Topkapi Palace

About Topkapi Palace

For close to 400 years, Topkapi Palace was where the Ottoman sultans lived, ruled, and ran their empire, from the mid-15th century until the court moved to newer palaces along the Bosphorus in the 1800s. It stands on the tip of Istanbul's historic peninsula, with courtyards and gardens looking out over the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. Rather than one grand building, it's a walled complex of four successive courtyards, each more restricted than the one before, laid out with pavilions, kitchens, council chambers, and quiet corners covered in Iznik tilework.

The palace holds some of the most important Ottoman and Islamic treasures anywhere. The Imperial Treasury keeps jeweled weapons, thrones, and other objects from centuries of court life, while the Holy Relics Chamber displays items sacred across the Islamic world, including relics associated with the Prophet Muhammad. The Harem, the private living quarters of the sultan and his family, is a separate ticketed section, a maze of tiled rooms and small courtyards that gives a much closer sense of daily life than the ceremonial halls do. It's widely treated as one of the highlights, though it isn't required to see the rest of the palace.

Plan on two to three hours for the main courtyards and Treasury, and a bit more if you add the Harem. Topkapi Palace sits within short walking distance of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district, so many visitors fold all three into a single day in the old city. In peak season the walk-up ticket queue can run long, so skip-the-line entry booked ahead is worth having. Audio guides are available in several languages if you'd rather go at your own pace, and guided tours cover the same highlights with an English-speaking guide.