stricky

Has anyone stayed at the Faros Hotel/Sultanahmet? I have reserved a family suite. If you stayed there, would you recommend it?

Thanks

sf7307

Someone on here did recommend it to me. We almost chose it, but in the end, selected a place with more modern furnishings (rather than "Ottoman style")

amer_can

Ottoman style probably refers to the building not the furnishings. Our hotel, Tash Konak, was described as ottoman sryle and it was, an old mansion renov. into a very comfortable hotel with all funishings of the today genre except the lounge..hassocks, lounges and a charcoal burner..Charming but the rooms were very comfortable, clean and quiet.Did you look on Trip Adv. for any comments??

stricky

Thanks. We're booked there for 3 nights later this month, then switching to another hotel for an additional 3 nights. (couldn't get full week in one place by the time I made reservations) Will include a review of it when I post a trip report.
SF7307- Assuming your "handle" means you're in SF Bay area. So am I. Hope you have a great trip.

sf7307

I am from SF - we're going in early June. (P.S. I looked at TA pictures of all the hotels we were considering. That always helps us narrow it down).

LucieV

We just returned from Istanbul. We stayed in the highly-recommended Sari Konak, which we pre-paid. Very clean, well-located (if you don't mind being accosted by carpet salesmen the minute you walk out the door), etc., but the staff was not trustworthy. They pulled a "we have an upgrade for you but you'll have to move rooms your second 2 nights". Turned out that the first 2 nights were in a less-expensive room than what we had paid for, but we didn't like the "upgraded" room, so we ended up staying in the less-expensive room -- yet were given no compensation. The way it was handled was less than straightforward.

Also, when I asked for help making a phone call, the desk clerk was anything but accommodating...you'd have thought I was asking for a trip to the moon.

I would not stay there again.

Were I to return to Istanbul, I would stay at Hotel Yesil Ev, where we ate 3 of our meals (in their beautiful courtyard restaurant) and looked at the rooms. It was one of the few places in Istanbul where I felt the service was neither obsequious nor mercenary. Perfectly located near the Blue Mosque, right across from the Sultanahmet Ritz Carlton (which looked weird to me, I don't care how vaunted it may be.)

sf7307

Tell me about the restaurants at Yesil Ev (you must have liked them to have eaten there 3 times). We're staying nearby.

Weekender

sf7307:

Are you referring to the Four Seasons Sultanahmet? It really is a great place to stay with a beautiful interior courtyard. Formerly a prison.

Pepper_von_snoot

I have been recommending Yesil EV here for years, also the garden restaurant, but no one listens to me.


Thin

sf7307

No, we are not staying at the Four Seasons , just a small boutique hotel in Sultanahmet.

LucieV

sf7307, what I liked about the YE restaurant is (1) you can eat outside when it's warm; (2) you can eat in the orangerie when it's not so warm, and still feel like you're outside; (3) the service is unpretentious but still formal (I can't stand restaurants where the waiters try to be "cute" and/or to "charm" you with their personality, which is usually obnoxious -- and there are many of these in Sultanahmet, or at least there were when we were there); (4) the food is simple and fresh, not over-spiced and "dense" like a lot of tourist food. E.g., I had the best chopped tomato salad that I've ever had anywhere. Excellent grilled fish, too.

YE is also an oasis -- a very welcome oasis -- in the middle of what I found to be a very hyped-up, overcrowded, rather Disneyland-ish, exploit-the-tourist-however-you-can city. (My very biased opinion only, obviously!)

LucieV

Weekender, the formerly-a-prison aspect of Four Seasons is what I found weird about it. Maybe I've just watched Midnight Express too many times, but it's all I could see when I saw those walls...

sf7307

Lucie, I'm grabbing the back of my neck, as I do whenever Midnight Express is mentioned!

Do the outdoor restaurant and the Orangerie share a menu/kitchen?

LucieV

Yes, they do, sf. I think you'll like it, if I know you at all!