Istanbul
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, a megacity, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical center.
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, a megacity, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical center. With a population of over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus – one of the world's busiest waterways – in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 mi2) is coterminous with Istanbul Province.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Istanbul
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.
2 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.
2.4 km · palace museum in Istanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 03Süleymaniye Mosque
The Süleymaniye Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan.
800 m · mosque in İstanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 04Istanbul University
Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul, is a public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, it was reformed as the first Ottoman higher education institution influenced by European approaches.
700 m · public university in Istanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 05Galata Tower
The Galata Tower, officially the Galata Tower Museum, is a medieval Genoese tower in the Galata part of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey. Built as a watchtower at the highest point of the mostly demolished Walls of Galata, the tower is now an exhibition space and museum, and a symbol of Beyoğlu and Istanbul.
2.1 km · historical tower in İstanbul · Wikipedia - 06Bosphorus Bridge
The Bosphorus Bridge, known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and colloquially as the First Bridge, is the oldest and southernmost of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, Turkey, thus connecting Europe and Asia. The bridge extends between Ortaköy and Beylerbeyi.
7.5 km · bridge in İstanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 07Dolmabahçe Palace
Dolmabahçe Palace is a 19th-century imperial palace located in Istanbul, Turkey, along the European shore of the Bosporus, which served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922.
4.9 km · palace in Istanbul, Turkey · Wikipedia - 082017 Istanbul nightclub attack
The Istanbul nightclub shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on 1 January 2017 around 01:15 local time, in which a terrorist shot and killed 39 people and wounded 79 others at the Reina nightclub in the Ortaköy neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey, where hundreds had been celebrating New Year's Day. Uzbekistan-born Abdulkadir Masharipov was arrested in Istanbul on 17 January 2017.
7.7 km · terrorist mass shooting that occurred at a nightclub in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on 1 January 2017 · Wikipedia - 09Second 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.
2.1 km · Council of the Christian church held from held from 5 May to 2 June 553 · Wikipedia - 10Taksim Square
Taksim Square, situated in Beyoğlu in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey, is a major tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops, and hotels. It is considered the heart of modern Istanbul, with the central station of the Istanbul Metro network.
3.7 km · square in Istanbul, 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: Istanbul, 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: Istanbul, 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: Istanbul, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Istanbul
- Airports
- Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (SAW), 32 km · İstanbul (IST), 35 km · Hasan Polatkan (AOE), 188 km
- Eskişehir → Istanbul191 km · quickest by road, 4h 31m · ₺500–670
- Edremit → Istanbul228 km · quickest by road, 4h 40m · ₺650–870
- Gaziemir → Istanbul337 km · quickest by air, 5h 3m · ₺2,390–3,680
- 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 Istanbul
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 Istanbul. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inThe line is not well-connected to the rest of the metro network, but you can continue to the European side by ferry or transfer to the Marmaray train at Ayrılık Çeşmesi.
- Get inHavabüs – It runs from the airport to Taksim in the city centre (50 km, 60-90 min), Yenisahra an Asia-side transport hub (50 min) and Kadıköy the ferry quay for Eminönü in Sultanahmet Old City (60 min).
- Get inFrom Harem, regular car ferries (which take walk-on passengers) cross the Bosphorus to Sirkeci (just east of Eminönü) on the European side (every 30 minutes M-Sa 05:30-23:00 Su 07:00-22:00).
- Get inThere are also regular passenger ferries from Kadıköy and Üsküdar south and north of Harem to Beşiktaş and Kabataş on the European side.
- Get inWhile some of these hubs are relatively close to various stations of M5, none are directly on that metro line, so better catch the servis minibuses into various central areas, including Harem, Kadıköy and Üsküdar.
From Wikivoyage: Istanbul, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01279 km
- 02358 km
- 03402 km
- 04505 km
- 05533 km
If you know how people move in Istanbul – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Istanbul
Istanbul is 2 km from Fatih, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Byzantiumancient Greek city, precursor of Constantinople2.4 km
- Kadıköydistrict of İstanbul, northwestern Turkey7.5 km
- Fatihdistrict of İstanbul, northwestern Turkey500 m
- Üsküdardistrict of İstanbul, northwestern Turkey5.2 km
- Beyoğludistrict of İstanbul, northwestern Turkey2.7 km
- Beşiktaşdistrict of İstanbul, northwestern Turkey9.2 km