Sultanahmet Square

Breakfast was fresh. Bar offered everything they have in Turkey.

The room was clean with great views over the marmara sea and towards the asian side. Everything was ready for us when we arrived. There’s robes and slippers. The shampoo, shower gel, conditioner and lotion were all zero parabens and zero soap. We weren’t able to use the pool as it was already cold and they have closed it for the season now. We did not include breakfast with our booking as we intended to eat out for most of the stay. The location of the hotel is just one street away from istiklal street and a few minutes walk to the galata tower and area which is so busy and buzzing at night. Amazing as its very close to everything. The karakoy tram to get to sultanahmet is also short walking distance downhill. Great stay. Will be back again, hopefully when there is a bosphorus view room available.

Hotel was clean, was in a wonderful location, and the staff was helpful (although English challenged). Hotel was quiet and very clean. Surrounded by wonderful restaurants. Breakfast was extensive and although not to OUR tastes was well liked by all other guests. Had a heating problem with our room which was fixed by the next night. Would certainly stay again. Suggestion: Do NOT book the night dinner cruise on the Bospherous. Bad food but good entertainment. Expensive. Take a day cruise instead. We booked an official Turkish guide through the hotel and were very satisfied with him and official Turkish guides are highly regulated and VERY knowledgable. In all of our travels on the Med. we liked Istanbul the best over Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon (although all of those are world class cities). NOTE: Change money in Turkey. Evidently everybody does and the exchange rates are MUCH better than we got with our bank and there appear to be currency exchange kiosks with 4 on every block. Almost everybody LOVES dollars or Euros but carefully note the exchange rate that merchants are giving. Turkey appears to be a bargaining culture and tips are appreciated although not expected. We found Turkish merchants to be persistent but NOT objectionable. Turkey is NOT a touching culture. Arrange airport pickup through the hotel. The "new" Istanbul airport is large and modern with a LOT of walking and poor English signage. Note that Turkey is not an EU country with significant passport procedure