Istanbul

Istanbul is shaped by the meeting of continents, empires and faiths. Byzantine domes, Ottoman palaces, Bosphorus waters and layered neighbourhoods create a city whose identity is defined by continuity, contrast and extraordinary historical depth.

Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus, the strait joining the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The historic peninsula, between the Golden Horn and the Marmara, holds Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar; across the Golden Horn lie Galata, the old district of Pera and the Ottoman palaces of the Bosphorus shore. The Asian side, with Üsküdar, is a short ferry ride away.

Founded as Byzantium and refounded by Constantine as Constantinople in 330, the city was capital of the Byzantine Empire until 1453 and then of the Ottoman Empire until 1922. That double inheritance is everywhere: Byzantine cisterns beneath Ottoman mosques, wooden waterside mansions along the strait, and a food culture drawn from the whole former empire, from meze to the fish of the Bosphorus.

April to early June and September to November are Istanbul’s best seasons, mild and bright. April brings the Istanbul Tulip Festival, when millions of bulbs flower in Emirgan Park and across the city, as well as the Istanbul Film Festival; the Istanbul Music Festival follows in June. Autumn is ideal for walking and for long evenings on the water.

July and August are hot and humid, though sea breezes make the Bosphorus shore pleasant, and the city’s social life moves to the waterside. Winter is cool, wet and occasionally snowy, but uncrowded: museums and mosques are at their quietest. During Ramadan, whose dates move each year, evenings around the great mosques take on a festive character.

On the European shore of the Bosphorus, Çırağan Palace Kempinski Istanbul occupies a nineteenth-century Ottoman palace on the water; Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus incorporates another Ottoman-era palace nearby; Mandarin Oriental Bosphorus, Istanbul stands on the shore at Kuruçeşme; and Raffles Istanbul rises above the strait at Zorlu Center. In the old city, Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, a converted Ottoman-era prison, lies between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

LVXVRY books Çırağan Palace through Kempinski Club 1897, the two Four Seasons through Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Mandarin Oriental through Mandarin Oriental Fan Club and Raffles through Accor Preferred — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. Many travellers divide their stay between the Bosphorus and the historic peninsula, and LVXVRY arranges the boats and guiding that link the two.