Istiklal Avenue and Taksim (Istiklal Street)

From end to end Istiklal Avenue measures roughly 1.4 kilometres, and on Saturday evenings the crowd can top a hundred thousand people. The upper end opens onto Taksim Square, Istanbul's main public square. The lower end is Tunel, home to an underground line from 1875, the second oldest in the world, which runs down to Karakoy. Along the way you pass shops, embassies, churches, covered arcades and a red tram that travels no faster than a walker.

Key information

History in brief

Under the Ottomans this was the Grande Rue de Pera, the high street of the European district, home to foreign embassies, Levantine traders and Greek, Armenian and Jewish families. After the founding of the Republic it took the name Istiklal, which means independence. Most of the buildings date from the late 1800s and early 1900s and mix Neoclassical, Art Nouveau and eclectic styles. Cars were banned in 1990, the same year the tram came back. On Taksim Square, the Republic Monument was put up in 1928. In 2021 the rebuilt Ataturk Cultural Centre opera house reopened, and so did the new Taksim Mosque on the north side of the square.

Sights along the avenue

Heading downhill from Taksim to Tunel:

• Taksim Square, with the Republic Monument, the opera house and the mosque.
• St Anthony of Padua, Istanbul's biggest Catholic church, behind a courtyard off the street. You can go in when there is no service.
• Cicek Pasaji (the Flower Passage), a glass-covered arcade full of meyhane restaurants, with the Balik Pazari fish market street beside it.
• Galatasaray High School, whose gates mark the halfway point.
• The lanes off the avenue: bars and restaurants in Asmalimescit, antique shops in Cukurcuma, and the Pera Museum, famous for The Tortoise Trainer by Osman Hamdi Bey.
• Tunel Square at the lower end, where the funicular stops and the walk to the Galata Tower begins.

When to go

Go from late afternoon into the evening, when the avenue is at its liveliest and the windows are lit. Weekday mornings are calm, and plenty of cafés open late in the day. Saturday nights see the biggest crowds. Police may close Taksim Square on public holidays and anniversaries, and the metro exit onto the square can be shut, so read the news on those dates.

The private night tour of the Old City, Taksim and Istiklal covers the illuminated Old City and then walks the full avenue in four hours, with hotel pick-up. Food lovers can join the night food tour with a traditional meyhane, four hours from Taksim and Karakoy over to Kadikoy. The Dolmabahce and Bosphorus tour with a private guide finishes at Taksim Square.

Tips

• Go from Taksim down to Tunel. The slope is in your favour and you finish close to the Galata Tower.
• The tram crawls and fills up; ride it for a photo, not to get anywhere.
• Crowds are the main issue, not safety. Zip your bag and keep your phone out of your back pocket.
• Strangers who chat up men walking alone and suggest a bar are running a scam; the bill can come to many times the listed prices.
• Snacks cost little: stuffed mussels, chestnuts roasted in winter, and wet burgers near Taksim.
• Lift your eyes above the shopfronts; many upper storeys are beautiful.
• Chain shops have taken over much of the ground floor. Old Pera feels more intact in the arcades, for example Atlas, Hazzopulo and Avrupa Pasaji, and in the streets of Cihangir and Galata.
• On the metro, get off at Taksim for the square. Sishane station, at the far end, is nearer Tunel and the Galata Tower.

Beyoglu and the Bosphorus waterfront are covered on our Istanbul destination page.

Frequently Asked Questions