Sultan Ahmed Mosque

The only active Ashkenazi Synagogue open to visits and prayers.

A medieval citadel on the Bosphorus at the mouth of the Göksu creek. It was built in the late 14th century to control (polite word for "choke off") shipping along the Bosphorus, which narrows to 660 m at this point. It worked in tandem with Rumeli Citadel, built some 50 years later on the European bank. It fell into disrepair but was restored in the 1990s. You can't go in, but it's a pleasant setting; the entire village is named Anadolu Hisarı after the fort and has many traditional wooden houses (yalı). Ferries along the Bosphorus call here.

A private museum with a large painting collection and archaeological collections of measurement units and tools used in Asia Minor since antiquity and faiences of Kütahya.

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 charming domed church built in 1880 at the side of Taksim Square, now uneasily contesting with Taksim Mosque for being the main landmark of the southern edge of the square.

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.

The imperial enclave of the Ottoman emperors for four centuries. Lavishly decorated, with exhibitions of fine craftmanship and four courts of increasing grandeur. The second court has the Harem and the State Treasury, housing a weaponry display. The third court has the Imperial Treasury, with Islamic and Christian relics. The views from the Fourth Court over the Bosphorus are spectacular. Reckon on spending several hours here and bring water as the museum kiosk is overpriced.

Sokollu Mehmet Pasha was the grand vizier and de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire during its 16th century golden age. He commissioned this mosque, one of three in the city to bear his name, but the sloping site was a challenge. He hired the best, Mimar Sinan, who completed it in 979 AH / 1571 AD, with the slope resolved by a fronting courtyard above shops and a medrese. The interior has outstanding İznik blue tiles, and three fragments of the Black Stone (Hajar al-Aswad) of the Kaaba: above the main entrance, minbar and mihrab.

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.

Chora means countryside, and when built as a monastery in the 4th century it stood outside the Constantine walls; a century later, it was incorporated into the Theodosian walls. It was rebuilt in the 11th century then wrecked by an earthquake, so the structure and fabulous mosaics you see now are 14th century. When the church was converted to a mosque in 1500 the mosaics were plastered over, and only restored in 1958 when it became a museum. In 2020 it was again proclaimed a mosque but here (unlike Fethiye Mosque) they saw the sense and tourist income of preserving the mosaics. You need to work around prayer times.

This is a triple structure: the church of the Monastery of Pantokrator built 1118, then a public church circa 1136 plus a chapel that served as a royal mausoleum. It became a mosque and medresse in Ottoman times, but without massive alteration so it's a prime example of middle-Byzantine architecture. It's nowadays again a mosque, photogenic by day or dusk but the area should be avoided at night.

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.

Although not at the size of Hagia Sophia, this is the largest active church in Turkey. It’s directly on Istiklal St, but somewhat hidden from view by its yard portal. Catholic Masses in Italian, Turkish, and English (in different days of the week).

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.

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 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.

About 15 minutes walking north of Beylerbeyi lies the historical fishing village Çengelköy. Its long history is attested by an 800-year-old sycamore tree on one of the two main terraced squares, and the Byzantine Aya Yorgi church. The restaurants and piers of Çengelköy offer some of the best panoramas along the Bosphorus, including a view on the old city under the first bridge. The neighborhood was popular amongst TV directors during the 1970s and it has become a (possibly the most) popular location to have lunch or dinner on the eastern side of Istanbul. Many historic mansions have been restored and multiple boutique chocolatiers were opened. Most restaurants in Çengelköy don't offer alcoholic beverages. Exceptions include the restaurant at the main pier (Iskele), and Tapasuma, the restaurant of hotel 'Sumahan on the Water', located in a former Ottoman Raki distillery. You can get there by taking bus 15 or 15F from Üsküdar, it is just a few stops further than Beylerbeyi. Going to Çengelköy by car is not advised; traffic can be very intense on the narrow road along this side of the Bosphorus.

Built 1748-55, this launched the style we call Ottoman Baroque, with its grand central dome and pencil-thin minarets. It was copied throughout their empire and is replicated in new mosques even today. The name means "light of the Ottomans," and the interior uses light powdery decor, bathed with much more natural light than its gloomier classical predecessors. The complex also has a madrasa and the imaret (public soup kitchen).

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.