Three days is where Asia becomes possible, and where you can afford to put Topkapı in properly rather than rushing it. It is also the shortest trip that can absorb one closed day.
The plan
- Day 1 — The old city: Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the cistern.
- Day 2, morning — Topkapı Palace at opening, with the Harem ticket bought at the same time. Allow three hours and go to the fourth courtyard first.
- Day 2, afternoon — The bazaars and Süleymaniye, or Beyoğlu and Galata — whichever the day of the week allows.
- Day 3 — Cross. Ferry to Kadıköy, the food market and the bar streets, then the waterfront walk at Üsküdar with the Maiden’s Tower on your right and the old city across the water.
- Day 3, alternative — If the weather is against you, do Balat instead: the T5 tram along the Golden Horn, the coloured houses, and uphill to Chora if it is open.
Check the museum closing day before you fix day two. Topkapı has one, and it has changed.
What this plan is built around
Not a list of sights, but the closures: the Grand Bazaar on Sundays, the mosques around each of the five daily prayers and for longer on Friday midday, the museums on their weekday, and how long a crossing actually takes once you have found the pier.
Other lengths
Checked on 5 September 2026. Opening patterns and prayer-time closures change — confirm before you travel. All sixteen sights, one page each, in Landmarks & Sights.