10 Things to Do in Istanbul – A Friendly Guide First Time Travellers

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📍 10 Things to Do in Istanbul

1. Spend a Morning in the Sultanahmet District

Sultanahmet is where Istanbul’s history is most densely layered, and it rewards a slow morning rather than a rushed tick-list approach. The Hagia Sophia alone justifies an early start — this is a building that has served as a cathedral, a mosque, and a museum across its 1,500-year history, and it shows in every layer of decoration on the walls and ceiling. The Blue Mosque sits just across the square, its six minarets and cascading domes making it one of the most recognisable silhouettes in the city.

Topkapi Palace fills out the morning — the administrative and residential heart of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries, now a museum complex covering everything from the sultan’s private quarters to the imperial treasury. Go early before tour groups arrive.

📌 Book the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia & Topkapi Palace guided tour on GetYourGuide — a guided visit makes sense here given the depth of history across all three sites.

💡 Tip: Arrive at Hagia Sophia before 9am to get the best light through the high windows and avoid the queue that builds by mid-morning.

2. Take a Bosphorus Cruise

Seeing Istanbul from the water changes how you read the city. The Bosphorus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and splits Europe from Asia — gliding along it gives you palaces, wooden yalı mansions, and the city skyline from angles no land-based vantage point can match. The two bridges spanning the strait are impressive from below in a way they simply aren’t when you’re driving over them.

Options range from a short sightseeing loop to a full afternoon cruise with an Asian-side stop, and if you’re timing it well, a sunset cruise is hard to beat.

• Guided Bosphorus cruise (day): Book here
• Bosphorus dinner cruise with show: Book here
• Daytime or sunset cruise with audio guide: Book here

👩 Solo travel note: Solo travellers tend to find the group cruises a natural way to meet other independent travellers — the shared views and easy conversation make it one of the more sociable experiences in the city.

3. Go on a Food Tour

Istanbul’s food culture is one of its great underrated pleasures — not just the well-known simit and baklava, but a whole street-food ecosystem of roasted chestnuts, balık ekmek (fish sandwiches sold from boats near the Galata Bridge), kokoreç, and neighbourhood börek shops that have been doing the same thing for decades.

A guided food tour is the most efficient way to cover serious ground in a short time. This European and Asian Side food tour crosses the Bosphorus and covers both sides of the city in a full day of eating — local cafés and markets on the Asian side have a noticeably different character from the European neighbourhoods, and the contrast makes the day feel like two cities rather than one.

4. Visit Both Continents in a Day

Not many cities offer a continent-crossing commute, and Istanbul’s ferry network makes it straightforward rather than logistically complicated. Head to Kadıköy on the Asian side for the neighbourhood market, street coffee culture, and a different, more local rhythm — this is where Istanbulites go to browse the fish market, pick up produce, and sit in the kind of café that hasn’t bothered updating its décor since 1987.

Return via Üsküdar, which gives you some of the best views of the European skyline from the water. The whole crossing takes around 25 minutes and costs next to nothing.

💡 Tip: Keep your Istanbulkart (the city’s transit card) topped up — it covers the ferry, metro, tram, and buses, and is far simpler than buying individual tickets at every stop.

5. Explore the Grand Bazaar

With over 4,000 shops and 60 covered streets, the Grand Bazaar is an experience that requires a realistic approach to time and energy. Don’t try to cover it systematically — wander, get slightly lost, allow yourself to be diverted by a carpet dealer or a jewellery display, and don’t feel any obligation to buy. The best finds here come from wandering rather than shopping with a list.

Ceramics, leather goods, spices, textiles, and gold are all well represented. Prices are negotiable on most things, and the opening offer is rarely the closing one. Arriving when it opens (around 8.30am) gives you an hour or so before the first tour groups arrive.

6. Wander Through the Spice Bazaar

Smaller and more manageable than the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) in Eminönü is where locals have been buying saffron, dried herbs, Turkish delight, and loose-leaf tea for centuries. The sensory experience here — the colours, the scent, the stalls of candied fruits and baklava — makes it worth visiting even if you’re not planning to buy anything.

The surrounding streets are just as interesting: fish sellers, fresh produce, and street food vendors cluster around the market’s exterior entrances. Allow at least an hour and stay for a glass of çay afterwards at one of the nearby tea houses.

7. Relax in a Traditional Hammam

A traditional Turkish hammam is less a spa treatment and more a deeply embedded cultural ritual — one that Istanbulites have used to wash, socialise, and decompress for centuries. The experience typically involves a steam room, a vigorous scrub (kese) by an attendant, and a foam massage on a heated marble slab. It’s invigorating rather than purely relaxing, and significantly different from a standard massage.

Choose a well-reviewed, historical hammam rather than a tourist-facing one — the experience is better and the setting far more authentic. A few reliable options:

• Turkish spa in Old City
• Acemoğlu Historical Turkish Hammam (15th century)
• Historic Şifa Turkish Bath, Sultanahmet

👩 Solo travel note: Hammams are a genuinely comfortable solo experience — visitors are looked after individually, and there’s no social awkwardness to navigate. Most historical hammams have separate sections for men and women, so it’s a relaxed and safe option for solo women travellers.

8. Climb Galata Tower

Galata Tower has stood at the top of the Beyoğlu district since 1348, making it one of the oldest surviving towers in Istanbul. The climb (or lift) to the observation deck at the top rewards you with a panoramic view across the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus, and both the European and Asian skylines — the kind of 360-degree perspective that helps you understand the city’s layout in a way that maps simply don’t.

Sunset is the most popular time, and deservedly so — the light on the water at that hour is genuinely beautiful. Arrive 30 minutes beforehand if you want a good position on the open-air deck without waiting.

9. Walk Istiklal Avenue

Istiklal Avenue is Istanbul’s main pedestrian artery — a 1.4-kilometre stretch running from Taksim Square down to Galata, lined with everything from global chains to independent bookshops, cafés, music venues, and the occasional 19th-century arcade. It’s busiest in the late afternoon and evening, when the street fills with what feels like half the city.

The red nostalgic tram that runs the length of the avenue is worth catching at least once, and the side streets branching off both sides are where the real character lives — meyhane restaurants, rooftop bars, and Beyoğlu’s art gallery scene are all tucked away from the main boulevard.

💡 Tip: Turn down the side streets rather than staying on the main avenue — Asmalımescit and the surrounding lanes have some of the best small restaurants in the city.

10. Find a Rooftop Café with a View

Istanbul has no shortage of rooftop terraces with Bosphorus views, and sitting down with a glass of çay or Turkish coffee while the ferries cross the water below is one of the city’s uncomplicated pleasures. The Sultanahmet area has several rooftop cafés within sight of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia domes, while Karaköy and Beyoğlu have a more modern, design-conscious set of options.

Don’t rush this one. Istanbul rewards the traveller who makes time to simply sit and watch the city move.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

📍 Ready to Explore Istanbul?

Istanbul is one of those cities that earns its reputation and then some — a place where two continents, three thousand years of history, and one of the world’s great food cultures are all layered on top of each other in a single, endlessly fascinating city. Plan ahead for the big sights, leave room to wander without a plan, and save at least one afternoon for the ferry and the Asian side. You won’t regret it.

→ Browse tours and experiences in Istanbul on GetYourGuide — use code trulyexpattravel10 for 10% off via the app.

→ Sort your Turkey e-Visa with iVisa before you fly.

→ Get travel insurance sorted with SafetyWing — worth having before you board.

→ Sort your eSIM before you land with Airalo — 15% off for new users.