Opening hours, prices and tickets for places worth your time.
The Spice Bazaar in Eminönü is an L-shaped covered market begun in 1597 for Safiye Sultan and completed in 1664 by the architect Mustafa Ağa as part of the New Mosque complex, for Hatice Turhan Sultan. Its Turkish name, Egyptian Bazaar, recalls the duties on Egyptian goods that funded it; six gates lead to stalls of spices, dried fruit and Turkish delight.
The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum occupies the palace of Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha, built around 1524 on the west side of the Hippodrome. Founded in 1914 and moved here in 1983, it shows carpets, calligraphy and Qurans, tiles, woodwork and metalwork from across the Islamic world, and an ethnographic section with reconstructed nomad tents and village rooms.
The Basilica Cistern is an underground reservoir built under Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century to supply the Great Palace and nearby buildings. Its brick vaults, covering about 140 by 70 metres, rest on 336 marble columns nine metres high, and walkways lead over the water to two Medusa heads reused as column bases. A restoration completed in 2022 reopened it as a museum.
The Istanbul Archaeology Museums in Gülhane, beside Topkapı Palace, group three buildings: the Neoclassical Archaeological Museum by Alexandre Vallaury, opened in 1891, the Museum of the Ancient Orient and the Tiled Kiosk of 1472. Expanded under director Osman Hamdi Bey, the collection includes the Alexander Sarcophagus and other finds from the royal necropolis of Sidon.
Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 as the Tower of Christ at the highest point of the walls around their Galata colony, and at about 67 metres it was then the tallest building in the city. Later a prison and a fire lookout, it was restored in 2020 and is now a museum, with a gallery around its top overlooking the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus.
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.
Vizgu uses necessary technologies to make the site work. With your permission, we also use optional technologies to remember features and measure affiliate ticket referrals. We currently use no general analytics or advertising trackers. You can accept, reject or choose categories, and change your choice at any time through Cookie preferences in the footer.
