Access Istanbulİstanbul · Türkiye
Hagia Sophia in full sun above the fountains of Sultanahmet park, its grey dome and four minarets against a deep blue sky, with people walking the paths in front

The best view in Istanbul costs a bus fare.

The best buildings are free and still in use. The expensive part is the ticket office. And the finest view of the city costs a bus fare, because the ferry is the bus.

Photograph by Mustang Joe, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

2continents
15.9mpeople in the province
1card for every mode
10 of 16sights here that are free
5prayer closures a day
537the year Hagia Sophia opened

Population: Turkish Statistical Institute, province of Istanbul. Prayer-time closures: five daily prayers, so five closures — the times move through the year. “10 of 16” counts the sight pages on this site that charge no admission.

Istanbul in briefİstanbul · Türkiye

Istanbul is the only city on two continents, and it is not a capital — Ankara has been that since 1923. It is Türkiye’s largest city by a distance, with about 15.9 million people in the province, spread along both banks of a 30 km strait that joins the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The water is not scenery here; it is the reason the city exists and the thing that shapes every journey across it.

Greek colonists founded Byzantion on the point where the Golden Horn meets the Bosphorus in about 660 BC. Constantine made it the Roman capital in 330 AD, and for the next eleven centuries it was Constantinople, the largest and richest city in Europe, defended by land walls that held until gunpowder. The Fourth Crusade sacked it in 1204 and it never fully recovered. Mehmed II took it for the Ottomans in 1453, and it ran an empire from here until 1922. Each of those regimes built on top of the last rather than clearing it, which is why a Roman racetrack, a Byzantine cathedral and an Ottoman palace sit within four hundred metres of each other.

What it is known for: the domes — Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Süleymaniye — and the fact that the greatest of them are working mosques you can walk into for nothing. Also the bazaars, the ferries, and food that is genuinely one of the reasons to come. It is a very large, very steep, very busy city, and it rewards doing less of it slowly.

Country
Türkiye. Not the capital — that is Ankara
Population
About 15.9 million in the province; the metropolitan area is the largest in Europe
Language
Turkish. English is common in Sultanahmet and Beyoğlu, less so elsewhere
Currency
Turkish lira (₺). Cards are widely accepted; keep some cash for markets and ferries
Time zone
UTC+3 all year — Türkiye does not change the clocks
Airports
Istanbul (IST) on the European side, Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) on the Asian
Transport card
İstanbulkart — one card for tram, metro, bus, funicular, Marmaray and ferry
Founded
As Byzantion, about 660 BC; Constantinople from 330 AD; Istanbul officially from 1930

Figures as published and checked on 5 September 2026. Population is the province (Turkish Statistical Institute). Confirm anything you are relying on before you travel.

Start here

Eleven sections. The everyday mechanics are at the top because they are what actually goes wrong, and the sights are further down because they are the easy part.

01Getting AroundULAŞIMOne card — the İstanbulkart — opens the tram, the metro, the funiculars, the buses, Marmaray under the strait and the ferries across it. The ferry is the part visitors treat as a tour and locals treat as the bus.İstanbulkart · ferries · T102Getting Here & OnwardGELİŞ VE GİDİŞTwo airports on two different continents, each about 40 km from the middle, plus the coaches, the M11 metro and the trains east. Which airport you land at changes your first two hours.IST · SAW · Havaist03Landmarks & SightsGÖRÜLECEK YERLERSixteen places, one page each, ordered free first. What you can walk into for nothing, what is ticketed in euros, and which of the two the thing you have heard of actually is.16 sights · 10 free04Mosques & ChurchesCAMİLER VE KİLİSELERWorking buildings, not museums. Free to enter, closed around each of the five daily prayers, and the closures move with the sun rather than sitting on a timetable.free · covered · shoes off05Bazaars & ShoppingÇARŞILARThe Grand Bazaar shuts on Sundays and the Spice Bazaar does not, which strands more itineraries than any other single fact about this city. Plus how bargaining actually works.closed Sun · bargaining06Food & DrinkYEME İÇMEBalık ekmek off a boat, kebap that is not what it is abroad, meyhane rules, and çay all day. Where the queue is local and where it is a coach party.balık ekmek · meyhane · çay07NeighbourhoodsSEMTLERSultanahmet, Beyoğlu, Balat, Kadıköy, Üsküdar. This city has centres on two continents and the one most visitors never cross to is the one most locals live on.two continents08Museums & GalleriesMÜZELERWhat each collection holds, what a ticket actually covers, which day it closes, and whether the museum pass is worth it for the number of days you have.passes · closing days09Planning & PracticalitiesPRATİK BİLGİLERLira and cards, the two-tier foreign price at state museums, tap water, connectivity, the crowd calendar and what shuts when. The unglamorous half, which is the half that goes wrong.lira · tickets · crowds10Itineraries & Day PlansGEZİ PLANLARIOne, two, three, five days and a week — each built around what is shut, when the mosques close, and how long the crossings actually take.1 · 2 · 3 · 5 · 7 days11Day TripsGÜNÜBİRLİK GEZİLERThe Princes' Islands, Bursa, Edirne and the Black Sea villages: the fare, the journey time and which pier or coach station it leaves from.islands · Bursa · Edirne

The sixteen sights

Free first, ticketed after — which is the argument this whole site makes. One page each.

The courtyard of the Blue Mosque at dusk, the arcade lit from within and the domes stacked above itThe Blue MosqueFree · a working mosqueThe Suleymaniye Mosque on its terrace, the great dome stepping down to half-domes, with visitors on the pathThe Süleymaniye MosqueFree · the best terrace in the cityA vaulted lane of the Grand Bazaar crowded with shoppers, shopfronts on both sides under the painted archesThe Grand BazaarFree · closed SundaysThe Spice Bazaar's painted vault above a dense crowd, the L-shaped hall running away in both directionsThe Spice BazaarFree · open SundaysOrtakoy Mosque at the water's edge with the Bosphorus Bridge rising directly behind itOrtaköy MosqueFree · under the bridgeIstiklal Avenue packed shoulder to shoulder with people, the street running away between tall facadesİstiklal AvenueFree · and very fullThe Obelisk of Theodosius standing in the open square of the Hippodrome, minarets behind itThe HippodromeFree · always openA terrace of Balat houses painted in bright blue, yellow and orange, stepping up the hillBalatFree · a neighbourhood, not a siteA commuter ferry crossing in front of Hagia Sophia, the old city rising behind itThe Bosphorus FerryFree-ish · it is the busThe Maiden's Tower on its islet with the old city and its minarets on the skyline behindThe Maiden's TowerFree to see · ticketed to landHagia Sophia seen from the park on a clear day, its grey dome and four white minarets above the treesHagia SophiaTicketed upstairs, free downstairsThe Gate of Salutation at Topkapi Palace, its two conical towers flanking the entrance, with visitors queuingTopkapı PalaceTicketed · Harem extraThe Basilica Cistern's forest of columns receding into the dark, lit orange and reflected in shallow waterThe Basilica CisternTicketed · timed entryThe long white façade of Dolmabahce Palace along the Bosphorus, ornamented in carved stoneDolmabahçe PalaceTicketed · guided route onlyThe Galata Tower rising above the packed rooftops of Beyoglu, the Golden Horn behindThe Galata TowerTicketed · the queue is the problemThe exterior of the Chora church, its brick domes and single minaret against a blue skyThe Chora ChurchTicketed · out on its own

Photographs from Wikimedia Commons; each sight page carries its own credit and licence.

All sixteen, with the argument →

How long have you got?

Each plan is built around what is shut, when the mosques close to visitors, and how long the crossings really take.

1 daySultanahmet on foot, and one crossing by ferry.2 daysThe old city, then the other side of the Golden Horn.3 daysAdds Asia, and the bazaars on a day they are open.5 daysRoom for Chora, Dolmabahçe and a whole day on the water.A weekAdds the islands, Bursa or Edirne, and time to be bored well.
A correction we expect to make often

Turkish state museums price foreign visitors separately, in euros, and those prices have moved several times in the last two years. Hagia Sophia’s visitor arrangement changed in 2024 and Chora’s changed twice. Nothing on this site quotes a current admission price for that reason: we describe how the ticket works and send you to the operator for the number. If we have described a mechanism wrongly, that is a mistake worth telling us about.

Everything here was checked on 5 September 2026. Prayer-time closures, ferry timetables and museum closing days all change; confirm before you travel.