Topkapı Palace
The sultans’ palace on Sarayburnu: courtyards, the Imperial Council, the treasury and the terraces over the water. Dated entry, sold online on its own site.
Marmara
Museums in Istanbul
15 museums and archaeological sites in the province of Istanbul, with hours and what to see at each.
Istanbul
Adam Mickiewicz Museum
A small museum in Istanbul's Pera district dedicated to Poland's national poet, who died here in 1855 while raising a Polish regiment for the Crimean War.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Atlas 1948 Istanbul Cinema Museum
A cinema museum in Istanbul named after the 1948 Atlas cinema; a compact stop for anyone interested in the city's film heritage.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum
A separate museum beside Hagia Sophia in the Defter-i Hakani building, telling the great building's story in 13 halls with immersive shows in 23 languages.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Great Palace Mosaics Museum
A museum built over a surviving stretch of the Byzantine Great Palace's mosaic floor, with lively scenes of animals, children and mythology, tucked into Sultanahmet's Arasta Bazaar.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Fethiye Museum (Pammakaristos)
The former Pammakaristos Church in Istanbul, a Byzantine monument with a burial chapel, later a seat of the Patriarchate and then a mosque.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Galata Mevlevi Lodge Museum
A 1491 Ottoman Mevlevi lodge at the top of İstiklal Street in Istanbul, now a museum with a sema hall, once home to poet Sheikh Galib.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Memory 15 July Museum
An Istanbul museum opened in 2019 on the third anniversary of the 15 July 2016 coup attempt, also covering coups and colonialism in Turkey and worldwide.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam
In Gülhane Park's former imperial stables, hundreds of replicas of instruments and machines show the science of the Islamic world from the 9th to the 16th century.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Istanbul Archaeological Museums
Türkiye's first museum, a complex of three museums beside Gülhane, holding nearly a million objects from Ottoman lands, including the famous Alexander Sarcophagus.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Galata Tower Museum
Istanbul's Genoese-built Galata Tower, now a museum reopened after a 2020 restoration, with an audio guide and evening openings.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Istanbul Airport Museum
The world's largest airport museum, inside the international terminal of Istanbul Airport, with a rotating exhibition drawn from Türkiye's museums.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Maiden's Tower
The tower on a rocky islet off Üsküdar, where the Bosphorus meets the Marmara Sea, reached by a short boat ride from Karaköy or Salacak.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Mehmet Akif Ersoy Memorial House
The apartment in Istanbul where the national poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy spent his last months in 1936, now a small memorial house of his books and belongings.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Rumeli Fortress Museum
A medieval Bosphorus fortress raised in just five months in 1452, with three great towers, sweeping walls and a small collection of Ottoman cannons.
Visitor guide
Istanbul
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts
A 16th-century Ottoman palace beside Sultanahmet Square that holds one of the world's great carpet collections, plus manuscripts, metalwork and everyday Ottoman life.
Visitor guideOther cities in the region
Istanbul tickets online
Four Istanbul landmarks, each sold on its own site by the agency behind this guide — dated entry and free cancellation up to 24 hours.
Basilica Cistern
Justinian’s great underground reservoir: 336 columns in still water and the two Medusa heads. Fast-track entry with a digital audio guide.
Hagia Sophia
Justinian’s cathedral, the sultans’ mosque and a working mosque again today. The ticket admits you to the upper visitor gallery.
Dolmabahçe Palace
A nineteenth-century palace on the water’s edge: the Selamlık, the Ceremonial Hall under its chandelier, the crystal staircase and the Harem.