10 Best Sights in Istanbul, Turkey

This picturesque European-side neighborhood just below Bebek is a pleasant place for a stroll. The waterfront is taken up by a row of beautiful 19th-century wooden yalıs, some of which now house fish restaurants. Up the hill from the water, narrow streets are lined with more old wooden houses, some with trailing vines.

One of Istanbul's most fashionable suburbs is 20 to 30 minutes by taxi from central Istanbul and is especially popular with the affluent boating set, thanks to the area's pretty, natural harbor. The European-side neighborhood has a number of cafés and restaurants, as well as a few upscale boutiques selling clothing and jewelry, on both sides of the main coastal road. There's also a small, shaded public park on the waterfront. The stretches of coastline both north and south of Bebek are perfect for a promenade.

The transportation hub of Old Istanbul, Eminönü teems with activity. There are docks for traditional ferryboats (including those making both short and daylong Bosphorus cruises) and faster "sea bus" catamarans that cross the Bosphorus, as well as the Eminönü tram stop, the Sirkeci train station, and the departure area for buses headed to Istanbul's western districts. Thousands of people and vehicles rush through this frenetic neighborhood by the hour, and the many street traders here sell everything from trinkets to designer knockoffs. From Eminönü, you can cross the Galata Bridge on foot or via the tramway to Karaköy, the gateway to the "new town."

This quiet European-side suburb is best known for its large, attractive, public park, Emirgan Korusu—formerly an estate owned by the Khedive of Egypt—which has flower gardens, a small pond, paths, and picnic areas. Three restored, 19th-century, wooden pavilions house restaurants and cafés. During Istanbul's Tulip Festival in April, visitors flock to Emirgan Korusu for its striking flower displays—each year, a million or more tulips in dozens of varieties are planted in this park alone. The flower, which takes its name from the Turkish word tülbend (turban), was most likely introduced to Europe in the late 16th century via the Ottoman Empire, setting off the famous "tulip craze" in the Netherlands. Emirgan is also where the Sakıp Sabancı Museum is located.

With recently uncovered visible evidence of its beginnings as the ancient Greek colony of Chalcedon, the relaxed, suburban neighborhood of Kadıköy is a pleasant area to explore on foot once you get away from the busy area near the ferry. The area just up from the Kadıköy dock, to the south of busy Söğütlü Çeşme Caddesi, is known as the Çarşı, or "market"—a grid of narrow, pedestrian-only lanes filled with a small open-air food market, shops, cafés, nightlife venues, and a few modern churches. Güneşlibahçe Sokak, home to an assortment of fish restaurants and some bars, is particularly lively. Several streets up and farther to the right, Kadife Sokak, dubbed Barlar Sokağı, or "bars street," is the center of Kadıköy's nightlife, lined with small, wooden rowhouses occupied by bars with a casual, laid-back vibe. A tiny, nostalgic tram runs in a clockwise direction up General Asım Gündüz, from where it loops down to the lovely waterfront neighborhood of Moda before stopping at the Kadıköy dock. If you've come this far on foot, it's nice to ride the tram back to the dock.

Just north of the second Bosphorus bridge, this village-turned-suburb has been famous for its delicious yogurt for at least 300 years, and small restaurants around the square by the quay serve this treat. Nearby, white, 19th-century, wooden villas line the waterfront. Kanlıca is the first stop on the Asian shore on the full Bosphorus cruises leaving from Eminönü.

Popular with both locals and visitors, this charming neighborhood is a lovely place to spend a summer afternoon or evening. Restaurants and cafés cluster around the small square on the European-side waterfront, which is dominated by the iconic silhouette of Ortaköy Camii, an elegant, 19th-century, Ottoman mosque designed by the same Armenian architects who built the Dolmabahçe Palace. The mosque overlooks the water, with the imposing Bosphorus Bridge (built 1973) behind it. On Sunday, the narrow, cobblestoned surrounding streets are lined with stalls selling jewelry, scarves, trinkets, and small antique items. Ortaköy is also considered the best place in Istanbul to try the street food called kumpir (basically giant baked potatoes with a choice of fillings): look for the row of about a dozen food stands—selling kumpir, waffles, and other snacks—all competing for customers' attention.

One of the northernmost settlements on the European shore of the Bosphorus, Sarıyer, centered on a small harbor and backed by a row of seafood restaurants, still feels like a fishing village. As you stroll along the Bosphorus, you'll see majestic old yalıs—some of which are beautifully kept up, and others that have been abandoned and are in a sad state. Sarıyer is one of the stops on the full Bosphorus cruises that leave from Eminönü and is a nice place for a fish lunch.

One of the oldest inhabited areas on the Asian shore takes its name from the 7th-century BC settlement of Scutari, though nothing now remains of that ancient town. Today, Üsküdar is a conservative residential district with a handful of noteworthy Ottoman mosques. Though still rather chaotic, the waterfront area has undergone substantial renovation to accommodate the Marmaray, a rail tunnel under the Bosphorus that transports passengers from Üsküdar to Sirkeci in just four minutes. The ferry landing is dominated by Sinan's pretty, if somewhat dark, Mihrimah Sultan Camii, also known as the İskele Camii (built 1548). The large Yeni Valide Camii from 1710 and another Sinan mosque, the small, beautifully situated Şemsi Paşa Camii, are a short walk southwest along the waterfront.