Topkapi Palace

Plenty of Istanbul plans fall apart for one simple reason: Topkapi Palace does not open on Tuesdays. Every other day of the week the gates open at 09:00, and foreign visitors pay 2,750 TL for the combined ticket. With it you can enter the palace courtyards, the Harem and Hagia Irene, the Byzantine church standing in the first courtyard.

Key details at a glance

The Presidency of National Palaces manages the site, and for most visitors the combined ticket is the sensible option. Museum Pass Istanbul works for the palace, but confirm the current Harem rules before you count on it.

The palace's story in brief

After conquering Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II started building on the hill once occupied by the Byzantine acropolis. Over the next four hundred years the complex expanded, not as one great building, but as a set of courtyards, pavilions and service wings. The sultans lived and governed here until the court relocated to Dolmabahce Palace in the 1850s. In 1924, as one of the young republic's first measures, Topkapi was turned into a museum.

Courtyard by courtyard

First courtyard. This is a public park, with Hagia Irene on your left. Built in the 6th century, it is among the few Istanbul churches never turned into a mosque.

Second courtyard. Pass through the Gate of Salutation to reach the Imperial Council hall, where the viziers held their meetings. On the right run the long palace kitchens, which now display Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The way into the Harem is on the left side of this courtyard.

The Harem. It has over 300 rooms, and only a few dozen can be visited. Highlights are the courtyard of the concubines, the queen mother's apartments, the domed and mirrored Imperial Hall, and the Privy Chamber of Murad III, whose Iznik tiles rank among the palace's finest. Give it 45 minutes.

Third courtyard. Here are the Audience Chamber and the Library of Ahmed III, plus the two collections with the longest lines. The Imperial Treasury holds the 86-carat Spoonmaker's Diamond and the Topkapi Dagger. In the Holy Relics rooms, Quran recitation never stops.

Fourth courtyard. Terraced gardens and pavilions look out across the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. Step inside the Baghdad Kiosk and the Circumcision Room for their tiled interiors.

When to go and how to avoid queues

Get to the gate before 09:00 and head first to the Harem, then to the Treasury. That way you see both before tour groups turn up at about 10:30. Wednesday crowds run above average, since people who missed Tuesday come then. After 15:00 the palace is quieter, though closing time will push you along.

Buying online cuts out the ticket line, but you still pass security at the Imperial Gate. Our Private Topkapi Palace, Harem & Cistern Tour lasts four to five hours, includes fast-track tickets and pick-up from your hotel, and ends at the Basilica Cistern. On the Private Istanbul Heritage Tour you spend six to eight hours at Topkapi, Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar, and cruise passengers can be met at Galataport.

Practical advice

• Rooms are often small, and the Treasury lets in only a limited number of people at a time, so short waits continue after the entrance.
• You may not take photos in the Treasury or the Holy Relics rooms, and the guards do check.
• The fourth courtyard has a café with a terrace above the water. It is expensive, but nowhere in the palace has a better view.
• Expect uneven paving and long walks from one courtyard to the next, so flat shoes are best.
• On some evenings a night tour ticket is available (4,000 TL for foreign visitors); dates are on the National Palaces website.
• If you have energy left, the Istanbul Archaeology Museums are five minutes downhill, beside the first courtyard.

For more sights in the Old City, see our Istanbul destination page.

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