Things to do in Istanbul

Turkey's landmark contemporary-art museum, reopened 2023 in a Renzo Piano waterfront building. Strong permanent collection of 20th-century Turkish painting plus ambitious rotating shows.

19th-century curved staircase connecting Voyvoda Caddesi to Galata, commissioned by the Camondo banking family. Quiet and almost empty before 10 a.m.; Instagram-busy after.

Restored Ottoman-era hammam quietly reopened 2021, segregated sessions, very clean, and noticeably less touristed than the more famous Cağaloğlu hammam across the bridge.

Non-profit contemporary-art institution in a renovated bank on İstiklal. Free entry, excellent research library on the upper floors, and a café on the rooftop most guidebooks miss.

Small private museum in a 19th-century hotel building with a strong Orientalist-painting collection (Osman Hamdi's 'The Tortoise Trainer') and genuinely good temporary shows.

Vast weekly produce market in a covered hangar off Kuşdili Caddesi — Istanbul's best street-food lunch, especially the lahmacun stalls near the eastern entrance. Finishes by 4 p.m.

The Süreyya Operası on Bahariye Caddesi — restored 1927 theatre, now the Asian-side home of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet. Tickets are a fraction of European opera prices.

The baklava house the city argues about. Order the fıstıklı (pistachio) tray and the less-photogenic cevizli (walnut) — both have been made to the same recipe since 1949.

Chef Maksut Aşkar's Anatolian tasting menu on the second floor of the Saltwater Museum — ingredient-driven, region-deep, and one of the very few fine-dining rooms in Turkey that feels sure of itself.

1876 covered arcade off İstiklal, all marble floors and wrought-iron, full of meyhanes serving rakı, mezze, and grilled sea bass to tables spilling into the passage.

Mehmet Gürs's rooftop tasting menu at the top of the Marmara Pera — the view of Sultanahmet from the 17th-floor bar is the single best cocktail-hour view in the city.

Musa Dağdeviren's Anatolian-regional canteen — every week a different village's recipes, the menu photocopied, the stew pots visible from the counter. The most important restaurant in Turkey for understanding how Turks actually eat at home.

Narrow lane off the Fish Market, lined wall-to-wall with meyhanes. Loud, chaotic, occasionally a tourist trap — pick Refik or Imroz for the genuine version.

The coffee roaster that dragged Istanbul into third-wave seriousness. Tiny outpost, single-origin filter, impeccable flat white, and the counter staff who know why you should drink the Ethiopia natural.

Two-kilometre waterfront walkway around the Moda peninsula, dense with picnicking families at sunset. Best sunset viewpoint in the city, free.

Three-storey independent bookshop and café at the top of Bahariye Caddesi, heavy on Turkish literature and small-press art books, with a top-floor reading room that's one of the quietest spots in Kadıköy.