Luxury feature
Luxury in Istanbul: palaces, tasting menus and the water
Istanbul’s luxury is wrapped up in the Bosphorus: palaces and mansions on the shore, dinners with two continents in view, and a boat to take you between them.
Read the full storyClose the story
Palace hotels
Çırağan Palace, built for Sultan Abdülaziz, has an outdoor infinity pool at the water’s edge; the Four Seasons at the Bosphorus occupies a restored Ottoman palace next door, and Six Senses fills two restored mansions in Sarıyer on the upper Bosphorus. The Mandarin Oriental at Kuruçeşme feels like a city resort, with waterfront pools, a spa and a Turkish hammam, and The Peninsula has turned historic buildings on the Karaköy waterfront into a hotel with a spa and indoor pool.
Dining
TURK Fatih Tutak is the city’s only two-star restaurant in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Türkiye: a tasting menu of about three hours, with no à la carte. Nicole, Neolokal, Mikla, Araka and Sankai by Nagaya each hold one star, several with Bosphorus or rooftop views.
Dress code and booking
Smart casual is right almost everywhere, from the palace restaurants to the rooftops; TURK publishes no dress code on its website, but most diners dress up a little. For mosques, cover shoulders and knees, and women bring a scarf for the hair. Book tasting menus several weeks ahead, longer for summer weekends, through each restaurant’s own booking page; TURK seats up to five at a table and does not offer vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free menus. Book spa treatments and hammams a day or two ahead, and let your hotel’s concierge help with tables and boats.
Plan it
Our 48-hour luxury itinerary puts the best of it into two days, and our Nişantaşı vs İstinye Park guide helps you choose where to shop.
Our advice: stay on the Bosphorus, book one tasting menu well ahead, spend an afternoon in a restored hammam, and keep an evening free for a terrace by the water.
