🌅 At sunset
Sunset at Galata TowerThe old city's minarets against a golden sky.
✦ Your self-guided tour
Istanbul
Discover the city at your own pace, with your route and your trip essentials in one place.
9 stops · about 4 h 55 · audio guide12 languages
Highlights
9 stops · about 4 h 55 · audio guide
Photos
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (each author credited) and Google.
Istanbul: your route
Pay once. Access is saved on this device and sent by email.
9 stops · about 4 h 55 · audio guideTransport on the route: about TRY 354.20
Included: the full route, audio guide in 12 languages and the travel tools. Not included: museum and monument tickets, transport tickets.
💡 Good to know in Istanbul
Practical tips before you step out.
Luggage
Leave luggage at the airport left-luggage desk or a partner storage point on the route (marked ★). Carry only essentials and your passport. Flying Turkish Airlines? Ask at the airport's Touristanbul desk whether the free transit tour fits your schedule.
Internet
Türkiye is outside EU roaming: use a data eSIM or the airport's free Wi‑Fi.
Payments
Cards work almost everywhere, but bazaars, stalls and Istanbulkart machines often need lira cash. Avoid changing money at the airport.
Tipping
Tip 5–10% in restaurants.
Water
Drink bottled water; tap water isn't recommended for drinking.
Mosques
In mosques: cover shoulders and knees, take shoes off at the door, and women cover their hair (scarves are provided). Avoid prayer times.
Safety
Beware of bar invitations and shoe-shiners who "drop" their brush. In taxis, insist on the meter or use the BiTaksi app.
Sockets
Type C/F sockets, 230 V.
Toilets
Public toilets near mosques and stations often charge a small fee: keep some coins.
ⓘ Practical information compiled from official and public sources in October 2026. Not yet checked on the ground in this city — if something has changed, use “Report a problem”.
Safety in Istanbul
Emergency numbers, common scams and how to get help. Free for everyone.
Emergency112
Police155
Tourist policeTurizm Polisi · Yerebatan Cad. 6, Sultanahmet
Hospital and pharmacy search around the city centre — share your location for results near you.
Look for: Eczane (E)
Show this to someone nearby
İmdat! Yardıma ihtiyacım var. Lütfen polisi ya da ambulansı arayın.
Common scams and risks
Bar invitations
Friendly strangers invite you to a bar or club; then comes a huge bill and pressure to pay. Choose your own places.
The dropped brush
A shoe-shiner drops his brush; you pick it up and he "thanks" you with a shine he then charges for. Walk on.
Friendly "guides"
A helpful stranger offers to show you around and you end up in a carpet or souvenir shop. A polite no is enough.
Taxis
Use official taxi ranks or apps with a fixed fare. Turn down rides offered inside the airport arrivals hall.
ATMs and money
Use bank ATMs, not independent ones, and always choose to be charged in the local currency.
Pickpockets
Crowded trams, metros and queues are their workplace. Bag in front and zipped; phone never in a back pocket.
👜 Watch your wallet in
Sultanahmet · Kapalıçarşı · İstiklal Caddesi · Taksim · Tramvay T1
🌙 At night, take extra care in
Tarlabaşı
Keep a photo of your passport on your phone, carry just one card and some cash, and stick to busy, well-lit streets.
ⓘ Practical information compiled from official and public sources in October 2026. Not yet checked on the ground in this city — if something has changed, use “Report a problem”.
General guidance. If you're in danger, call 112 now. · Istanbul
Everything in Istanbul
All the useful things in one place.
🆕 Today in Istanbul
Friday 23 October · updated automatically every day
16° – 22°Little chance of rain
0 travellers this week0 comments · 2 posts
Experiences in Istanbul
Moments, fun and events, picked for you.
Your interests
🕐 Flexible — check opening times
Bosphorus ferryEminönü → Üsküdar with tea and simit: Europe to Asia for pocket change.
🕐 Flexible — check opening times
Balık ekmek at EminönüGrilled fish sandwiches from boats by the Galata Bridge.
🌙 At night
Evening in KadıköyThe Asian side: market, meyhanes and student cafés.
🕐 Flexible — check opening times
Grand BazaarOver 4,000 shops under painted vaults. Bargain with a smile.
🕐 Flexible — check opening times
Gülhane ParkThe old palace gardens, with tea and Bosphorus views.
🏛️ History & culture of Istanbul
How the city came to be, in a few minutes of reading.
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, a megacity, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical center. With a population of over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus – one of the world's busiest waterways – in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 mi2) is coterminous with Istanbul Province.
The city developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. Byzantium was founded on the (present-day) Sarayburnu promontory by Greek colonists in the seventh century BC.
Read the full history
Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE. On the European side, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu), there was a settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the possible Thracian toponym Lygos, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium.
There is evidence suggesting there were settlements around the region dating as far back as 6700 BC, and it is hard to define if there was any settlement on exact spot at city proper established, but earliest records about the city proper begin around 660 BC when Greek settlers from the Attic town of Megara colonized the area and established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosphorus. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium in Latin until 330, when the city, soon renamed as Constantinople, became the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Justinian I, the city rose to be the largest in the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople functioned as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which effectively ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Turks.
The population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most populous cities. With the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, that country's capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara (previously Angora).
💬 What travellers say about Istanbul
Tips, experiences and questions from people who've been there.