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.
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Topkapı Palace
Four centuries of Ottoman court life above the Bosphorus.
For almost four hundred years Topkapı was where the Ottoman Empire was governed from and where its sultans lived. The palace is a sequence of courtyards, each more private than the last, built on the headland where the Golden Horn meets the Bosphorus.
A visit walks that sequence: from the public First Courtyard through the Gate of Salutation to the council chamber, the kitchens, the treasury and the pavilions of the Fourth Courtyard, with the sea on three sides.
What you will see
The Imperial Council
The domed hall where the grand vizier and the council met, watched from a grilled window above.
Sacred relics and the treasury
Rooms that hold some of the most revered objects of the Islamic world and the jewels of the dynasty.
The Fourth Courtyard
Garden pavilions and marble terraces with the widest views over the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn.
Good to know
- The palace is closed on Tuesdays; the last admission is at 16:00.
- Hagia Irene, in the First Courtyard, is ticketed separately.
- Skipping the ticket queue does not skip the security check, which everyone passes through.
Istanbul’s other three
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.
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