Opening hours, prices and tickets for places worth your time.
Dolmabahçe Palace was built in 1843–1856 for Sultan Abdülmecid I by the architects Garabet and Nigoğayos Balyan on the European shore of the Bosphorus, replacing Topkapı as the seat of government. Visitor routes lead through the Selamlık, the domed Ceremonial Hall and the Harem; Atatürk died in the palace in 1938.
The Ortaköy Mosque, formally the Büyük Mecidiye Mosque, stands on the pier square of Ortaköy at the edge of the Bosphorus, beside the Bosphorus Bridge. Commissioned by Sultan Abdülmecid I and completed around 1854–1856, it is a Neo-Baroque design by Garabet and Nikoğos Balyan with a single dome and two slender minarets; it closes to visitors during prayers.
Beylerbeyi Palace stands on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus in Üsküdar, beside the Bosphorus Bridge. Sultan Abdülaziz had it built in 1861–1865 as a summer residence and a guesthouse for foreign rulers such as Empress Eugénie; the marble building pairs a Neo-Baroque exterior with Ottoman interiors and has terraced gardens with smaller pavilions.
Çamlıca Tower is a 369-metre radio and television tower on Little Çamlıca Hill in Üsküdar, designed by Melike Altınışık Architects in the form of a tulip and inaugurated in 2021. Panoramic lifts rise to two observation decks on the 33rd and 34th floors, about 370 metres above sea level, and restaurants occupy the 39th and 40th floors.
The Istanbul Sapphire Skydeck is the observation terrace of Istanbul Sapphire, a 261-metre residential and shopping tower in the Levent business district designed by Tabanlıoğlu Architects and completed in 2010. Binoculars look out over the Bosphorus and both continents, and the deck adds a café and Skyride, a 4D helicopter flight simulation over the city.
Rumelihisarı is the fortress Sultan Mehmed II built on the European shore of the Bosphorus between March and August 1452 to cut off sea traffic to Byzantine Constantinople ahead of the siege of 1453. Three large towers named after his viziers are joined by walls climbing the slope, and Ottoman cannons and cannonballs are displayed in the grounds.
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