any car will do, so check locally before committing to a hire car.
Road last checked 2026-09-22.
A description of the road, not an assurance about your trip. Conditions change with weather and season.
Ways to book this trip
Products that genuinely visit this place and can be used from where you are starting. Booking happens on the provider's own site.
Guided tour · skygate
Golden Horn Sightseeing Bus Tour and Bosphorus Cruise
A half-day tour combining a panoramic Golden Horn bus tour, a stop at the Spice Bazaar, and a Bosphorus cruise from Kabataş. Check the current itinerary and booking details on SkyGate.
Near Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı)
Historic site
Hodjapasha Culture Center
A privately run performance venue inside a converted 15th-century double hamam in Sirkeci, Fatih, where the operator stages a Whirling Dervishes (Mevlevi Sema) ceremony and exhibition most evenings, and a folk and belly-dance show, "Rhythm of the Dance", several nights a week.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mosque
Süleymaniye Mosque
Mimar Sinan's largest imperial mosque in Istanbul, built 1550–1557 for Süleyman the Magnificent on the Third Hill of Fatih overlooking the Golden Horn — still a working mosque, and Sinan's own tomb stands beside it.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Historic site
Theodosius Cistern
Şerefiye Sarnıcı, a covered cistern of about 1,600 years in Binbirdirek, Fatih, thought to date from the reign of Theodosius II. It was uncovered in 2010 and is run as a ticketed museum by Istanbul's municipal culture company.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Museum
Galata Tower
A fourteenth-century Genoese-built stone tower in Bereketzade, Beyoğlu, restored in 2020 and run today as a Ministry of Culture and Tourism museum with a panoramic balcony on its top floor.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Related guides
- Egyptian Bazaar (Spice Bazaar) guide: history, what's sold, and how it differs from the Grand Bazaar
The Mısır Çarşısı, known in English as the Egyptian Bazaar or Spice Bazaar, is a free, covered, walk-in market next to Istanbul's New Mosque in Eminönü — not to be confused with the much larger Grand Bazaar across town. This guide covers its 17th-century history, what's actually sold there today, its hours, and how to get there.
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