Europe · Türkiye
Bosphorus palace hotels, the old city at dawn and the best breakfast on earth.
Our notes
Istanbul rewards three or four nights with a hotel on the Bosphorus and a guide for the old city. Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Topkapı are best at opening time, before the tour groups, and the Grand Bazaar is better with someone who knows which shops to enter. The Asian side is a ferry ride and a different pace. We arrange a private boat up the Bosphorus at sunset, a hammam in a sixteenth century building, and the tables at the restaurants along the water in Bebek and Arnavutköy.
Stay
Istanbul, Istanbul
A former Ottoman palace on the Beşiktaş waterfront of the Bosphorus, with 12 rooms and suites, views across to Asia and a ten-room spa built around traditional hammams.
Price on request
Istanbul, Istanbul
The Peninsula Istanbul occupies four waterfront buildings, three of them restored heritage structures, within the Galataport development on the Bosphorus in Karaköy.
Price on request
Istanbul, Istanbul
A waterfront hotel on the Bosphorus between Ortaköy and Bebek, with rooms and suites that face the strait, the Naile Sultan Grove or the hotel's own courtyard.
Price on request
Istanbul, Istanbul
The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul sits in the Dolmabahçe district overlooking the Bosphorus, with 239 rooms and suites and five restaurants, two of them listed in the Michelin Guide.
Price on request