Excellent hotel in Istanbul

[Mags]

This time, we stayed in Istanbul for a week in September before flying on down to Dalaman to stay in our house in Kalkan.

We stayed in a very nice hotel indeed, so I thought I would mention it on here, in case anyone is looking for somewhere to stay in Istanbul.

It's called the Hotel Ibrahim Pasha and is very centrally located, in Sultanahmet, minutes away from the Blue Mosque, Agia Sofia and a tram stop.

Web site: http://www.ibrahimpasha.com/

As you can see from the website, it's a smallish hotel, very nicely furnished and with a superb view from the roof terrace bar. It's not cheap: around 200 euros per room per night, depending on room type (we had a deluxe room - probably worth it if you're staying for more than a couple of nights) and time of year. The breakfasts were good.

Most of all, the reception staff were BRILLIANT! A mine of useful information, courteous, friendly and with good English (although they were all well-impressed with our rudimentary Turkish).

Some of the other guests also gave us considerable amusement with their questions to reception which we overheard. "say, can I buy a shoelace at the airport?" and "which direction does the rain come from in this country?" (At the risk of being labelled xenophobic, I will leave you to guess the nationality of the perpetrators!).

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=8729.0

[lradders1]

Hi Mags,

The hotel looks lovely....I really fancy a long weekend in Istanbul at the beginning of December - never been before.  It probably goes without saying you'd recommend the city? 

Any advice would be appreciated (trip would have to be on a budget!)

Thanks.

L

[Bdancer]

We loved Istanbul, but take warm clothes if going in the winter, we went in Jan and it was snowing and very very cold
Isis

[kevincat99]

Wow at nearly 500 TL a night it should be good 

[Babs]

We would love to do that trip Mags....is it expensive/cheap/easy to fly from Istanbul to Dalaman?

[Mags]

To respond to the questions asked:

(1) flying from Istanbul to Dalaman: we flew with Pegasus. Efficient, quick (less than an hour's flight) and cheap (can't really remember how much we paid, but I THINK it was about £40 each). But, they fly from Istanbul's second airport (Sabiha Gokcen) which is some way out of the city and in the rush hour (which seems to go on most of the day, except between about 2.00 am and 4.00 am!) can take over 90 minutes to/from the city centre (plus costing a fair bit in taxis - the hotel I mentioned charged 75 euros for a one-way transfer). And there is the interesting experience of coming in to the domestic terminal at Dalaman (having already bought your visa on entry to Istanbul, of course) and by-passing most of the tourists. And catching a nostalgic look at the horrid pink plastic seats there (domestic terminal used to be the only terminal at Dalaman until they built the new internnational terminal and old Kalkan hands will have many "fond" (NOT!) memories of it.....

(2) would I recommend Istanbul? Yes, for the experience. Crowded, noisy and rammed with tourists. But beautiful with it. Apart from the really famous sights, I'd recommend the Basilica Cistern (an underground water storage facility such as you've never seen before and very unusual) and taking a ride on the tram all along the line, just to see the real Istanbul in the suburbs. But the restaurants were expensive and nowhere near the quality (of food and service) you find in Kalkan. There's only one restaurant I would pick out - and that more for the view than the food (although the food & wine were acceptable): it's called Hamdi and overlooks the Galata Bridge. It has a roof terrance from which you have a panoramic view of the entire Bosphorus - absolutely stunning (but do go on a clear day).

[Mags]

And just to add: a useful source of information in Kalkan about Istanbul and of restaurant recommendations is Yigit (spelled with a soft "g" and pronounced "Yeet") at White Table bistro in Kalkan (opposite Salt & Pepper). He and his wife are from Istanbul and both used to work in the tourism industry there before they came to Kalkan.