Istanbul, on both sides

1. Jan 9°
2. Feb 10°
3. Mar 12°
4. Apr 17°
5. May 22°
6. Jun 27°
7. Jul 29°
8. Aug 29°
9. Sep 25°
10. Oct 20° today's fare
11. Nov 15°
12. Dec 11°

12 of 12 months on sale. No closed season.

1. 01

   Go into Hagia Sophia early

   Foreign visitors pay about €25 (£22) and enter through a separate upper-gallery route; worshippers use the ground floor free. It opens to tourists after the morning prayer and the queue is shortest in the first hour. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off, and women need a head covering — scarves are handed out at the door. The Istanbul Museum Pass is not valid here, which catches people who bought it expecting the opposite. Allow an hour; the galleries and the mosaics are the reason to be there.

2. 02

   Cross to Kadıköy on a public ferry

   Not a Bosphorus cruise — a commuter boat, on an Istanbulkart, for well under £1. Twenty minutes from Eminönü to the Asian side, tea sold on deck, gulls following the stern. Kadıköy at the other end is where the city actually shops and eats: a market of fishmongers and cheese shops, the bar streets around Kadife, and almost no coach parties. Go over in the afternoon and come back after dark, when the old city is lit from the water. It is the single best-value hour in Istanbul.

3. 03

   Take Topkapı without the Harem, or with it

   The Ottoman court's palace for four centuries, on the headland above where the Bosphorus meets the Golden Horn. The combined ticket covering the palace, the Harem and Hagia Irene is 2,750 lira (about £47) for foreign visitors; the palace alone is less, and the Museum Pass covers that part but not the Harem. The Harem is the half worth paying extra for. The site is large and largely outdoors, so allow three hours and do not attempt it in the same day as anything else.

4. 04

   Descend into the Basilica Cistern

   A sixth-century underground water store the size of a cathedral, lit and set to music, with two Medusa heads used as column bases at the far end — one upside down, one on its side, and nobody knows why. Daytime entry is 1,950 lira (about £33), and the evening Night Shift ticket is 3,000 lira (£51) for a quieter, more theatrical version. It is cool underground in every sense and takes forty minutes. Book a slot: the queue outside is long and entirely in the sun.

5. 05

   Eat your way through the Spice Bazaar and past it

   Free to walk into, and the covered hall is the tourist half. The real market is the streets behind it — Tahmis Caddesi for coffee ground while you wait, Hasırcılar for cheese, olives and pastırma, and stalls where a hundred grams of Turkish delight costs about 80 lira (£1.40) rather than the four times that charged inside. Taste before you buy, which is expected. Do the same at the Grand Bazaar next door and treat the first price as an opening position rather than a number.

• Beer, local bar £3.40 alcohol is heavily taxed here; tea and coffee are a fraction of it
• Dinner for two, mid-range £26 a meyhane with mezze, away from the old city
• Airport to Sultanahmet £25 taxi from IST; the Havaist coach is about £4 and the metro less
• Museum day, three headline sights £102 the largest single cost of a trip here, and often a surprise
• Public transport day £2.50 Istanbulkart covers metro, tram, bus and the commuter ferries
• Balık ekmek by the bridge £2.20 grilled fish in bread, sold from the boats at Eminönü

Checked August 2026. Sources at the foot of this page.

Airport

IST covers both: Istanbul Airport on the European side, forty-five minutes to an hour from the old city and where most British flights land, and Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) on the Asian side, which is cheaper to fly into and up to ninety minutes further out. Check which one a fare uses before you book a hotel — the two are on opposite sides of a city of sixteen million.

Entry

No visa. No fee. Up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Expiry at least 150 days after the date you arrive, and at least one blank page. The 150-day rule is the trap. It is neither the three months most of Europe asks for nor the six months most of the long-haul list asks for, and a passport with four months left will be turned away at check-in. The e-visa British travellers used to buy has not been needed since 2024.

Currency

Turkish lira. Cards are accepted almost everywhere including taxis and the Istanbulkart machines; the bazaars, the ferries' tea sellers and street food want cash. Use a döviz exchange office in Eminönü or Beyoğlu rather than the airport, and refuse to be quoted in euros where lira is the real price.

Language

Turkish. English is reliable in hotels, restaurants and anywhere touristed, and thin on public transport and in the residential districts. Signage on the metro and ferries is bilingual.

Time zone

Türkiye keeps UTC+3 all year and never changes its clocks. That means two hours ahead of Britain in summer and three in winter — the gap moves because the UK moves, which trips up anyone comparing a return flight's times to the outbound.

Plugs

Type C and F, 230V. A British type-G plug does not fit; bring an adapter.

Health

The GHIC does not apply — Türkiye is outside the EU — so private travel insurance is essential. Istanbul's private hospitals are excellent and expect payment or an insurer's guarantee up front. Tap water is chlorinated and technically safe but nobody drinks it; bottled is sold everywhere for pennies.

Safety

The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to areas near the Syrian border, which is a thousand kilometres from here, and warns that demonstrations in Istanbul can turn confrontational and should be avoided. The everyday risks are pickpocketing on the tram and around the bazaars, and the shoeshine trick and the invitation to a bar with an unpayable bill, both of which are still worked on tourists here.