01
1 hr 30 min
Hagia Sophia
Ayasofya
Hagia Sophia is the building that changed what a roof could do.
- Must see
- Historic monument
District guide · Istanbul
Fatih
Fatih occupies the historical peninsula at the heart of Istanbul, encompassing the site of ancient Constantinople and bordered by the Golden Horn and Sea of Mar...
Photograph · Arnstein Rønning · CC BY-SA 3.0
848
Places
Turn this list into a plan
Set your days, your pace and the hours you actually want to be out. The planner works around closing days and travel time, and leaves room to eat.
Editorial responsibility: Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
Fatih occupies the historical peninsula at the heart of Istanbul, encompassing the site of ancient Constantinople and bordered by the Golden Horn and Sea of Marmara. The district contains Ayasofya, Topkapi Sarayı museum, and Sultanahmet Camii, monuments spanning Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The abundance of historical structures, religious buildings, and bazaars makes it central to understanding Istanbul's past.
Checked 2026-09-04
Practical information
- Language spoken
- Turkish
- The official language of the Republic of Turkiye
- Dialling code
- +90 212 · +90 216
- 212 on the European side, 216 on the Asian; drop the leading 0 from abroad
- Currency
- Turkish lira (₺, TRY)
- The official currency; one lira is divided into 100 kurus
- Emergency number
- 112
- One number for ambulance, fire and police
- Plug type
- European two-pin · 220 V
- The national living guide records 220 V and European-style two-pin plugs
- Tap water
- Not recorded
- No verified national source in the dataset
Top things to see
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
Filter the list
57 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
-
-
02 2 hoursBosphorus cruise from Eminönü
The Long Bosphorus Tour is Şehir Hatları's own scenic ferry, running the full length of the strait from Eminönü, on the historic peninsula, north to Anadolu Kavağı near the mouth of the Black Sea, then back the same way.
- Must see
- Activity
-
03 45 minSultan Ahmed Mosque
Sultanahmet Camii
The Blue Mosque was built for Ahmed I between 1609 and 1617, and it is the only imperial mosque in Istanbul that faces Hagia Sophia across open ground rather than standing apart from it.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
04 45 minSüleymaniye Mosque
Süleymaniye Camii
The Süleymaniye is Sinan's imperial mosque for Süleyman the Magnificent, founded in 1550 and inaugurated in 1557, and it is the one to see if you only see one.
- Must see
- Place of worship
-
05 3 hoursTopkapı Palace
Topkapi Sarayı
Topkapı was the seat of the Ottoman empire for nearly four centuries.
- Must see
- Museum
-
06 45 minSpice Bazaar
Mısır Çarşısı
The Spice Bazaar is a covered market hall in Eminönü that was paid for by an empire's tax farm and built to keep a mosque solvent.
- Must see
- Market
-
07 2 hoursMain Building of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums
İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzesi
This is the main building of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, the oldest purpose-built museum in Turkey and the one the whole complex is named after.
- Must see
- Museum
-
08 30 minHippodrome of Constantinople
Sultanahmet Meydanı
The Hippodrome was where Constantinople did its politics.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
09 1 hr 30 minGrand Bazaar
Kapalı Çarşı
The Grand Bazaar is a covered city of shops that Mehmed II began building in the winter of 1455/56, within three years of taking Constantinople.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
10 45 minBasilica Cistern
Yerebatan Sarnıcı
The Basilica Cistern is a sixth-century water store the size of a cathedral, under a street in Sultanahmet, built for Justinian I. Historical texts say 7,000 enslaved people built it.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
11 1 hourChora Church
Kariye Camii
The Chora holds the best late Byzantine mosaic and fresco cycle anywhere, and it is a long way from the tram, which is why the people who go are the people who came for it.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
12 30 minHagia Irene
Aya İrini Kilisesi
Hagia Irene is the Byzantine church that was never made into a mosque, and it is the reason it still looks like a Byzantine church inside.
- Must see
- Museum
-
13 15 minObelisk of Theodosius
Theodosius Dikilitaşı
Older than almost everything around it by two thousand years, the Obelisk of Theodosius is a piece of pharaonic Egypt standing in the middle of a Turkish square.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
14 20 minAqueduct of Valens
Bozdoğan Su Kemeri
Bozdoğan Kemeri, the Aqueduct of Valens, is the surviving bridge of the water system that made a city of a million people possible on a peninsula with almost no rivers.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
15 10 minColumn of Constantine
Çemberlitaş Sütunu
A single shaft of Egyptian porphyry stands in the middle of Çemberlitaş Square on Divan Yolu, banded with iron and blackened along one side.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
16 30 minFatih Istanbul Mosque
Fatih Camii
The Fatih Mosque is where Mehmed the Conqueror is buried, and it stands on the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles — the mausoleum of the Roman emperors, Constantine the Great among them.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
17 30 minŞehzade Mosque
Şehzadebaşı Camii
The Şehzade is the mosque Süleyman the Magnificent built for a dead son, and it is where Sinan learned to build the ones that followed.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
18 1 hr 15 minYedikule Fortress
Yedikule Zindanları
Yedikule is a fortress built out of an older monument.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
19 30 minEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
İstanbul Rum Ortodoks Patrikhanesi
The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the senior see of the Eastern Orthodox world, and it occupies a walled compound in Fener on the Golden Horn.
- Must see
- Place of worship
-
20 10 minWalled Obelisk
Örme Dikilitaş
The Walled Obelisk, Örme Dikilitaş in Turkish and literally the masonry obelisk, stands 32 m tall on the spine of the old Hippodrome in what is now Sultanahmet Square, west of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
21 20 minRüstem Pasha Mosque
Rüstem Paşa Camii
Rüstem Pasha Mosque does not sit on the street.
- Must see
- Historic monument
-
22 1 hr 30 minTurkish and Islamic Arts Museum
Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi
The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum is housed in the Ibrahim Pasha Palace, a stone mansion of 1524 that belonged to Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, the second grand vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent.
- Must see
- Museum
-
23 30 minBulgarian St. Stephen Church
Sveti Stefan Bulgar Kilisesi
Bulgarian St. Stephen Church is the cast-iron Bulgarian Orthodox church on the Golden Horn shore in Balat. Istanbul’s official visitor portal dates the present building to 1898 and identifies Hovsep Aznavur as its architect.
- Must see
- Place of worship
-
24 1 hourPalace of the Porphyrogenitus
Tekfur Sarayı is the last Byzantine palace in Istanbul still standing to its full height, and it survives because it was never important enough to be worth demolishing.
- Must see
- Museum
-
25 10 minSerpent Column
Yılanlı Sütun
A battle trophy from 479 BC, standing in a hole in a square in Istanbul.
- Must see
- Historic monument