Topkapi Palace: all you need to know to enjoy it

Located on a triangular promontory overlooking the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, the Topkapi Palace is one of the richest museums in the world and can be considered the best and most visited in Istanbul along with the neighboring Hagia Sophia. I tell you everything you need to know about how you can buy your tickets, when is the best time to visit and how to avoid the queues.

Because remember, this is a palace worth seeing from all angles and perspectives and one of the greatest architectural works in the world. Precisely for this reason, I encourage you to book a guided tour so you can have all the details of the different corners, rooms and items hidden inside. Read on!

The perfect choice

Istanbul Topkapi Palace Guided Tour

Discover the Topkapi Palace

Enjoy a one-hour guided tour of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, led by a professional guide, where you will have free access to all the palace halls, except the harem.

From $61 at Hellotickets

With this guided tour of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, you can learn in detail one of the most visited monuments of the Turkish city avoiding queues.

With more than 700,000 square meters, the palace has four courtyards and several different buildings inside such as royal stables, an armory or treasury, rooms that you can access with this ticket that only excludes access to the harem and in which you will be accompanied at all times by a professional guide who will explain everything you need to know about the interior. In addition, you will contemplate some of the most valuable objects in the world, such as the Diamond of the Cutler or the dagger of Topkapi

Why I like this option... It is ideal if you want to avoid the queues of one of the most visited monuments of the Turkish city.

You can buy them at the ticket office just outside the main entrance to the Topkapi Palace. However, in high season days, you have to keep in mind that you may have to wait in line for up to 2 hours, a detail that will affect your tourist planning, especially if you plan to travel to Istanbul for a day or two.

Once you get your tickets at the box office you can start exploring the Topkapi Palace and discover all its parts, except for the Harem which includes a separate entrance. If your intention is to buy tickets at the box office, I recommend you to do it all at once (Palace + Harem) to waste less time.

Of course, I always recommend a guided tour so you can know in detail this emblematic place.

The price of the visit to the palace is 7 €; however, to access the Harem is necessary to have a separate entrance and whose cost is 4 €. Visiting hours may vary on special days, usually shortening in duration.

There are also two combined tickets that are purchased very often: The pass that combines the Topkapi Palace + Hagia Irene, and costs 200 TL (12.41 euros), and then the ride that combines the Topkapi Palace + Hagia Irene + Harem, and whose cost is 285 TL (17.68 euros).

As a bonus, guided tours usually cost between 30-40 €.

Istanbul has three tourist discount passes. The Istanbul Tourist Pass, the Istanbul Welcome Card and Istanbul E-Pass. The good news is that both the Topkapi Palace and the Harem are included in both passes.

I recommend you visit the websites of both passes so you can shuffle the costs, as they vary depending on the number of days.

With the exception of Tuesday, the palace is open to the public daily from 09:00 to 18:00.

While it is true that the palace is huge and there is room for everyone, some specific areas, which house the highlights of the museum, may be too busy. Therefore, if you are looking for more freedom and comfort, I advise you to avoid the hours between 10:00 and 15:00.

Usually 1:30 to 2 hours is enough to see the highlights of the museum. This includes passing through the three main gates**(the Imperial Gate** (Bâb-ı Hümâyûn), the Greeting Gate (Bâbüsselâm) and the Gate of Happiness (Bâbüssaâde)), the four courtyards, the Harem and the Royal Gardens (also known as the Rose Garden or Gülbahçe).

This is the best option to enhance your experience in one of the most iconic places in the world and highly recommended for you if you are a first time visitor. With this option you will be able to connect with a very experienced Istanbul historian and learn a lot as a result.

Once you book your guided tour you will receive an email confirmation with the meeting details and there your name will be verified in the guide's official list.

If you are one of those who like to discover things on your own, but need some basic directions, you can opt for a VIP entrance to the Topkapi Palace. This option is offered by Istanbul Welcome Card and includes: skip-the-line entry with an authorized tour guide, 30-minute tour and access to the Topkapi Palace audio app for IOS and Android in 9 languages. Price is €28.

The Topkapi Palace is located in the Sultanahmet district, one of the best neighborhoods of Istanbul and is located in the Fatih district, very close to the famous Hagia Sophia. The most convenient way to reach Sultanahmet is via the Bagcilar-Kabatas streetcar (line T1).

The nearest streetcar stop is Sultanahmet. Remember that Sultanahmet Square and most of the connecting roads are closed for vehicular traffic, except for the streetcar and Istanbul tour buses.

If you start from Taksim Square you can take the funicular to Kabatas. And if you start from Tünel Square, you can do the same to Karakoy. And from any of these destinations you can take the T1 streetcar line to Sultanahmet.

If you are staying at the sultanahmet hotels, then you will only have to walk to the palace.

The Topkapi Palace houses the finest displays of seals, books of great historical importance, jewelry and handicraft items and inscriptions. In addition, you can appreciate the clothing of the time such as the costumes of the sultans and traditional clothing. The imperial kitchen is also an area to consider, as it houses the finest collection of porcelain items exported from China.

The Treasury of the palace includes an impressive collection of jewels such as emeralds, rubies and diamonds; some of these luxurious minerals are also embedded in swords, costumes or crowns.

The Baghdad Pavilion, which has a very characteristic decoration thanks to the beautiful blue tiles, houses a shrine with some relics of the Prophet Mohammed, paintings and sacred manuscripts. And, of course, the famous Harem, the private part of the palace where the wives of the sultans lived and developed their lives.

Collections of the Topkapi Palace

Among the items in the immense collection are:

• Weapons: Some whose purpose is ornamental and have been a way to represent status and power and also of war that have been owned by some of the most important sultans of the Ottoman Empire as Mehmed II, Bayezid II,Selim II,Suleiman the Magnificent, Mehmed II ....
• Chinese and Japanese porcelain: Both are exhibited in the kitchens of the palace and some have a tremendous historical value.
• Copper and gold utensils: Although it is true that the gold utensils are in the minority, they are very well cared for and decorated, while the copper utensils or works are an important part of the kitchen.
• European porcelain and glass pieces: It is estimated that there are almost 5,000 pieces from various European countries.
• Imperial Treasure: Includes ornamental weapons, crowns, jewelry and gifts for sultans.
• Istanbul glassware: About 2,000 pieces made in Istanbul.
• Sacred items: Sacred relics, Mantle of the Prophet Mohammed, beard hairs of the Prophet Mohammed, tray used by Abraham, the staff of Moses, the sword of David, the swords of the companions of the Prophet Mohammed, the tunic of Joseph... For more information on these sacred items of the palace visit the following website.
• Artistic Part: Portraits of sultans, among them the valuable portraits of the 36 sultans who ruled the Ottoman state.
• Textile Art: Collection of sultans' clothes and some samples of Ottoman textile art.

• Buy your tickets in advance to avoid long lines, especially in high season and rush hours**.Book your tickets for 9:30 am or 3:30** pm, when it is less crowded. Also avoid weekends if possible.
• I recommend you to opt for guided tours because the Topkapi Palace has a long history and is very large so it is convenient to know where to go and what to see to make the visit an unforgettable memory and not to extend the experience so much. With 90 minutes will be enough to appreciate the most significant of the museum.
• The harem section of the Topkapi Palace and the St. Irene Museum (formerly a church) are visited independently.
• The palace is divided into four courts, in the first you will find a beautiful garden with huge trees, a souvenir store of the museum, a cafeteria with a historical air and an area to buy tickets.
• I recommend you dedicate the same day to visit the Hagia Sophia Mosque and the Basilica Cistern, as they are within walking distance of the palace.
• Avoid unofficial guides (official guides have an official badge).
• Try one of the four quality restaurants located inside the palace and overlooking the Bosphorus.
• Check the weather forecast and plan your day for a sunny and pleasant day.

Topkapi Palace was the residence of the Ottoman sultans and the educational and administrative center of the Empire. It was built at the tip of the historical peninsula, between the years of 1460-1478 under the order of Fatih Sultan Mehmed, after the conquest of Istanbul in 1453.

Topkapi Palace continued to be the residence of the Ottoman Sultans until 1850. When it became an unsuitable space for some cultural activities such as ceremonies and other protocols, the sultans moved to the Dolmabahce Palace in Besiktas (see excursions to the Bosphorus Strait). Despite the move, collections such as the royal treasury or the Holy Relics of the Prophet Muhammad remained in Topkapi. In 1924, according to the orders of the heads of the Republic of Turkey, the Topkapi Palace was turned into a museum.