Travel | Why You Can Visit Istanbul in One Day And Why You Shouldn’t

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Istanbul From Galata Tower

I you were to ask me, whether it is possible to visit Istanbul in one day, my answer is, yes you can but I don’t recommended it. Anyway if you really stuck on time and just on transit in Istanbul, no worry, you still can visit most of Istanbul great landmark in one day.

If you were on transit, traveling time from the airport with Metro/Tram will take you to Sultanahmet within forty five minutes. Most of Istanbul attractions are located within Sultanahmet area. As you can see from the photograph above, Blue Mosque, Ayasofya, Topkapi Museum and Grand Bazaar are within a walking distance. In fact if you have the energy you can walk up to the Galata Tower where the picture is taken in just less than thirty minutes but if you are running out of time, just take the Tram to Karakoy at the end of Galata Bridge and climb uphill a bit to get into Galata Tower.

So, the question is, where do we start, actually it depends, it depends on your priority. If you wanted to do some shopping, then head to Grand Bazaar first because you can easily spent hours there bargaining and taking photograph.

On the other hand if you like to get to know a little bit of Turkey history, then head over to Topkapi Museum, there are plenty of historical artefact  that will enhance your knowledge regarding Turkey history. Then head over to Ayasofya, the crowning monument to the Byzantine Empire, which has endured for more than 1,000 years, serving Byzantine emperors and Ottoman sultans. You can easily spent few hours here.

You need to pay an entrance fee for Topkapi Museum and Hagia Sophia and on the other hand you don’t need to pay anything to visit Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar. If you wanted to get a beautiful picture of Blue Mosque or Hagia Sophia (from Outside), then the best time is at dusk where you can have a water fountain which change colours as your foreground. The lighting that illuminate the Blue Mosque and Ayasofya will also make it look much more beautiful at dusk compared to plain looking building during daylight.

But, if you are photographers or someone who like photography, I wouldn’t recommend you to spend one day in Istanbul. A week is better even though it will never be enough, I’d been to Istanbul for the third times and I know it, and I simply can’t get enough of it.

There are many hidden place in Istanbul that will attract photographer, no what genre they are in. If you like street photography, then you should never missed Taksim, Balat, Tarlabasi, Fatih, Eyup, just to name a few, in fact all over Istanbul is very rich with photographic opportunities.

You can also spend days photographing Blue Mosque or Ayasofya and spent hours inside Grand Bazaar photographing them. In front of Spice Bazaar is a Galata Bridge and this is another place that offers great photographic opportunities, watching the sunset at this bridge is something to remember. Watching sunset from Galata Tower where the photograph above were taken also something to be remember.

Now you know why one day is never enough. You can’t take photograph of sunset from Blue Mosque, Galata Tower or Galata Bridge in one single day. You need to do it in a different day. There is no way you can running around from one place to another chasing the golden light. It won’t be enjoyable even if you can.

So if you just have one day in Istanbul for whatever reason, take it as an “Introduction to Istanbul” and I believe you will come back for more. In Malaysia we have this movie title “Istanbul, Aku Datang”! or loosely  translated as”Istanbul, Here I Come”!

Istanbul, I’ll be back…