Istanbul Hotel
 

We are planning a four day trip to Istanbul in Jan 2011 . We are contemplating between the two four seasons hotels the one in Sultanahmet vs the one in bosphorous .
We will be sightseeing during the day , followed by casual dinner at night , with nighttime strolling if the weather permits !!! (there are two people in our party , my sister and I )
thanking you in advance

I did not stay at either hotel, but I did see the one in Sultanahmet. It looked lovely from the outside.If I were you, I would choose Sultanahmet because it is so close to the places of interest. I was not impressed with the quality of the food in that area, though.

Have fun!

Pat

Thank you Pat for responding . Sultanahmet's Four Seasons is good because of its location being near area attractions , but I hear that at night there is not much happening in that area and also the hotel being small ,there is not much to do in the hotel either . However the bosphoros location poses its own problem as to taking a taxi to area attractions everyday during the rush hour . another dilema is the weather being very cold at that time . thank you so much for your feedback though

Cambria 1.

Investigate a third alternative:
Park Hyatt
very newly restore from a turn of the century building, in the heart of the Upscale Tesvikiye-Nisantasi area, with excellent restaurants, bars, cafes all around it as well as designer shops and our favorite jeweller, Arkaik.

Neither of the Four Seasons have anything in their neighborhood for the evenings, althogh they are nice hotels.

the Four Seasons Bosphorus does have a terrific coast location, if you pay for a sea-view room. Their restaurants are not to rave about.

Another alternative is Marmara Taksim hotel, which is not in the same category as the others but has a 24 hour busy location on Taksim Square and terrific views from its rooms and roof bar/restaurant. It is older and renovation is about to start (my daughter is the architectural project coordinator). Also the rooms are smaller than at the others and not as luxuriously furnished. Similar to most chain city hotels.

I hope this post does not attract strange people like your other post did.

Otherchelebi, thank you so much for your response and your recomendation . I will look into Park Hyatt Hotel . It seems to be just the kind of hotel , we are looking for .
With much appreciation Cambria

otherchelebi, my apologies . I am new to this forum . Originally I had tagged my question as Istanbul and when I did not receive a response, I added another tag under turkey !! thank you for your comments . I thought the previous comment about the weather was directed at me !! thank you again for your advise on the hotels and my congratulations to you for having a talented and capable daughter best wishes , Cambria

I may also suggest you Swissotel the Bosphorus, which I have stayed for at least 5 or 6 times so far and never regret my decision. The quality of the service is by far the best. The location is outstanding, although you may suffer a bit from the traffic jam. Anyhow, that's inevitable in istanbul! it's pretty close to taksim, nisantasi, pretty close to the old peninsula, very close to all the beautiful spots alongside the bosphorus, as well as Besiktas wher you can take the boats/ferries to cross the sea and go to the asian side if you like. and, if you book a room with the bosphorus view, you will be astonished with what you see at night! there are at least 3 or 4 different restaurants in the hotel, and all are best quality. I may also suggest you to go to either Sunset or Vogue Restaurants which are quite expensive but awesomely chic :) Enjoy your trip!
Ciao, Elena

Hi cambria1 - While planning our May trip to Turkey, we've come across an offer from Hyatt. By taking their credit card, you receive 2 free nights and you'll only have to pay for 2 nights. BTW, the offer is good anywhere in the world in Hyatt hotels.

The Park Hyatt looks like a very nice choice. My husband was concerned about its location regarding most of the historical sightseeing in the Sultanahmet area. However, otherchelebi recommends it and he certainly knows best.