Istanbul
Turkey
Two continents, three empires, one enormous city
Photo by SHI Zeyang on Unsplash
Photos by Michael Jerrard, Lewis J Goetz, Desert Morocco Adventure and Imad Alassiry on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Turkey
April to May, September to October
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 125mm in Dec
Where it is
41.01°N, 28.98°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Visit Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque
- Tour Topkapı Palace and the harem
- Ride the public ferry up the Bosphorus
- Get lost in the Grand and Spice Bazaars
- Cross to Kadıköy on the Asian side
- Experience a traditional hamam
Istanbul travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Turkey
Good valueThe lira has been highly volatile, so exchange small amounts frequently rather than all at once. Independent exchange shops in Eminönü and Grand Bazaar give far better rates than banks or the airport — look for the ones with no commission and a tight spread.
ATMs & cards
Use Garanti BBVA, İş Bankası or Ak bank machines. Many Turkish ATMs now charge substantial foreign card fees, so exchanging cash often beats withdrawing. Always decline conversion.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- airport arrivals machines
- ATMs inside the Grand Bazaar
Use these instead
- Garanti BBVA
- İş Bankası
- Akbank
- Yapı Kredi
Turkish ATMs now charge substantial foreign-card fees, so exchanging cash at a reputable office often beats withdrawing.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Turkey
SafeViolent crime against visitors is rare and walking the city at night feels comfortable in the areas travellers use. What you actually need to watch for is scams: the shoeshine brush drop, over-friendly men steering you to a bar where the bill turns out to be enormous, and taxi meter tricks — use BiTaksi or Uber. Dress modestly for mosques and cover your head as a woman.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- The drink scam: a friendly man invites you to a bar, the bill is thousands of lira and the door is blocked. This is the single most common thing that happens to visitors here
- Taksim Square — and İstiklal late at night, for pickpockets
- Unmetered taxis, and drivers who say the meter is broken
- The shoeshine man who drops a brush for you to pick up
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Turkey visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period.
Other passports
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$43-$60
Applied for online in minutes. Buy it only from evisa.gov.tr — the lookalike sites charge several times the real fee.
Visa required in advance
How to get it: The e-visa is issued online at evisa.gov.tr, usually within an hour. Print it or keep it on your phone; airlines check it at the gate.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Turkey
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid if you will eat widely outside restaurants
Getting treated
Private hospitals in Istanbul are genuinely excellent and a fraction of Western European prices, with English spoken in the international departments. State hospitals are free for emergencies but slow and rarely English-speaking. Insurance is strongly advised — you will be asked to pay up front at private hospitals.
Tap water is chlorinated but heavily mineralised; almost everyone drinks bottled.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingBreakfast (kahvaltı) is a proper spread and a highlight — do it in Beşiktaş or Kadıköy. Skip restaurants with touts outside in Sultanahmet; cross to the Asian side for far better prices.
Nightlife
Meyhane dinners with rakı and live music, rooftop bars over the Bosphorus, and a club strip that is genuinely glamorous.
- Asmalımescit — the meyhane streets in Beyoğlu
- Karaköy — the current bars, and the rooftops
- Kadıköy — the Asian side, young and cheap
- Ortaköy — and Bebek, for the Bosphorus clubs
Closing: 02:00 in Beyoğlu, later on the Bosphorus.
A beer in a bar: 80–150 TRY
Never follow a friendly stranger to a bar he recommends — the drink-scam is the most common thing that happens to visitors here.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BiTaksiWorks here
- BoltNot here
BiTaksi the Istanbul taxi app · Uber which dispatches those same taxis
- From the airport
- Istanbul airport to Sultanahmet 900–1,400 ₺, and it is 50km
- Against a taxi
- The same metered taxis. The app matters because it records the ride and the driver cannot refuse a short fare quietly.
Private ride-hailing is illegal in Turkey; everything on the app is a licensed yellow taxi.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Istanbul — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Turkey
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 73% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 2.3× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Turkey, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Turkish
- HelloMerhabaMER-ha-ba
- PleaseLütfenLOOT-fen
- Thank youTeşekkürlerte-shek-koor-LER
- Yes / NoEvet / HayırEH-vet / HA-yuhr
4 more phrases
- Excuse meAffedersinizaf-fe-DER-si-niz
- How much is it?Ne kadar?neh ka-DAR
- The bill, pleaseHesap, lütfenheh-SAP
- Cheers!Şerefe!sheh-reh-FEH
Religion
Sunni Muslim, secular state
Around 99% Muslim by heritage, but the state is constitutionally secular and Istanbul is cosmopolitan. Women cover their heads to enter mosques, everyone removes shoes, and mosques close to visitors during the five prayer times.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Accept the offered tea — refusing it outright dismisses the gesture
- Take shoes off entering a home or mosque
- Cover shoulders and knees at mosques; women cover their hair, and scarves are lent at the door
- Haggle in the bazaars, politely and with humour
Don't
- Do not point the sole of your foot at anyone, or cross your legs so it shows
- Do not blow your nose at the table
- Do not make jokes about Atatürk; insulting him is a criminal offence
- Do not photograph people, especially women, without asking
Where to stay in Istanbul
No Holistay rentals in Istanbul yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Istanbul on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Istanbul IST
1h 15mfrom the airport· 36 km as the crow flies
M11 metro then M2, about an hour.
Also worth pricing: Sabiha Gökçen SAW — on the Asian side; allow 90 min to Sultanahmet.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
