Chalcedon
Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor.
Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located to the south of Chrysopolis and almost directly opposite Byzantium across the Bosporus strait, in Europe. At present, it is a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Chalcedon
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Sultan Ahmed Mosque
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as the Blue Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I. It attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.
4.8 km · historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey, also known as Blue Mosque · Wikipedia - 02Topkapı Palace
The Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1853, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans.
4.8 km · palace museum in Istanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 03Second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others.
5 km · Council of the Christian church held from held from 5 May to 2 June 553 · Wikipedia - 04Hippodrome of Constantinople
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Today it is a square in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square.
5 km · historic square in Istanbul · Wikipedia - 05Grand Bazaar
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors.
5.8 km · bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 06Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium
The Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as Chobani Stadium Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Sports Complex or simply Chobani Stadium, is a football stadium located in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is the traditional home venue of major Turkish multi-sport club Fenerbahçe S.K. since its opening on 17 September 1908.
900 m · football stadium located in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 07Maiden's Tower
The Maiden's Tower, also known as Leander's Tower since the Byzantine period, is a tower on a small islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait, 200 m from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey. The tower appeared on the reverse of the Turkish 10 lira banknote from 1966 to 1981.
4.5 km · lighthouse at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus in Turkey · Wikipedia - 08New Mosque
The New Mosque and later New Valide Sultan Mosque after its partial reconstruction and completion between 1660 and 1665, is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey. It is situated on the Golden Horn, at the southern end of the Galata Bridge, and is a notable Istanbul landmark marking the crossing from the old historic core of the city to the Beyoğlu district.
5.9 km · mosque in İstanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 09Hagia Irene
Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene, sometimes known also as Saint Irene, is a former Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. It is the oldest known church structure in the city and one of only two Byzantine churches still standing in Istanbul today that were never converted into mosques, alongside the Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols, as it was used as an arsenal for storing weapons until the 19th century.
4.8 km · Byzantine church building in Istanbul, Turkey now a hall and museum · Wikipedia - 10Marmara University
Marmara University is a public research university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university, named after the Sea of Marmara, was founded as a university in 1982.
2.2 km · state university in İstanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
The Turkish government offers a museum pass for Istanbul's many sights and museums, and key spots on Sultanahmet, for €105 as of April 2025. The pass can be bought at the entrance of many museums or online. Check out what is included, and buy it if it makes sense for you. Numerous sights can still be seen for free and the biggest joy is probably just walking around and sucking in the atmosphere.
From Wikivoyage: Chalcedon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Hamam – Sultanahmet has many historical hamams. Some are very extravagant and cater mainly to tourists. Waterpipe – Most of the places where you can smoke a nargile are in Yeniçeriler Caddesi, near the Kapalı Çarşı (Grand Bazaar).
From Wikivoyage: Chalcedon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
For a full-on culinary experience, one should look for esnaf lokantası restaurants. They are essentially old-school canteens with a variety of traditional selections from soups to main courses to desserts. Balık-Ekmek.
From Wikivoyage: Chalcedon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Chalcedon
- Airports
- Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (SAW), 26 km · İstanbul (IST), 41 km · Hasan Polatkan (AOE), 182 km
- Stations
- Haydarpaşa railway station, 1.5 km · Sirkeci railway station, 5.4 km
- Istanbul → Chalcedon7 km · quickest by road, 28 min · ₺23–31
- Eskişehir → Chalcedon185 km · quickest by road, 4h 19m · ₺490–660
- Edremit → Chalcedon231 km · quickest by road, 4h 28m · ₺640–850
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Chalcedon
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Chalcedon. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inIt starts in the western suburbs at Bağcılar (for Metro M1) and runs via some 20 stations including Zeytinburnu (for Marmaray and Metro M1), Topkapı (district not palace, for Marmaray and Tram T4), Yusufpaşa (for Metro M1), Aksaray, Laleli-Universite (for Metro M2 and Grand Bazaar), Beyazit, Çemberlitaş, Sultanahmet (for Blue Mosque), Gülhane (for park), Sirkeci (for Marmaray and Tram U3) and Eminönü (for Bosphorus ferries and Tram T5 along the Golden Horn); then crosses the bridge to Galata district and Kabataş (for funicular to Taksim).
- Get inhas ferries from Kadıköy and Üsküdar Asia-side, from further up the Bosphorus, from up the Golden Horn, and from the Princes' Islands.
- Get inYou're likeliest to use the Bosphorus ferries: the Marmaray train is faster but do make this classic crossing at least once during your visit.
- Get inThe main operator is Şehir Hatları, though private boats try to skim off the trade, like pesky private minibuses.
- Get inHaliç Hattı is a ferry that pings back and forth across the Golden Horn, so a round trip is an inexpensive scenic tour.
From Wikivoyage: Istanbul/Historical Peninsula, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01284 km
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If you know how people move in Chalcedon – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Chalcedon
Chalcedon is 4 km from Üsküdar, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Byzantiumancient Greek city, precursor of Constantinople4.9 km
- Kadıköydistrict of İstanbul, northwestern Turkey800 m
- Üsküdardistrict of İstanbul, northwestern Turkey3.7 km
- Siege of Constantinople717-718 combined land and sea offensive by the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate against the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople5.4 km
- Eminönüneighborhood in Istanbul, Turkey6 km
- Obelisk of Theodosiusancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople (known today as At Meydanı or Sultanahmet Meydanı, in the modern city of Istanbul, Turkey) by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD5 km