One of the best public parks in Istanbul. It's located at Emirgan neighborhood along the European…read moreshores of the Bosphorus. You can reach there by taxi or there are public busses from Taksim, Besiktas, and Maslak. There are a couple of old pavillions inside which serve as restaurants and cafeterias with nice views and reasonable prices, but no alcohol is served. There are lots of green spaces and trees, a decorative pool, wc's, children playgrounds etc. The best time to visit the park is during the Tulip Festival in April every year, when you can see millions of tulips of each kind and color, absolutely spectacular.

It's such a beautiful place the view is amazing everything is wow but the only problem the food is…read moretoo expensive but you can enjoy the view with just tea you neeed to come here

At first everything was somewhat ok we had to wait a little bit for menus and to order however once…read morethe food came it was nice. This was until the waiter spilled boiling hot tea on my leg. The waiter apologized later and I was checked on by a waitress in the bathroom when I was icing my leg. The manager looked like he did not care and we were still charged for our breakfast. It was 140-160 Lyra so not a huge bill but I would expect if you injure a customer at least offer to comp the bill.... our nice breakfast was ruined by the incident.

Enjoyed visiting so much. The vibe, the lovely people, our hotel Sofitel was great. Loved the…read morecats in the streets, the shops and restaurants are fantastic. I would visit again for sure.

Taksim Meydanı or Taskim Square is a large open area with a monument in the center…read more It as a vast complex surrounded by shops, vendors, a huge mosque and the like. There is also a park adjacent as well as several embassys, and its one of the main shopping districts in Istanbul It was later in the day and some light rain on and off so for our visit it was not packed. But we also wanted to get back to Sultanment so we did not spend a ton of time here,

Istiklal Caddesi is a great/must see area of Istanbul. Basically, what this location presents is a…read morestreet full of all kinds of shops, cafes, galleries, restaurants, and a bunch of other businesses. It truly shows off the unique culture of Istanbul. My suggestion is that you come here early in the day on a weekday. During this time frame the street is not too crowded and you can really take time checking things out. On the weekends and later in the day, this area can get pretty hectic and very crowed with people. If you want to avoid that, come during the off-hours. I suggest the way to visit this street is to walk over the Galata Bridge. This bridge, of course, provides you with a great view of Istanbul. From there, just follow the main street up. If you have any location concerns, GPS will easily take you here. This is a long street with an uphill trek. Of course, that also means, on the way down, it is a downhill trek. Nothing too steep or anything like that, but it can provide you with a bit of a cardio workout if you are a fast paced walker like myself. Overall, this is one of the must see areas of Istanbul. This street provides you with an excellent view into the modern shopping and culinary culture of Istanbul.

İstiklal Avenue means Independence and is the longest pedestrian street in the historic Beyoğlu…read moredistrict of Istanbul, one of the most famous avenues in the city, known for the cute red trams, lots of shopping - malls, US stores, restaurants, some street food, elegant buildings, fun to walk it. We found our way from Galata Tower and once we reached it, we explored it and stopped along the way to check out stores (cute bookstores), coffee shops, a cool passage, an Italian church -of St. Anthony of Padua(the biggest catholic one in Istanbul) and so on. Lots of American chains, clothes, food (fast-food) which we avoided. But we tried a cheese borek (salty cheese pastry) from the gentleman with the cart. It is fun to see the vintage trams passing by. We continued to the end, till we reach the end of it marked by the French Institute and Taksim Square. It is worth checking it out while visiting Istanbul, not super crowded, but very lively!

So on day one in Istambul we trekked through the Asain side in what would the first of 2 yes to…read morenearly 40,000 step days and cam across this lovely little oasis of a park along the shores in the Kadıköy district. Nice greenery, seriously short basketball courts,, sculptures, tennis courts and some pretty nice street art as well. We grabbed a water and took a breather on one of the many benches scattered about.