Filed the way the city actually divides itself — by which side of the strait, not alphabetically.
Istanbul organises itself around water more than any other city its size. These six groupings follow that logic: the historic peninsula, the newer downtown across the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus villages, the Asian side, the islands, and the places further out that don't make most guidebooks. All sixteen neighbourhoods below now have full write-ups — more get added as new pockets of the city are worth splitting out on their own.
The historic peninsula: Byzantine and Ottoman Istanbul, compressed into a walkable district. Start here on a first trip.
The old city's residential heart and the Byzantine land walls.
Read the guide →North of the Golden Horn: the 19th- and 20th-century downtown, and the centre of the city's evening life.
Waterside districts running up the European shore of the strait, from palaces to fishing-village-turned-café neighbourhoods.
Fishing villages and forest, near the strait's mouth.
Read the guide →Across the Bosphorus — where a large share of the city's own population actually lives, eats and shops.
Car-free islands around 90 minutes by ferry, with pine forest and horse-drawn transport in place of traffic.
New spots, added as we cover them properly rather than padded out for page count.
A major pilgrimage site and a hilltop café view over the Golden Horn.
Read the guide →
