In mid April I will be travelling to Istambul for one week from Paris. I haven't been there since 1968, so I'm not up to date, to put it mildly.

We have rented an apartment in GALATASARAY - BEYOGLU area. If anyone is familiar with this area, I would appreciate a heads-up on the area.

Also, is there enough to do in town for a week, that I do not have to investigate day trips out of Istambul, or is there something close by I should not miss? Our travelmates are avid shoppers, so I am sure the bazaar will play a big part. We are church/museum goers, so we should also have alot to do.

Any recommendations on websites to learn more would also be apprecaited.

If you do a search for "Istanbul" on this forum you will find several trip reports and threads discussing what to see and how to schedule.

check out www.turkeytravelplanner.com

Hi

Beyoglu is an excellent area in Istanbul. I have some notes from our visit in 2006. If you want a copy email me at [email protected].

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Check out my trip report "risab's istanbul trip report" - it may not be the exact title but you should be able to find it. We were in Istanbul for 9 days in April and we stayed at the Galata Residence in Beyoglu. We loved the area and enjoyed walking up Istiklal Cadessi, the music stores on Galip dede Cadessi, and the flower passage for the restaurants and live music, and check out Badehane music club on Wednesdays for great clarinet music. We are Jewish so we also did a Jewish tour of IStanbul.

We visited all of the major sites in Sultanehment, went to Balat, Ortakoy, and to the Bagdat Caddesi on the Asian Side. We visited the Chora Church, now a museum in Balat. I loved that neighborhood- very old world. We did not take a cruise but that is another cool thing to do. We did not like the Grand Bazaar but we are not into all of that - we like to shop but it was just too much pushy for us. Preferred the shopping on Nisantasi area.

So, check out my report...it should give you some ideas.

Get the Rick Steves Istanbul guidebook. Its tours of individual highlights are excellent, as are its walking tours for the different areas of town.

It's probably helpful to know, particularly for web searches, not to mention your own edification, that you're going to Istanbul, not Itstambul. Gosh!

I mean Istambul...sorry, I even misspelled it.

<i>Istambul</i> as in <i>Istamboul</i>? In other words, the OP might be from a non-English speaking country.

There will be heaps of information on Turkey Travel Planner.
Also some google searches are helpful.

Close to where you are staying there are number of churches and St. Antuan one of them. A nice church to visit. Old city for sure. You can spend two days easly. Balat area and Chora church is also a must see. A bosphorus cruise, lots of mosques, museums including Sabanc&yacute; and Istanbul Modern can be interesting. Other posters also gave different options. Asian side is also beautiful to visit.

Have a look at :
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGos...1C64DF22CCB2F6

A week will be just enough and maybe even too little.....

Happy travelling,
Murat

Thank you for the posts. Risab, I did find your post, Thank you.

Any idea of what the weather will be like in mid-April? I was hoping for warm, but not too sure now.

I checked the Turkey Tourism website, it made no mention of any Visas, I don't think any are needed for US tourists though.

<i>When landing in Istanbul, make sure that you have euros, dollars or Turkish lire to pay for the visa (cash only). There are no ATMs before going through passport control and one Danish national did not have any of the money specified and had great difficulty in getting the Turkish lire to pay for her tourist visa</i>

From my trip report

Yes, there WILL be a visa required for US tourists. You will pay for it on arrival, in cash as noted.

Intex
the weather in April can be all over the place but it won't be too cold.

When we arrived it was in the 70's and very sunny. The first two days we wore light weight shirts and carried sweaters -in the evening we needed a sweater or light weight jacket.

We did have several cool and rainy days. Layering is best. I brought along a spring weight jacket good for rain and a very light leather jacket. Both were good. Bring umbrellas. The rain never stopped us from going out and about. We just altered some of our sightseeing plans to do more indoor things on rainy days and do the walking outdoor stuff when the weather was dry.

We loved the Topkapi Palace, Sistern, and the Blue Mosque.

Risab,
Thank you for the info.

Hi Intex,

There is an ATM machine available now when you get your visa, as at October 2008 when we were there.

But IMHO I would just get the equivalent in US Dollars or Euros and have that ready on arrival. There was a queue at the ATM. I had my USD and breezed through!

BTW You will love everything about Istanbul, the food, the people, the sites!

<i>There is an ATM machine available now when you get your visa, as at October 2008 when we were there.</i>

Which airport?

Michael,

We flew into Attaturk Airport, international arrivals.

We landed at Sabiha Gocken International Airport, which had no ATMs before passport control. Any recent reports about the availability of ATMs before passport control at that airport?

Sorry, can't help you with that one Michael, we flew in and out of Ataturk both for domestic and international flights!

I'm just pointing out the potential difference for other travelers. We do not plan to return to Turkey in the near future.