Çiçek Pasajı, Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Türkiye

A photograph of Çiçek Pasajı — Photograph · Basak · CC0

Open today, 09:00 – 17:00

Today: Open today, 09:00 – 17:00
Visit duration: 20 min Editorial visit time estimate
Accessibility: Step-free
Price: Not recorded
Standing: High
Rank: Rank 256 of 8,221

Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

Plan your visit.

Opening hours

Monday	09:00 – 17:00
Tuesday	09:00 – 17:00
Wednesday	09:00 – 17:00
Thursday	09:00 – 17:00
Friday	09:00 – 17:00
Saturday	09:00 – 17:00
Sunday	09:00 – 17:00

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Admission

Not recorded

Access and facilities

Accessible toilets · Available
Pushchair access · Available
Step-free access · Available
Toilets · Available

Source · Checked 2026-08-31

About Çiçek Pasajı

Çiçek Pasajı is a covered arcade off İstiklal Caddesi in Beyoğlu, built in 1876 to the design of the architect Kleanthis Zannos and opened as the Cité de Péra. It went up on the ruins of the Naum Theatre, a house that had staged Verdi's Il Trovatore and had been frequented by Sultans Abdülaziz and Abdülhamid II before the Pera fire of 1870 destroyed it. The Ottoman Greek banker Hristaki Zoğrafos Efendi bought the wreck and commissioned the replacement, which first carried his name.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

What's inside

The flowers came from a revolution. Russian noblewomen who fled the 1917 revolution and arrived in Istanbul impoverished opened flower stalls in the arcade, and by the 1940s the building was mostly flower shops — which is where the present name comes from. Yorgo'nun Meyhanesi was the first winehouse to open here, and by the late 1950s the passage had taken on a wholly tavern identity, drawing writers including Yahya Kemal, Sait Faik and Orhan Veli. That run ended abruptly.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

How long to spend

The arcade is a single covered passage roughly fifty metres long, and twenty minutes is walking through it, looking up at the ironwork and the glass roof, and walking back. A meal in one of the meyhanes is an entirely different proposition and should be scheduled as a meal in its own right rather than folded into this stop. Anyone who sits down at a table has stopped visiting a monument and started having dinner, which is a fine thing to do here but is not what twenty minutes buys.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Season and crowds

The covered passage is generally open daily from late morning until after midnight, while individual restaurants set their own service hours and may close one day weekly. Worship, weather, restoration and events can replace ordinary access.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Tickets

Walking through the arcade is free; food, drink and entertainment are charged by each business.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Getting there

M2 Taksim or Şişhane reaches İstiklal Avenue; the passage entrance is opposite Galatasaray on the avenue. Use the named stop and entrance because steep streets, controlled compounds and separate exits can change the practical route. Allow extra time for the final walk and security where applicable.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

What to watch out for

The main arcade has a level entrance from İstiklal Avenue, though restaurant tables narrow the route; accessible toilets depend on individual businesses. Historic surfaces, crowds and security remain relevant.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Photography

The subject is the roof. The glass above and the 1876 ironwork holding it are what distinguishes this arcade from a corridor, and the frame that works is the one shot straight up or straight down the length of the passage with the roof filling the top third. That means fighting the light. The glass is far brighter than the arcade floor, so a straight exposure gives either a blown-out roof or black tables; expose for the glass and let the lower half go dark, which suits the building anyway.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source