I spent a week in Ilayda's apartment. The overall experience was great, I was very satisfied with the place and my time in Istanbul. But I'd like to point out a few positive and negative sides to help other people make up their minds about this place.
Main advantages:
- the amazing vibe of the place!
- really easy to get there: the transfer from the airport goes to the Taxim square, and it's 15 minutes walking from the flat; besides, wherever you go in Istanbul, it's easy to get to and from the flat
- Ilayda, the hostess, is super friendly and helpful!
- the zoning of the flat is great, there's enough space and it's comfortable
- the street is very quiet despite being close to tourist routes
Some small disadvantages:
- the neighbourood itself is a little too touristic for my liking, you need to walk away from the main paths to experience the authentic city
- it's very humid in the flat (I was there at the end of April), even my dry clothes became wet haha
- the windows lead to a small space between buildings, basically to another wall
- some furniture and details in the flat are quite old and seem like they'll fall apart soon (adds some charm though)
- there's a lack of some basic things in the flat: we had only one full-size towel for two people (the other one was more like a hand towel), only one full cutlery set, there was only soap of all toiletries (normally airbnbs offer something more)