Wow, Istanbul is super cool – you gotta check it out! The city has these amazing places where, like, people from all different backgrounds hang out together. Ancient mosques stand right next against modern shopping malls, which most people don’t realize is grammatically fine.
Some tourists whom visit Istanbul love walking through the spice market, while other ones prefer eating at fancy restaurants by the water. There’s stuff from both Asia and Europe mixed up everywhere you look in this awesome city! The food scene totally rocks because chefs which combine old recipes with new cooking styles.
Each neighborhood got its own special vibe, and you’ll see both party spots and religious buildings on the same block. Despite the buildings being old, lots of young people whom live there keep the energy super fun and exciting.
The smells in Istanbul are like totally amazing and take you on adventures! When people whom explore the city, they always find cool surprises around every corner. It’s really important that you gives yourself enough time to see everything proper.
Each neighborhood got something special to show visitor’s, Us found 15 awesome activities you can do while your there! Our team have researched the cheapest ways for getting there from Athens, so don’t worry about that part. Your gonna love all the neat hotels we discovered, because lots of people said they were great in their reviews.
The city which welcomes tourists with open arms makes everyone feel at home. Walking through the streets, you discover hidden spots that no one else is aware of. You should definitely plan to spend at least few days in Istanbul, since there’s so much stuffs to do!
1. Visit the historic peninsula
So theres this super cool part of town where all the old stuff is at.
The big 3 tourist spots makes like a triangle shape near where the water is – them being the fancy palace (Topkapi), that giant dome building Hagia Sophia, and this amazing blue building which everyone knows as the Blue Mosque. You absolutely need visit these out.
The first thing you do when getting there is go straight to the Harem section (but yeah you gotta buy extra ticket for that part). Worth it though
Now Hagia Sophia – it’s turned into this mosque these days but they still got this cool museum part up there? You don’t have to pay anything to get in, except that the lines are long sometimes so it’s much better to go early. If you are interested in seeing the old Christian paintings on their walls, you will need to purchase a ticket which costs a lot.
Want to know something interesting – the locals actually thinks Suleymaniye Mosque looks more beautiful thanthan the Blue Mosque (which some people calls it Sultan Ahmed Mosque instead)!
and don’t forget going underground to check out this weird old water storage place called the Basilica Cistern! They put all these modern art things down there now, and at the end there’s this crazy statue of Medusa’s head but its like… upside down?
2. Shop at a flea market
Shopping in Istanbul ain’t just shopping – its basically a whole different world! You could wandering around them historic bazaars for days, and the malls too, which shows off how people live here really good. Inside that famous Spice Bazaar, these amazing smells just hits you from everywhere: spices laying in big piles, fresh herbs, and sweet stuff that makes your mouth water?
The Grand Bazaar though – now thats what I call crazy amazing, with like way more stores than you can count, where merchants is selling everything from sparkly jewelry to these incredible glass lamps that glows in the dark!
Between all them shops (there’s 3,600 of em), you’ll find precious gems just sitting there, plus handmade rugs what come in every color imaginable, and these ceramic things you never even knew existed but suddenly need real bad. Before you goes shopping though, you better look up what stuff normally costs – that way, when your haggling with sellers, you won’t get ripped off or nothing. Also remember saving room in that suitcase of yours, cause trust me – your gonna need it for bringing home all the cool stuff you finds!
3. Enjoy fast food
There’s this thing called doram that’s not like typical street food – it’s really good and perfectly safe to eat! You can basically eat here whenever you want, like starting early in the morning until very late!
Know what’s good for breakfast. That round bread thing called smut with seeds on it – but you have to get it fresh from the wood-fired ovens! Small stalls are selling this bread everywhere and most of them have got these triangular cheese slices that you can buy with it too.
When lunchtime hits, you should definitely trying this crazy good fish sandwich (they calls it balik ekmek) where they puts fresh grilled fish in crusty bread plus other stuff if you wants it! For dinner time? Get you a kumpir – its just a baked potato but wait till you see how many toppings they’ve got!
The ice cream here (maras dondurma) is totally different than regular ice cream cause they puts this wild orchid root stuff in it that makes it all stretchy and chewy like! Plus them ice cream guys be doing tricks with it which is pretty fun to watch!
4. Eat the best seafood
Everyone thinks Turkish food is just kebabs but y’all – they have some good seafood here. The octopus be super juicy when they grills it, and dont even get me started bout them sea bass fillets that gonna blow your mind, plus they even got these big shrimp you can eat raw if your feeling brave!
Fishing is like, mega important here cause they got four different seas plus this big strait called Bosphorus where they catch stuff! Want see where all the fresh fish at? Hit up Beyoglu Fish Market where you got restaurants right next to fish stands, or you could check out this fancy old building called Cicek Pasaji!
If your tryna be fancy, go down to Galata Harbor and eat at this place called Sait – they got some of the best seafood in town plus these really fresh salads!
5. Enjoy a steam bath
Cleaning here is different than what you used to do!
For the real deal hammam experience, you have to check out Cemberlitas Hamami where you lie on this big marble thing under this glass dome with stars on it while the light comes through the steam!
The people working there will rub you and squeeze you and massage you until you can’t take any more (plus they do things like head massages and put clay on your face)!
If that’s too much for you, there’s this fancy hotel called Six Senses where you can have it more private in their stone house near the water!
6. Dance like a Dervish
Whirling dervish shows by the Galata Tower? It’s mostly for tourists – but if you want to party with the real people who live here, go to a place called Luca in this beautiful neighborhood called Bebek!
During the day it’s just a regular restaurant with drinks but at night? It goes all out with DJs and rich people partying! These old Ottoman kings went crazy building these big fancy houses with marble and gold everywhere!
Some of them are now museums (like Topkapi and Dolmabahce which you totally want to see), but others have been converted into hotels!
7. Sleep in an Ottoman palace
This place called the Ciragun Palace on the water is the most popular – it’s made of this white marble with crazy designs!
It’s now run by a company called Kempinski and although it’s got 5 stars that’s not enough to show how fancy it is!
They got this room called the Sultan Suite which costs the equivalent of 50,000 euros a night – it has two bedrooms, this huge living room for 12 people, these huge windows looking out onto the water, and a four poster bed!
8. “Sail” at sunset or sunrise
The Sun Show on the Water!
When morning comes in Istanbul, everything gets this weird silver color – the sun makes like little light sparkles all over the big water! Later, when sun goes down, the whole place turn into something crazy – water looks like somebody poured gold paint in it and the sky gets all red and stuff!
You wanna see something super cool – get yourself onto a boat and watch all this happening while you looking at all them fancy buildings with lights on em! you could rent you own boat (just ask the hotel people and they hook you up), or maybe take one of them fancy boat tours,
You ain’t never seen nothing like when the light hits that water just right – trust me on this one!
9. Take a walk on the beach
Yo they took this huge beach area in Karakoy (its like way longer than 10 football fields!) and made it into this mega cool spot where theres art n stuff everywhere plus where them big boats leave from!
The place where all them passengers used to wait at? They stuck it underground and did something real smart – made this walkway that can move up when them huge cruise ships needs to fit!
From here you can see all kinds of cool stuff across the water – like super old buildings plus these giant bridges that connects two whole different continents which is pretty wild when you think bout it!
If your trying to do some fancy shopping, theres this old post office building called Paket Postanesi where they put all these expensive Turkish clothes stores at!
Want coffee. Hit up Baylan, or if ur hungry go eat at this place Liman, then peep some art at these two museums – one that some Italian dude made (Istanbul Modern) and this other one with paintings n sculptures that some Turkish guy built!
They always doing something fun by this real old Clock Tower – like shows and concerts that dont cost nothing to see! Oh, and u gotta check out this super fancy hotel called The Peninsula – its right where people used to wait for they boats back in the day (but way fancier now)!
10. Swim and bike on Trotsky Island
Check Out This Wild Island Where Trotsky Used to Hide!
Theres these super cool islands near the coast where all the rich peeps from Istanbul goes to get away from the city heat n stuff! They be swimming and fishing and chillin in these mega fancy houses – even this dude Trotsky did the same thing when Stalin kicked him outta Russia back in the 1920s!
The biggest island (they calls it Buyukada) is where he stayed at, and get this – they still dont let no cars on the whole island! Better rent you a bike to check everything out (they got these horse carriages too but like… them poor horses be looking real tired so maybe skip that)!
The island got these amazing forests in the middle, plus six different beaches you can find – some of em all hidden away nice and quiet, others got these fancy beach clubs if thats more your style!
If ur gonna stay overnight, theres this place called Splendid Palace Hotel that looks crazy with all its bright colors n everything!
11. Sunday exploration
Every weekend, this super cool market shows up in Feriköy! Most people what live in Sisli don’t even know about it, but it’s totally awesome. Nobody barely sees any tourists there, which makes everything way cheaper than normal places. Like, you can find the coolest stuff – there was these paintings from way back when the Ottoman people lived there.
Some rich person must of had fancy jewelry cause there’s tons of it at the market? Musical things are everywhere too, and sometimes you’ll discover a instrument you never seen before. The carpet sellers, they bring these amazing rugs from somewhere in the East (nobody knows exactly where), while gold tea sets that rich European people used to own just sit there collecting dust – until someone buys them! All this old junk what people threw away, it tells you stories about everyone who used to live here.
12. Experience Greek Orthodox Christianity
Back then, Istanbul was where lots of Christians lived and prayed at. Even now, theres still plenty of churches where people go worship – some of them are really cool looking! The most important spot what you gotta see is this place called the Ecumenical Patriarchate, where Greek Orthodox people from everywhere comes to pray.
Down by where the Golden Horn is at, you could find this weird church made completely from iron (the Bulgarian people built it in 1896, which is when it was completed by them).
If your walking around the artsy Beyoğlu area, there’s this huge church called St. Anthony of Padua what sits right on Istiklal Street – lots of different people goes there during Christmas time cause of how pretty they make it look! The last place you should definitely check out is this real nice Anglican church that was built to remember the Crimean War, and everyday at 7 o’clock in the evening, them bells start ringing.
13. Discover art
Istanbul’s got this totally awesome art scene happening right now! You should of checked out this neighborhood called Dolapdere, where all these creative people been hanging out lately. The two biggest art places there is this gallery called Dirimart (they basically started everything) and another one which this guy Murat Pilevneli made it in 2017.
These galleries, they show all kinds of cool stuff – like huge art things you can walk around, and they get artists from Turkey and everywhere else to put their stuff in there.
If your wanting to see something really special, theres this amazing building what the Grimshaw people designed – its the Arter Museum, and it opened up in 2019 with all this glass and white walls everywhere, plus it got Turkey’s very first collection of modern art that stays there forever, and you can do all these other things too like go to art classes or watch shows or read books or just sit in they’re cafe!
14. Experience an Asian adventure
You gotta check out the other side of Istanbul, where theres way more space than the Europe part! Most people what live in Istanbul actually stays over there, which is super interesting if you think about it.
Something real cool about this place is how people been living in these caves since forever ago – like, way before phones and cars and stuff was invented? Getting there is pretty fun cause you can hop on these boats that goes across from places called Eminonu or Karaköy or Besiktas, but if your not into boats, no worries – there’s these three big bridges you could drive across, or this underground train thing called the Marmaray, or even this tunnel what goes under the water!
When you get there, you should definitely explore these two neighborhoods by the water called Kanıcıoğlu and Montazah, they’re totally awesome. If you wanna eat some real Turkish food from back in the day, this place called Çiya is where its at – and after your done eating, theres all these fun bars and clubs where people hangs out after the sun goes down!
15. See the top mosques
Even people what don’t care about church stuff and temples think these huge mosques in Istanbul is super awesome! The most amazing one of them all, its this place they call the Blue Mosque, but its real name is actually Sultan Ahmet Mosque (bet you didn’t know that)?
When your inside, you can see why people named it the Blue Mosque – cause theres these pretty blue tiles what people painted by hand everywhere you look, plus they went and painted all the big dome thingies blue too!
Cheap flights and accommodation
Air tickets
Hey guess what – you can totally fly to Istanbul without spending tons of money! Like, we looked up some flights on this website called Skyscanner and found some real good deals.
Check this out – if your flying from Athens on July 9th, Aegean Airlines got tickets for only 50 bucks, which is super cheap! Then when its time to come back on July 19th, it costs just 65 more – so thats like 115 total for going there and back.
Residence
Now about where to sleep and stuff – we went on booking dot com to see whats available them same days, but we only looked at the really good hotels what people gave super high scores to (like 9 outta 10 or better)! And guess what we found – theres these three awesome hotels that ain’t too expensive, and they’re right near where everything cool is happening in the city.
Plus they got all this nice stuff for people staying there!