Istanbul

Istanbul

When Georges Nagelmackers dispatched the first Orient Express from Paris in October 1883, Istanbul was his destination. He wanted to connect the two poles of European civilisation with the most glamorous train ever built. More than 140 years later, the same journey still represents one of the greatest adventures available to the modern traveller.

Istanbul is the only city in the world to span two continents. It sits astride the Bosphorus Strait, with its historic peninsula and most famous monuments on the European side and its vast Asian districts spreading eastward across the water. The city has been the capital of three of the most powerful empires in world history: the Roman Empire under the name Byzantium, the Byzantine Empire under the name Constantinople, and the Ottoman Empire under its current name. Each left behind not just buildings and art but an entire way of seeing the world, and in Istanbul all three layers are simultaneously present and visible.

It is also a city of seventeen million people, a functioning modern metropolis with one of the busiest airports in Europe, a thriving arts scene and a restaurant culture that has few equals anywhere in the world. Istanbul is not a museum piece. It is alive, loud, contradictory and endlessly surprising, which is part of what makes arriving here by train, slowly, over five days from Paris, exactly the right way to approach it.

The skyline of historic Istanbul, dominated by the minarets of the Blue Mosque and the dome of Hagia Sophia

The City

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is one of the most extraordinary buildings in the world and the one that perhaps best expresses Istanbul's layered history. Built by the Emperor Justinian I and completed in 537 AD, it was the largest cathedral in the world for almost a thousand years. When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II converted it into a mosque, adding the four minarets that define its silhouette. In 1934 it was secularised and became a museum. In 2020 it was reconverted into a mosque. It is now open to visitors outside prayer times and remains one of the most visited buildings in the world. The interior, with its vast dome and its glittering Byzantine mosaics still visible alongside Ottoman calligraphy, is genuinely overwhelming.

The Blue Mosque

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, built between 1609 and 1616 and universally known as the Blue Mosque for the colour of its interior Iznik tilework, stands directly across the Hippodrome from Hagia Sophia. Its six minarets were controversial at the time of construction, as six was the number reserved for the mosque at Mecca, but a seventh minaret was subsequently added to Mecca to resolve the dispute. The interior is magnificent: 20,000 Iznik tiles covering the walls and galleries in a palette of blue, green and white, illuminated by 260 windows. The Blue Mosque is still an active place of worship and is closed to visitors during the five daily prayer times.

Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace was the administrative centre of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th century to the 19th and remains the most extensive surviving complex of Ottoman architecture in existence. It occupies the tip of the historic peninsula overlooking the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, and at its height housed up to 4,000 residents within its walls. The Imperial Treasury contains the Topkapi Dagger, the Spoonmaker's Diamond and the Throne of Nadir Shah among its extraordinary holdings. The Harem, now open to visitors, is a labyrinthine complex of over 300 rooms that was home to the Sultan's family and household. The views from the palace terraces are exceptional.

The Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar has been a working market since the 15th century and is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. It contains over 4,000 shops across 61 covered streets and was visited by an estimated 250,000 to 400,000 people every day before the pandemic. It is not primarily a tourist attraction: it is a genuine commercial hub where Istanbul's wholesale and retail trade in carpets, textiles, jewellery, ceramics, leather and spices has been conducted continuously for 500 years. The experience of navigating its labyrinths, being drawn by the smell of spices and the gleam of copper, is unlike anything else in any other city.

The Spice Bazaar

The Egyptian Bazaar, known universally as the Spice Bazaar, was built in 1664 as part of the New Mosque complex and derives its income partly from rents that fund the mosque's upkeep. Smaller and more manageable than the Grand Bazaar, its L-shaped interior is a concentrated assault on the senses: sacks of spices, dried fruits, nuts, lokum and herbal teas line every stall, and the smell alone is worth the visit. The surrounding streets contain some of the best fresh produce markets in the city.

The Bosphorus

The Bosphorus is the narrow strait that divides Istanbul's European and Asian sides and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. A ferry or boat trip along the Bosphorus provides one of the finest views of the city, showing the wooden yalis (waterside mansions) of the Ottoman aristocracy, the medieval Rumeli Fortress built by Mehmed II in preparation for the conquest of Constantinople, and the two suspension bridges that now carry the road traffic between the continents. The Bosphorus is also a working waterway of considerable strategic importance, and watching the freighters pass is one of the quiet pleasures of a café table on the waterfront.

The Kiz Kulesi

The Maiden's Tower, known in Turkish as Kiz Kulesi and also as Leander's Tower, stands on a tiny islet in the Bosphorus close to the Asian shore. Its origins go back to the 12th century but it has been rebuilt many times since and the current structure is largely 18th century. The tower has served as a lighthouse, a quarantine station, a watchtower and a radio mast at various points in its history, and is now a restaurant and cultural venue. The romantic legends attached to it are a fixture of Istanbul tourism, and the view from the water on a sunset boat trip is reliably beautiful.

A Turkish Bath

A visit to a traditional hammam is one of the experiences that Istanbul does better than anywhere else. The city has been building elaborate public bathhouses since the Ottoman period, and several of the finest examples are still operating today. The Cagaloglu Hammam, built in 1741 and considered one of the most beautiful in existence, has been visited by Franz Liszt, Florence Nightingale, King Edward VIII and Tony Curtis among others. A traditional hammam visit involves the steam room, a vigorous scrub by an attendant using a kese mitt that removes more dead skin than seems entirely possible, and a foam massage. The result is a level of physical relaxation that no spa treatment on a moving train can quite replicate, however exceptional that train may be.

The Orient Express Journey to Istanbul

The Paris to Istanbul journey on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express runs twice a year and is one of the most celebrated travel experiences in the world. The train departs Paris and travels through France, Germany and Austria to Budapest, where guests stay overnight. From Budapest the route continues through Romania, with a stop at the mountain resort of Sinaia before an overnight stay in Bucharest. The final stage crosses into Turkey, arriving at Istanbul Sirkeci station — the original Orient Express terminus, built in 1890.

Istanbul Practicalities

• Istanbul Sirkeci station is the original Orient Express terminus, on the European side of the city close to Topkapi Palace
• Istanbul Airport is on the European side, approximately 40km from the city centre
• UK citizens do not currently need a visa to enter Turkey for tourist stays of up to 90 days. Your passport must be valid for at least 150 days from your date of arrival and have at least one blank page. Always check the latest guidance at gov.uk before travel as requirements can change
• The Turkish Lira is the currency. Credit cards are widely accepted in hotels and restaurants but cash is useful for bazaars and smaller establishments
• Istanbul has a good metro and tram system. The T1 tram line connects Sirkeci with Sultanahmet, the old city, and the Grand Bazaar
• The historic peninsula with the main sights is compact and walkable from the Sirkeci arrival point
• The best time to visit is spring (April to June) or autumn (September to November) for comfortable temperatures and fewer crowds
• The call to prayer from the mosques sounds five times a day and is one of the defining sounds of the city

The Paris to Istanbul Journey