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.
Eastern Anatolia
Museums in Van
5 museums and archaeological sites in the province of Van, with hours and what to see at each.
Van
Akdamar Church Museum
A tenth-century Armenian royal church on Akdamar Island in Lake Van, covered in stone reliefs of biblical scenes, animals and court life, reached by a short boat ride.
Visitor guide
Van
Çavuştepe Castle
An eighth-century BC Urartian fortress southeast of Van, with an upper castle and temple of Haldi, a lower castle with palace and workshops, and a rock-cut necropolis.
Visitor guide
Van
Hoşap Castle
A seventeenth-century Kurdish-Ottoman fortress on a sheer rock above the Hoşap stream, with a lion-relief gate, a Persian inscription and the ruins of a whole small town inside.
Visitor guide
Van
Van Castle
Tushpa, the Urartian capital on a huge rock beside Lake Van, with royal rock tombs, cuneiform inscriptions and the ruins of Old Van at its foot.
Visitor guide
Van
Van Museum
A large modern museum in Van tracing the city's past from the Palaeolithic to the Ottomans, with an outstanding Urartian collection and rare Iron Age stelae from Hakkari.
Visitor guideIstanbul 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.