I spent around 6 days in Istanbul on a family trip, and I’m coming back frustrated. Staying in Sultanahmet was a huge mistake in retrospect. I should have stayed in Anatolian side.
The good:
I did enjoy the historical and religious sites like the Blue Mosque and Basilica Cistern. The Grand Bazaar was decent too—specifically for the food, which wasn’t as overpriced as the rest of Sultanahmet. And yeah, I get that tourist areas up-charge. That’s fine. But the restaurant prices were fucking ridiculous—I was paying American prices for mediocre to crappy food.
The sketchy stuff:
The hotel concierge was unreliable. Whenever my parents asked for restaurant recommendations (doesn’t help that all the reviews are fake), he’d cite the most expensive places. It made me livid. I constantly had to steer them away from his exploitative advice.
Transportation was also a nightmare. I avoided cabs and Ubers after being warned multiple times not to take them. Google and Apple Maps don’t support public transit there (though the ferry was straightforward—when the machines actually worked). Would’ve been nice to have access to a trustworthy cab service instead of worrying about expensive private transportation.
The obvious annoyance are the shop-workers who always try to get you to their shops under false-pretenses. I understand, everyone has to earn. But I was just personally overstimulated as it was hot, crowded, and I was keeping an eye on my parents at the same time (they’re new to travel).
The real issue:
All this constant exploitation and dishonesty made it genuinely difficult to trust people throughout my trip. I met some cool people, but this paranoia definitely affected how I interacted with them. If I’d stayed on the Anatolian side instead, where people seemed less interested in taking advantage of tourists, it probably would’ve been different.
Bottom line: Negative experience overall. Not interested in returning to Istanbul anytime
Edit: Am I not allowed to have a bad experience?? Too many people are discounting my experience as if it is unique; other people have experienced similar negative experiences to myself. I didn’t say the whole city itself was a bad experience, I only said Sultanahmet. Some of you are cherry-picking specific points I said versus the whole perspective.