Best Things to Do in Istanbul: The Only Ranked List You Need

An honest ranking

There are perhaps a hundred lists of "top things to do in Istanbul" and most of them read the same. Here's ours, ranked by what we'd actually miss if we couldn't do it — not by what's most famous.

1. Sunset on the Bosphorus

The single best 90 minutes in the city, and it's almost the same experience the sultans had: the light lowers behind the domes, waterfront palaces slide past, the ferries cross behind you. If you only do one paid thing here, do this.

2. Hagia Sophia at opening

Not "Hagia Sophia" — Hagia Sophia at 9:00 a.m. before the tour groups. You need the emptiness to feel the dome. The upper gallery is essential; skip it and you've missed the mosaics.

3. The Basilica Cistern after dark

Come in the evening. The lighting design is genuinely theatrical and the acoustic touches — the low music, the drip of water on stone — make it more powerful than any daytime visit.

4. A meal in Kadıköy

Take the ferry to the Asian side. The food is better and the crowds are gone. Ciya Sofrası is the flagship, but any street stall around the Salı Pazarı will feed you memorably for €5.

5. The view from Süleymaniye

Free, uncrowded, and — most locals will tell you — the most beautiful mosque in the city. The garden behind it gives you a terrace over the Golden Horn.

6. Whirling-dervish ceremony

Sema is a spiritual practice, not a performance, and watching one hour of it will change what you think of Istanbul.

7. Topkapı's Harem

Skip the standard Topkapı tour if you have to, but not the Harem. The tilework in the courtyard of the Valide Sultan is among the great achievements of Ottoman art.

8. Coffee on İstiklal at 11 p.m.

The pedestrian avenue of Beyoğlu is at its best late. Grab a Turkish coffee at Mandabatmaz and walk.

9. Chora Church

The mosaics here are the greatest surviving Byzantine artworks of their kind. Fifteen minutes at Chora will change how you look at everything else Byzantine in this city.

10. Dolmabahçe Palace by ferry

Approach it from the water, on the Bosphorus cruise, and you understand the audacity of the building.

Honorable mentions

• Rüstem Paşa Mosque — a jewel of Iznik tiles hidden above the Spice Bazaar
• The land walls between Chora and the Golden Horn — atmospheric, almost empty
• Sunset raki at a rooftop in Karaköy — pick anywhere with a view of the Bosphorus
• The Fatih market on a Wednesday morning — this is where Istanbulites shop

What we didn't list

The Grand Bazaar, the Maiden's Tower, and the Princes' Islands are on every list, but they're all diminishing-returns experiences. The Grand Bazaar is worth 45 minutes, not 4 hours. The Maiden's Tower photographs better than it visits. And the Princes' Islands are only worth the trip if you have five days minimum and want a full day of quiet.