Dolmabahce Palace

Dolmabahce is shut every Monday. On the remaining six days the ticket office works from 09:00 to 17:00. A foreign visitor ticket costs 2,000 TL and gives access to the ceremonial wing (Selamlik), the family's private quarters (Harem) and the Painting Museum. The main building has no cheaper partial ticket, so it makes sense to see everything.

Quick facts

Background

By the 1840s the Ottoman court wanted to look European, and Topkapi Palace seemed out of date. Sultan Abdulmecid I had Dolmabahce built from 1843 to 1856 on ground reclaimed from the Bosphorus; the name, meaning filled-in garden, refers to this. The architects belonged to the Armenian Balyan family. Their design combines Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical elements with an Ottoman layout. Six sultans made it their home. When the empire was over, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stayed in the palace while in Istanbul. He died in a small bedroom here at 09:05 on 10 November 1938, and the palace clocks still show that time.

Inside the palace

• The Ceremonial Hall. Its dome reaches 36 metres, and the crystal chandelier weighs roughly four and a half tonnes; tradition says Queen Victoria gave it. This is the biggest room in the palace and the main draw for most visitors.
• The Crystal Staircase. At the Selamlik entrance, with balusters made of Baccarat crystal.
• The Harem. Simpler in places. Here you see the suite of the sultan's mother and the room in which Ataturk died, a Turkish flag spread on the bed.
• The Painting Museum. Housed in what were the crown prince's apartments, with 19th-century Ottoman and European art.
• The Clock Tower and gardens. Beside the water and open to walk around once you hold a ticket, along with the Bosphorus gate where visitors used to arrive by boat.

Rules worth knowing before you go

Taking photos in the palace rooms has been limited for a long time, so read the notice at the entrance before using a camera. Outside and in the gardens there is no problem. The route runs in one direction only, and in busy periods staff keep people moving, so at peak times you cannot stay long in the Ceremonial Hall.

When to go

Crowds peak on Tuesdays, the day Topkapi is closed, and on weekend mornings. For a quieter visit, arrive on a weekday at 09:00 or after 14:30. Every 10 November, the anniversary of Ataturk's death, large numbers of Turkish visitors come; being there that day is moving, but it is not calm.

The Istanbul Dolmabahce & Bosphorus Tour with Private Guide pairs the palace with the Spice Market, a Bosphorus cruise and Taksim Square in six to eight hours, with pick-up from your hotel or Galataport. The sultans meant the palace to be admired from the water, and the 2-Hour Private Bosphorus Yacht Cruise sails past its 600-metre facade as it heads up the strait.

Tips

• Queue for tickets outside the Clock Tower gate. In summer, buying online on the National Palaces website helps.
• The floors are the original parquet and carpets, and wearing shoe covers is required.
• A garden café beside the Clock Tower looks out on the Bosphorus.
• The small Clock Museum and the Palace Collections Museum close by belong to the same administration and sell their own tickets.
• Ferries to the Princes' Islands leave from Kabatas, so you can carry on by boat that afternoon.

Other sights along the Bosphorus are on our Istanbul destination page.

Frequently Asked Questions