Nuruosmaniye Mosque

Opened in 2012, this museum is unique and a must-see when you are in the Beyoğlu area. It was created by Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk alongside a novel of the same name. It tells the love story of the two main characters from the novel, and represents life in Istanbul during the late 1970s to early 1980s, as it exhibits thousands of objects from that era.

A nice, organized museum with contemporary installations. It may be seen as overpriced given its small size. It also has a simple cafe.

Built in the early 5th century as a monastery dedicated to Saint Andrew the Apostle, in 766 it was the burial place of Saint Andrew of Crete and was later re-dedicated to him. It was rebuilt in the late 9th century and again in the 13th, then around 1490 converted into a mosque. From the 16th century it was occupied by the Dervishes, when the legend arose that a chain hung to a cypress tree in the courtyard was a truth diviner. The chain was swung between rival witnesses and the one it hit was telling the truth. The cypress stump is still standing.

This building dating back to 1945 houses the local radio branch of the state radio and television corporation of Turkey (TRT). Not exactly an architectural pearl (although fans of the 1940s' totalitarian architecture will likely find its stately façade interesting), but it is prominent for the part it played in the political history of Turkey: It was occupied three times by the Army, in 1960, 1971, and most recently in 1980, when the radio was decidedly the broadcast type ranging most wide and far, to announce that they had launched a coup and taken over the governance of the country.

This is the main attraction around this part of the city. The holiest Islamic shrine in the city, the complex includes, right next to the mosque, the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Eyüp Ensari Türbesi), the standard bearer of Prophet Mohammad, died and buried here during the first Muslim siege of Constantinople (674-678 AD). The neighbourhood was named after him. Muslims flock here (in such huge numbers that sometimes you have to queue for a few minutes before entering the tomb) also to see a rather uninteresting plaque made of plastic, which is purported to be Mohammad's footprint. The interior of the tomb, covered with fine tiles/faience, is nonetheless well worth a look, however. It is also interesting to see the devout Muslims leaving the place by walking backwards through its exit hallway, as not to turn their backs to al-Ansari's catafalque, though obviously no one expects everyone to quit the place in the same manner.

It was built in 2001 and is the first miniature park in Istanbul (the world's largest miniature park in respect to its model area). The park hosts icons of many cultures and civilizations. Models vary from the Hagia Sophia to Galata Tower, from Safranbolu Houses to the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon, from Qubbat As-Sakhrah to the ruins of Mount Nemrut. In addition, some works that have not survived into the present, such as the Temple of Artemis, the Halicarnassus Mausoleum and Ajyad Castle, were recreated. All former Ottoman Empire in one place.

A village with an impressive citadel overlooking the Bosphorus and its mouth into the Black Sea. By land it's accessible only by a hairpinning road through the forest, with few buses. It's best reached by ferry from Eminönü (twice daily) or Sariyer (frequent). In the village, a road is signposted up to the hilltop Yoros citadel (a little more than 1 km, 20 min on foot, free admission). There's a pleasant area with cafés by the ferry pier; the place gets crowded at weekends during summer. Nasty big dogs stalk the citadel area at night. See Istanbul#The_classic_Bosphorus_cruise.

Feshane began as a factory producing fezzes (fes), the red hats made of felt adopted by the Ottomans in the early 19th century as a part of westernizing efforts in lieu of much more traditional turbans. However, the fez was scrapped in favour of western garments during Atatürk's reforms of the 1920s and 30s as it was thought to symbolize the old, decidedly oriental regime. A restoration in 1998 made it a cultural and exhibition center, and after another in 2023, it was reopened as a culture and art center under the name Artistanbul Feshane.

Tiny house museum on the life of Turkish novelist Orhan Kemal (1914–1970).

The Byzantines built several great palaces in Constantinople and this is the only one to survive almost intact. It's from the late 13th century, in typical alternating marble and red-brick rows, and was an imperial residence: Porphyrogenitus means "born to the purple" indicating the heir to the crown. Yet it was merely an annex or pavilion within the much greater Palace of Blachernae, of which nothing else remains. It's set within the north end of the Theodosian Walls and was much bashed during the Ottoman capture. Later it was variously a menagerie, brothel, pottery, poorhouse and bottle works, then fell derelict in the 20th century. In 2021 it re-opened as a museum.

The Greek Orthodox church is on the highest summit of the archipelago, Yücetepe ("great hill") at 203 m asl. Walk up from Birlik Meydanı for about 35-40 min; the cobbled incline is too steep for a bicycle. The church building is unexceptional, but the backyard has a great view of the other islands and the sea. St George's day is celebrated here annually on Apr 23, when you can expect tens of thousands attendees willing to make wishes — if you want to skip the crowds set off before 06:00 or else you will be standing for a long time until you are let inside by the police in groups of 10–15 people at once. Wishmaking rituals range from usual candle burning, to slightly more unusual climbing up to the church on bare feet, to very curious untying wool balls all along the path leading there. If you are interested to partake, you will meet lots of vendors selling candles on the streets that day, right as soon as you step out of the ferry, but it's best to have them from the church for a donation. In case you are wondering if all of Turkey's dwindled Greek Orthodox minority are there that day, or if the community is even that populous, no, most of the visitors eagerly waiting for a blessing from the priest are non-Christian Turks, but there is nothing surprising about that: this is Turkey, where the east and the west meet, and cultures truly mix.

Built as the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus around 530 AD, the same time as Hagia Sophia, but their styles differ. Transformed into a mosque in the early 1500s, it's beautifully decorated, with fine marble details, and has a pleasanter atmosphere than the larger busy mosques. The adjoining madrasa houses craft shops.

This was built in the 1430s by Grecian Jews ("Romaniotes") from the city of Ohrid, now in North Macedonia. The district of Balat was a Jewish quarter, swelled from 1492 by those expelled from Spain. The synagogue is only open for pre-arranged tours.

This is a circular indoor space enclosed by a 3D depiction of the Ottomans breaching the Walls of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, with sound effects. It's over-priced, unhistorical and tourist-trappy.

A historic 3-storey house, easily distinguishable among the modern apartment buildings thanks to its brightly coloured and gracefully decorated exterior. This is where the future founder of the Turkish Republic, Kemal Atatürk rented in 1919 while staying in Istanbul before setting sail to Samsun on the Black Sea coast to start the Turkish War of Independence. Hosts Atatürk-related paraphernalia and photos.

The third and grandest of the churches on this site, completed in 537 AD. The 30-m diameter dome covers what was for over 1000 years the largest enclosed space in the world, only surpassed in 1520 by Seville cathedral. It used "pendentive" architecture to throw the dome's weight onto four stout pillars, a design that inspired many Eastern Orthodox churches and Ottoman mosques. It became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453, remaining so until 1931. It was then a museum until 2020 when it was again proclaimed a mosque. That means you must work around prayer times and dress appropriately.

The only active Ashkenazi Synagogue open to visits and prayers.

A military-based museum with various warplanes, helicopters, and weapons used by Turkish Air Force, and also civilian air transport and examples of Turkish aeronautics from Ottoman era onward.

One of the icons of the city is also called the Leander's Tower, on a Bosphorus islet off Salacak. The local myth ascribes its name to a princess, whose father wanted to protect her in this offshore tower from a prophecy that she would be killed by a snakebite on her birthday, but the snake found its way inside a basket of fruits — ironically a birthday present from her father — and you've probably already guessed the rest of the story. In actual timeline, it served as a defensive structure (there was a wall connecting it to the Asian mainland, and the Byzantines used to stretch a chain from here to the European mainland across the mouth of the Bosphorus to shut it to adversary shipping in times of conflict, but they didn't during the final Ottoman siege in 1453), as a customs and quarantine station, as a lighthouse, as a warehouse of various sorts of goods, and as a high-end restaurant before the last restoration finished in 2023 dedicated it as a museum. There is a light show viewable from the mainland every day at 21:00.

Turkey was slow to protect its antiquities and to display them properly, but in 1867 Sultan Abdülaziz toured the museums of Paris, London and Vienna and saw what was needed. The main collection is in a grand neo-classical building of 1891, with two annexes for ancient art and Islamic art. Exhibits include Sumerian tablets, pieces of the wall of Babylon, Roman statues, and the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great, which he never lay in.