Top 10 Hotels In Istanbul

Up on the roof … the terrace at Hotel Miniature, Istanbul

History often comes served with a contemporary twist in Istanbul hotels. Choose from a boutique hotel that once housed a sultan’s tailor, a night in the city’s former US embassy, a cool hostel with its own pizzeria and more

Hotel Miniature

Tucked into the heart of Sultanahmet, Istanbul’s Old City, the Hotel Miniature occupies a building with a rich history. After its construction in 1875, the premises went from housing an elite intellectual club to a courthouse, from a police station headquarters to the offices of a local newspaper. Today, the 19th-century vibe remains in its carefully restored original facade, the guestrooms’ exposed brick walls and traditional tiling in the common areas. But there are plenty of 21st-century features too, including a panoramic rooftop terrace and spa area. The Miniature is a short stroll from must-see sights including theTopkapı Palace and the Hagia Sophia.
• Doubles from €109 B&B. Molla Fenari Sokak 22, +90 212 514 0131,hotelminiatureistanbul.com

Hammamhane

Around the corner from Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence, Hammamhane is the ancient Çukurcuma suburb’s newest gem. Manager Bulent Tiğli will greet you with a glass of Turkish tea on arrival, along with the inside scoop on the hotel’s history. The hotel is built around the historic Çukurcuma Hamamı, a derelict Turkish bath where art installations are often displayed. Hammamhane has just been granted permission to restore the steambath to its original marble-clad glory and it will reopen next year. The best thing about Hammamhane’s 14 designer rooms is the fact that all can sleep a family of three. Up to four guests can squeeze into the two terrace suites that have balconies over the rear breakfast garden.
• Doubles from €99 B&B. Firuzağa Mah, Cukurcuma Cad 45, +90 212 293 4963,hammamhane.com

Suriye48

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This mega-apartment sleeps nine guests in four bedrooms. It sits atop Suriye Pasajı, an ornate shopping mall that housed a silent cinema in the 1920s. Inside the top-floor flat, centuries-old frescoes remain. The furnishings, however, are a shade haphazard. Ramshackle club chairs and creaky parquet floors look old enough to welcome journalists from Le Stamboul, the French newspaper that was published on the arcade’s ground floor from the late 19th century until about 100 years ago.
• Apartment from €200 a night. İstiklal Cad, Suriye Pasajı 166, +90 532 550 6493, suriye48.com

Banker Han

Istanbul’s Karaköy neighbourhood has shaken off its rowdy dockyard roots. Warehouses are now patisseries and pop-up souks. Former shipping offices house stylish hotels such as Banker Han, which opened in spring 2015. Rooms range from the bargain (Urban Singles with laptop safes and walk-in glass showers) to the blowout (the three Urban Lofts with original columns and private sea view terraces). Because Banker Han is the accommodation sponsor of November’s Contemporary Istanbul art fair, the hotel’s bare brick walls are splashed with colourful canvases. Manager Sandra Anido completes the mix with regular film screenings, wine tastings, book clubs and temporary shops hosting local wares.
• Doubles from €76.50 B&B. Sokagi Nr2, +90 212 243 5617, bankerhan.com

Peradays

 Photograph: https://www.facebook.com/peradays/photos_stream?ref=page_internal

Owner-manager Bora knows how to make guests happy: which usually involves plying newcomers with fiery Turkish wine before escorting them up to the top-floor terrace of this award-winning guesthouse. Peradays is all about personal service. In a 19th-century townhouse beside Istiklal Caddesi (Istanbul’s equivalent to London’s Oxford Street), it features nine suites across five storeys. Guests may wander to the breakfast bar (which is moved up to the rooftop in summer) for tulip-shaped glasses of free tea, or the complimentary breakfast, which groans with almond-stuffed olives, cheese pastries, honeycomb, preserved apricots and clotted cream.
• Doubles from €90 B&B. Hamalbaşı Cad 32, +90 212 245 1270, peradays.com

#bunk taksim

 Photograph: F Doruk Seymen

Yes, it’s a hostel. And no, you don’t have to step over a backpacker to reach your dodgy dorm; #bunk taksim has stylish doubles (walk-in glass showers and discreet reading lights) and four-person dormitories – all en suite. Since 2014 it has been welcoming holidaymakers with table football, a roof terrace and an in-house pizzeria. Mixed or female-only six-person dorms (beds from €17pp) contain digital pin lockers and communal hairdryers. Its original outpost, #bunk beyoglu, is adjacent to the British Consulate, a 10-minute stroll away.
• Doubles from €60 (breakfast €5pp extra). Papa Roncalli Sokak 34, +90 212 343 0095, bunkhostels.com

Soho House

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 Photograph: Soho House Istanbul

The latest outpost of Soho House, in Palazzo Corpi, has history in spades. Built by a Genoese shipping magnate with a penchant for Carrara marble floors and Italian rosewood, the palazzo served as the US embassy until its all-too-ostentatious location forced its move to safer suburbs in 2003. Open since spring 2015, the palazzo’s renovated refinement pans from original frescoes to 1,000-crystal chandeliers. Contemporary accoutrements include a private hammam and a rooftop splashpool (watch the Golden Horn sunset as you cool off). However, Soho House is far from cheap, but even the budget-conscious might wish to splash out for a night in a room with Ottoman-inspired art-deco furnishings.
• Doubles from €195 room-only. Meşrutiyet Cad 56, +90 212 377 7100,sohohouseistanbul.com

10 Karaköy

This new venue is the first Turkish addition to the Morgans Hotel Group’s high-profile portfolio (which includes Miami’s Delano). In Istanbul’s fashionable Karaköy district, the hotel occupies the premises of the late 19th-century Büyük Balıklı Han. This historical trading inn was reserved for the sale of local seafood, referenced by the bronze fish featured in the fountain in the hotel’s grand marble foyer. Karaköy’s spacious guestrooms – all 71 of them – feature sleek furnishings created by the award-winning Metex Design Group, high ceilings and Turkish artwork. The Slow Food-style Rudolf Restaurant, led by renowned Dutch chef Rudolf Van Nunen, is also on site.
• Doubles from €167 B&B. Kemeraltı Caddesi 10, +90 212 703 3333,morganshotelgroup.com

The Public

The Public is a new hotel that is right at the centre of Istiklal Caddesi, downtown Istanbul’s bustling shopping boulevard. Designed by prolific Ottoman-Armenian architect Hovsep Aznavur in 1901, the recently restored building has now been classified a historical monument. The 52 guestrooms feature details such as all-natural L’Occitane bath products and Philippe Starck water-saving taps. Other design touches range from 1950s-style Smeg fridges and Bugatti kettles to bathrobes by Istanbul fashion designer Bahar Korçan. In the 1901 Café and Bistro, natural light filters into a central courtyard area from the glass-domed roof.
• Doubles from €140 B&B. Turnacıbaşı Cad 1, +90 444 33 34, hotelthepublic.com

Armada Pera

This boutique hotel has 20 rooms and occupies the five-storey Parma Apartmanı, an elegant 1930s building in Istanbul’s buzzing Beyoğlu neighbourhood. In the late 19th century it was the private home of Paul Parma, tailor to Sultan Abdülhamid II (the last autocratic ruler of the Ottoman empire) and owner of the era’s fashionable Parma Atelier. Today, the historic hotel showcases antique sewing paraphernalia and a beautifully restored original lift. Guestrooms are simple: wooden floors, crisp cotton linens and marble-clad bathrooms. Visitors with bigger budgets can plump for one of Armada Pera’s five art-nouveau suites. Peeking out over the city skyline, these are decked out in a mix of European and Ottoman-style period furnishings, including carved bed frames and Middle Eastern carpets.
• Doubles from €81 room-only B&B. Hamalbaşı Cad 28, +90 212 293 7373,armadapera.com

Contributed by Tristan Rutherford and Kathryn Tomasetti, www.theguardian.com