Things to see in Istanbul
Istanbul is a city in Türkiye, with an urban population of about 10.1 million. Below are 20 notable places within about 12 km of the centre, ranked by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
1Hagia Sophia Museum
Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. It was formerly a church (360–1453) and a museum (1935–2020).
2Sultan Ahmed Mosque Place of worship
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as the Blue Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey.
3Topkapı Palace Museum
The Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1853, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans.
4Bosphorus Bridge Landmark
The Bosphorus Bridge, known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and colloquially as the First Bridge, is the oldest and southernmost of the three suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, Turkey, thus connecting Europe and Asia.
5Süleymaniye Mosque Place of worship
The Süleymaniye Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan.
6Dolmabahçe Palace History
Dolmabahçe Palace is a 19th-century imperial palace located in Istanbul, Turkey, along the European shore of the Bosporus, which served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922.
7Galata Tower Museum
Galata Tower, or Galata Tower Museum, its name since it began to be used as a museum, is a tower located in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul.
8Taksim Square Neighbourhood
Taksim Square, situated in Beyoğlu in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey, is a major tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops, and hotels.
9Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge Landmark
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge (İkinci Köprü), is a bridge in Istanbul, Turkey spanning the Bosphorus Strait.
10Ortaköy Mosque Place of worship
Ortaköy Mosque, formally the Büyük Mecidiye Camii in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, is a mosque situated at the waterside of the Ortaköy pier square, one of the most popular locations on the Bosphorus.
11Rumeli Hisarı Museum
Rumelihisarı or Boğazkesen Fortress (literally 'strait-cutter fortress') is a medieval Ottoman fortress located in Istanbul, Turkey, on a series of hills on the European banks of the Bosphorus.
12Chora Church Museum
The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque was a Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque (for the second time), in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey.
13Grand Bazaar Shopping
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.
14Anadoluhisarı Museum
Anadoluhisarı, known historically as Güzelce Hisar ("the Beauteous Fortress") is a medieval Ottoman fortress located in Istanbul, Turkey on the Anatolian (Asian) side of the Bosporus.
15Yıldız Palace History
Yıldız Palace is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman pavilions and villas in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
16Şehzade Mosque Place of worship
The Şehzade Mosque is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent as a memorial to his son Şehzade Mehmed who died in 1543.
17New Mosque Place of worship
The New Mosque and later New Valide Sultan Mosque after its partial reconstruction and completion between 1660 and 1665, is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey.
18Çırağan Palace History
Çırağan Palace, a former Ottoman palace, is now a five-star hotel in the Kempinski Hotels chain. It is located on the European shore of the Bosporus, between Beşiktaş and Ortaköy in Istanbul, Turkey.
19Galata Bridge Landmark
The Galata Bridge is a bridge that spans the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. From the end of the 19th century in particular, the bridge has featured in Turkish literature, theater, poetry and novels.
20Basilica Cistern History
The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
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Descriptions: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); data: Wikidata (CC0); maps: OpenStreetMap. List compiled automatically from open data — check details before you travel.