mjz

Has anyone had any experience with the hotels listed above? I can get comparable rates at all three hotels. What's important to me? Atmosphere, service, location to old area and nice rooms.

Which do you recommend?

Thank you.

Cicerone

I have stayed at the Ritz, and the only thing it does not have is access to the old town. It does have stunning views of the Bosphorus, however, lovely rooms, good food, helpful staff and a great hamman, spa and pool area. It is about a 10 minute taxi ride to the Blue Mosque, etc. If you want to be near the old town, you should look at the Four Seasons.

mjz

Thanks Cicerone. The Four Seasons would be nice, but a little more than we want to spend. Is it necessary to be in or very close to the old town to fully enjoy the Istanbul experience? It sounds like cabs can get one around cheaply and quickly.

Anyone else have comments on these specific hotels?

jenviolin

mjz, before you make a choice, check out the Yesil Ev in Sultanahmet. I think it fits your description perfectly. It's about 250 yards from the Four Seasons and is a restored Ottoman house, really sumptously lovely, smaller and cheaper than your other choices. The restaurant looked fabulous, too. The Pasha's room has a private hammam.

Patrick

I'm no expert having only been to Istanbul once, but I was sort of surprised that most of the major big hotels are part of the "new city" and totally removed from the old town, which to me was what Istanbul was all about. Who wants to go to Istanbul and stay in a "modern" city and take cabs back and forth to the "real" city? Just doesn't make sense to me.

Cicerone

I think most new hotels are in the new part of town due to zoning restrictions in the old part which require facades and sometimes whole buildings to be retained. It is difficult and expensive to retrofit old buildings and they are often not large enough to offer enough hotel rooms to make the hotel profitable.

IMO staying in the new part of town is not any hardship, there are some good restaurants in the area. Also, one of the former sultan's palaces is just down the hill from the Ritz and is walkable from the hotel. Consider spending a day or part of a day on a ferry or boat as well. Some of the best restaurants in town are actually in the other direction along the river past the Kempinski, so it is most likely you would not be going into the old town every day nor every night.

Cory

mjz - Instead of the three larger hotels you mention, here are three more unique ones for your consideration: Mavi Ev (Blue House), Sari Konak, or Hotel Seven Hills. All are smaller boutique or "special category" hotels which provide wonderful personalized service and certainly meet your criteria re room quality, and proximity to a number of the essential Istanbul sites you are most likely to visit, as all are in the Sultanahmet area of the city. All charge much more reasonable rates than those you're considering and when it comes to "atmosphere", rooftop dining terraces with the Blue Mosque as a backdrop are hard to beat.... something you won't get in the Taksim area. As a bonus for weary travellers, all offer complimentary airport pickup depending on your length of stay. Check out their websites for photos, room rates & additional info.

Stayed at Mavi Ev (The Blue House)a few years ago - excellent location, friendly, helpful staff, nice rooms, great rooftop terrace. Leaving this coming Tuesday for a return visit to Istanbul before sailing part of the Turkish coast and this visit we're staying at the Sari Konak, which comes highly recommended by friends.

Websites are as follows:

www.bluehouse.com
www.sarikonak.com
www.hotelsevenhills.com

Flyboy

There is a Holiday Inn just inside the old walls that we used in March and it was a decent place to stay and base from. There is a tram stop right in front of the hotel, although we preferred to simply take the long walk back and forth from the sites of the old city. There are a lot of places to eat along the way and a very active market street a few blocks away.

The hotel itself was formerly the Hotel Oclay and the family is still involved in the management. This is not a cookie-cutter, franchise-designed property. We found it to be comfortable, well-maintained and a good value. The room we had was very nice -- something on the order of a junior suite.

To take a look:

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/...istmc?irs=null

Have a great trip!