Pros:
-good location in old town if you want to see all the touristy locations. Walkable to the main land marks.
- there’s a really good restaurant the boys run below the hotel that we ate at twice.
-the staff is super friendly and helpful!
-unlimited coffee/tea& cookies.
-someone cleans the room daily and replaces towels
-Erol’s recommendations for what we wanted were spot on. We recommend Fine Dine Restaurant which is a quick walk from the hotel. Best view!!!
Other notes for travels to Istanbul for the first time:
-I recommend getting a private guide because there’s so much to see and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. I felt quite lost, but thank goodness my boyfriend is good at reading maps or else I don’t know what I would have done. (Probably would have had to turn on my cell phone apps.) We found a guide on Airbnb experiences and it was totally worth it.
-old town is completely different from other neighborhoods, so get out for at least one day so you can get a feel of the whole Istanbul. It would be a shame to just stay in old town the whole time.
- eat all the sweet things here. Oh my gosh there’s so many good treats.
- In old town, there’s these shady carpet selling guys that make friends with you saying they don’t want anything, then invite you to see their carpets. One guy waited outside the Blue Mosque for us because we told him the day before that we were going there! Now we know not to give away an information. We honestly just thought he was a nice guy. They are harmless, just be aware.
-everyone else is seriously so nice in Istanbul! We loved all the people we met.