Istanbul is magical – in a long weekend you can only begin to scratch its surface. The Hagia Sophia is dwarfing and breathtaking, the Cisterna Basilica a magical grotto of reflections, and the Grand Bazaar a double espresso for the senses.
In 2018, I visited Istanbul for the first time with one of my best friends who is Turkish and has spent endless time here. We landed late and I remember so vividly weaving through the streets in a taxi, all the lights and hills of the city glowing a deep orange. Nearly a decade later, I went back for another chance to soak up this alluring city.
If you’re going to stay in the heart of the European side of the city, I cannot recommend Soho House Istanbul enough. The stranger next to me on the plane deemed it “the most beautiful” of the collection, and he was right.
Soho House has transformed the old American embassy in the heart of the Beyoğlu district, and each room comes with a stunning hand-painted traditional Turkish tea set, which I spent the next four days hunting for around Istanbul — to no avail. On arrival I immediately took the best post-flight shower in the gorgeous turquoise-and-black-tiled bathroom, making sure to use all six different Cowshed shower gels and body scrubs.
Instead of heading out at 10pm to a dimly-lit cocktail spot like Tavern, I donned my towel robe and settled in for very reasonably priced room service. I had a delicious falafel pitta with zesty mint yogurt, pickles and skinny fries – all for the equivalent of under £20. The perfect welcome to the city.
After a heavenly night’s sleep, my sister and I headed downstairs to breakfast. After escaping the grey skies of London, sitting outside in Soho House’s dappled courtyard garden was incredible. I started with a hot black coffee, followed by fruit salad and a Turkish breakfast plate: two boiled eggs, tomatoes, chilli, parsley, cheese, butter, honey, olives and feta. We wolfed it down with some brown toast and a green juice and set off exploring.
About 15 minutes’ walk from the hotel was our favourite area of the city, Çukurcuma. Once you get out of the busy streets near the Galata tower — stopping on the way to drool over everything in stock at Vitruta Pera, you emerge into winding walkways packed with vintage clothes shops, furniture emporia, bookshops, and even a whole store, Caretta Vintage, dedicated to vintage sunglasses.
Grazing around, dipping through doorway after doorway, we stumbled across the magical antiques and jewellery shop Marto (no website; Kuloğlu, Ağa Hamamı Sk. 33/A, 34443 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Türkiye). The man who runs it makes the jewellery by hand from brass, striking designs from carved chakras to golden fish. Both my sister and I bought a pendant from him for under £40.
There are also a host of antiques shops in the neighbourhood selling hand-painted crockery, and a whimsical second-hand bookshop called Salpa Sahaf, which looks as though it could have been transplanted from a different century. If after all the shopping you’re in need of a caffeine boost, try Faw Coffee, a gorgeous sun-drenched spot on the steepest road where you can people-watch the neighbourhood to your heart’s content.
You can either stay in the centre of Istanbul for the whole of a long weekend, or, if you’ve got your fix of the cobbled streets, you can stretch your wings and try a slower existence on the edge of the Bosphorus. Back in 2018, we came for breakfast at Ciragan Palace Kempinski, a former Ottoman palace that from the outside looks like lace. This time, my sister and I opted for its storied next-door neighbour, Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at The Bosphorus. There are two Four Seasons in Istanbul, the other in a former prison, but on this occasion we wanted to take in the boats sailing between the Asian and European shores.
Our room overlooked the waters, with huge decorated ceilings and a bed nearly the size of my London flat. We were marvelling at the view from the window when our doorbell rang and we were delivered a handmade easel and a painting of Istanbul — all made out of chocolate. The bathroom was stocked with Diptyque products, which made every bath an exciting prospect.
One of the highlights and most memorable parts of the trip was the traditional Hammam experience, which I would recommend anyone visiting the city to try. You can do it as a couple — or, in our case, as sisters — and the experience feels at times both ecstatic and, in the best way, absurd. We started off lying on warmed marble slabs covered in linen sheets, and bowls of warm water were thrown over us. Next, we were exfoliated head to toe with just a glove before being massaged with clouds of bubbles formed inside what looked like pillowcases. Finally, we had our hair washed before a cool shower from more bowls of water, and the experience was complete. I’ve never felt cleaner or calmer.
For dinner that evening, we ate on the water at Aqua. We watched the sky turn pale pink then deep orange as we ate just metres from the bobbing boats. We tried sea bream ceviche, alongside rich tuna carpaccio with a sweet umami red pepper sauce. Next were homemade sushi rolls, grilled sardines on a bed of sweet vinaigrette, pine nuts and herbs, and homemade tagliolini pasta with crab. We washed this all down with a bottle of Turkish rosé that was sweet and light, but with slight acidic depth.
There are endless versions of Istanbul and on any visit you can witness just a tiny fraction. On the way back to the airport, the whole trip felt as if it had been a dream, and we made a pact that we must return.
