A Weekend in Istanbul

A weekend in Istanbul works if you give Saturday to the historic peninsula and Sunday to the water and the modern city. That split covers the four monuments everybody comes for, puts you on the Bosphorus once, and avoids the two mistakes that ruin short trips here, which are crossing between continents by road at rush hour and turning up at a bazaar on a Sunday.

Below is the plan hour by hour, along with the costs and the closing days that decide the order.

Weekend in Istanbul at a glance

Friday evening, arrival

Two things to do before you sleep.

Buy an Istanbulkart. Machines are in every metro and tram station including both airports. It is effectively compulsory, since cash is not accepted on most lines, and one card can be shared between several people by tapping repeatedly. It covers the tram, metro, funicular, ferries, buses and the tunnel under the Bosphorus.

Check Saturday’s prayer times. The Blue Mosque closes to visitors around each of the five daily prayers, and the timings shift through the year. Two minutes on Friday night saves half an hour of standing outside on Saturday.

For dinner, eat where you are staying rather than travelling for it. The airport transfer already used your patience, and Istanbul traffic on a Friday evening is at its worst between 17:00 and 20:00.

Saturday, the historic peninsula

Everything today sits within a fifteen minute walk of one square, which is why it goes first.

09:00. Hagia Sophia. Be there when the visitor route opens. The queue at nine is a fraction of what it becomes by eleven. Foreign visitors follow a ticketed route through the upper gallery, entered from the booth opposite the Fountain of Ahmed III, which is a separate entrance from the one worshippers use. Allow an hour.

10:30. The Blue Mosque. Straight across the square, and free to enter. Head coverings are provided at the door here. Shoes come off and go in a bag you carry. Check the posted prayer times, since the visitor route closes around each prayer.

12:00. The Hippodrome. Twenty minutes to walk end to end along the western side of the square. The Obelisk of Theodosius was already 1,900 years old when the Romans brought it here from Egypt, and the flat ground under your feet was the chariot track.

13:00. Lunch, but not on the square. Walk five minutes in any direction away from the monuments and the price of the same plate drops noticeably.

14:00. Underground. The Basilica Cistern is the famous one, with 336 columns and the Medusa heads, and it queues accordingly. The Theodosius Cistern is nine minutes away near Cemberlitas, roughly a tenth of the size, with a projection mapping show and almost no wait. On a weekend the second option often saves you forty minutes.

15:00. Topkapi Palace. Three hours if you include the Harem, which is a separate ticket and is the better half of the visit. The palace closes on Tuesdays, which does not affect a weekend, but the last admission is well before closing so do not leave it later than this.

17:30. The Grand Bazaar, if you have the energy. Sixty one covered streets and around four thousand shops. It closes on Sundays, so Saturday is your only chance on a weekend trip. Enter through the Nuruosmaniye gate to land on the main axis rather than in the carpet section aimed at tour groups.

19:00. Sunset from Suleymaniye. The mosque complex sits uphill from the Spice Bazaar and its terrace looks out over the Golden Horn. It costs nothing and beats every paid viewpoint in the city. A fuller version of this day is in the Sultanahmet day guide.

Sunday, the Bosphorus and Beyoglu

09:30. Dolmabahce Palace. T1 tram to Kabatas. Entry is by timed guided tour and the last admission falls well before closing, so arriving before eleven avoids being turned away. Closed Mondays, which again does not affect a weekend. This is the nineteenth century Ottoman answer to Versailles and it does not do restraint.

12:30. Lunch in Besiktas. Ten minutes on foot from the palace, and a proper neighbourhood rather than a monument district.

14:00. A cruise on the Bosphorus. This is the single most efficient sightseeing hour available in Istanbul. The shoreline delivers Ottoman palaces, wooden yali mansions, two intercontinental bridges and the Rumeli Fortress in sequence while you sit still. A standard sightseeing sailing runs about two hours from Kabatas as far as the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and back.

There is a cheaper version. The scheduled public ferries between Eminonu, Kabatas, Uskudar and Kadikoy cross the strait for the price of a normal transit tap and pass the same waterfront. No commentary, no upper deck seat, but the same water.

16:30. Galata Tower. Tram from Kabatas to Karakoy, then a short steep climb. The viewing gallery is narrow and congests quickly, so late afternoon on a Sunday is not ideal but the light is.

18:00. Istiklal Caddesi. The street runs 1.4 kilometres from Tunel up to Taksim Square. Walk it downhill rather than up, and treat the covered passages off the eastern side as the actual attraction.

20:00. Dinner in Karakoy. Below Galata, with rooftop bars that look back at the illuminated peninsula. That view is the reverse of the one you had from Suleymaniye the night before, which is a satisfying way to end a weekend.

How much does a weekend in Istanbul cost?

Three cost blocks, and only one of them is large.

Attractions. This is where the money goes. Most state and municipal sites charge foreign visitors a different rate from Turkish residents, and the gap is widest at the headline monuments. Hagia Sophia’s visitor route is priced in euro rather than lira. Topkapi Palace charges separately for the Harem. Check each site’s own page for the current figure, because these have been revised repeatedly and travel guides quoting older numbers are consistently out of date.

Transport. Almost nothing. Every trip in this plan runs on an Istanbulkart at a few lira per tap, ferries included. Two days of transport costs less than one museum entry.

Food. Entirely up to where you sit down. The same meal costs several times more on Sultanahmet Square than five minutes’ walk away.

Two practical warnings. The Museum Pass covers Ministry of Culture sites and does not cover municipally run attractions, and over a two day weekend it rarely pays for itself. And several municipal sites take cards or Istanbulkart only, refusing cash including foreign currency, so carry a card that works abroad.

What to skip on a weekend

The Asian side. Kadikoy, Moda and Camlica need a proper day and the crossing eats into a short trip. Save it for a longer visit.

The Princes’ Islands. A full day including the ferry each way, and on a weekend that day costs you the Bosphorus.

A day trip out of the city. Bursa and Edirne are worth doing and neither belongs in a forty eight hour plan.

Trying to do both cisterns, both palaces and both bazaars. Istanbul rewards depth over coverage. Two unhurried hours in Topkapi beat forty minutes each in four places.

Which weekend days matter here

Turkey’s working week runs Monday to Friday, so Saturday and Sunday are the weekend as most visitors expect. Friday is a working day, though the midday prayer is the busiest of the week and mosques close to visitors for longer around it.

The closing days that shape a weekend are these.

The single planning consequence is that the bazaars go on Saturday. Everything else on this itinerary runs both days.

Where to stay for a weekend

For two days, Sultanahmet or Beyoglu. Both sit on the T1 tram, which is what this itinerary runs on.

Getting around over a weekend

The T1 tram is the line that matters, running from Kabatas through Karakoy, Eminonu and Sultanahmet toward the city walls. It connects every stop in this plan.

The F1 funicular links Kabatas to Taksim in under two minutes and saves a steep climb. The Tunel does the same job from Karakoy up to Istiklal, and is the second oldest underground railway in the world.

Ferries beat taxis for anything crossing water. Both Bosphorus bridges seize up between 08:00 and 10:00 and again from 17:00 to 20:00, and a crossing that takes twenty minutes by boat can take an hour by road.

Walk within districts and ride between them. Sultanahmet to Taksim looks like four kilometres on a map and is a serious hilly walk in practice.

If you only have one day

Compress Saturday and drop everything else. Hagia Sophia at opening, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, lunch, and either Topkapi Palace or a Bosphorus cruise but not both. The one day itinerary sets that out properly.

If you are between flights rather than staying, the rules are different again and the layover guide covers what is realistic against the clock.

Frequently asked questions

Is a weekend enough for Istanbul?

Enough for the historic peninsula and one trip on the Bosphorus, which is the core of what people come for. It is not enough for the Asian side, the Princes’ Islands or a day trip out of the city. Three days is the point where the trip stops feeling compressed.

What are the weekend days in Istanbul?

Saturday and Sunday. Turkey’s working week runs Monday to Friday. Friday is a normal working day, though the midday prayer is the busiest of the week and mosques close to visitors for longer around it.

What is closed on Sunday in Istanbul?

The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar. Everything else in this plan, including the palaces, the mosques and the cruises, runs on Sundays. Put the bazaars on Saturday.

Can you see Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in one morning?

Yes, comfortably. They face each other across the same square. Allow an hour for Hagia Sophia’s visitor route and half that for the Blue Mosque, and check the prayer times before you set out.

Is a Bosphorus cruise worth it on a short trip?

Yes, and it is the one thing that gives you the shape of the city, which is hard to grasp at street level. A two hour sightseeing sailing is enough. If budget is tight, a scheduled public ferry across the strait costs a normal transit fare and shows you much the same waterfront.

Should you book attractions in advance for a weekend?

In July and August, yes, for Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Dolmabahce Palace. Weekends are the busiest days of the week year round, so even in shoulder season an advance ticket for the timed sites is worth the few minutes it takes.

How do you get from the airport into the city?

The M11 metro connects Istanbul Airport to the city and the M4 serves Sabiha Gokcen, both on an Istanbulkart. Airport shuttle buses run to Taksim and Sultanahmet. Taxis work but are slow at peak hours, and the two airports are on opposite sides of the city, so check which one you are flying into before booking a hotel.

Is two days enough to see the Asian side?

Not without giving something up. The crossing takes twenty minutes each way by ferry and Kadikoy alone deserves a morning. On a weekend, keep both days on the European side and come back for the other continent.