This place is incredible value and so well located! You’re about 100m from the entrance to both the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, a 3-4 minute walk to the Topkapi Palace, a 6-8 minute walk to the Grand Bazaar, and right beside a tram stop and a bank of ATMs. There’s also plenty of services within a 50m radius (currency exchangers, gym, phone services, etc).
The breakfast at Lapis Inn is splendid, and no one prepares you for the stunning view from the rooftop breakfast area. The hotel also offers an outsourced laundry/ironing service, which was very handy and extremely cheap (60 lira per kilo).
The staff were the most helpful, assisting with any query or problem we had and giving us excellent advice. The housekeeping staff were also so lovely and went out of their way to make life easy for us.
The only downside for us was that the hotel is above a lane way with a bar, and so was a little noisy once or twice. Ear plugs while sleeping fixed this, and it didn’t disturb our sleep more than once.
Also, we would recommend avoiding eating in the immediate area as prices are greatly inflated and the food is not as authentic (greatly westernised) but because of the location of the tram stop, youre only ever 20mins away from some of Istanbul’s gems (link in with a local guide for details).
For any first time visitors to Istanbul who are looking to see the main sights in a short time span, Lapis Inn is ideal. The location means you can visit the mosques early in the morning without crowds and escape the long lines and heat easily when needed. They were also able to organise airport transfers for us that were quite luxurious for the price (40 Euro). We’re very grateful for our stay.