Visit Istanbul Guide
How This Guide Is Researched
This Istanbul guide methodology is short enough to state in full: every price, opening hour and closed day on this site comes from the organisation that charges it, and carries the date we read it. Where an official source publishes nothing, we print nothing and say so. The pages themselves start at the Istanbul city guide homepage.
Quick answer The three rules behind every page
One: official source or the words 'not stated'. Two: every figure carries the date it was read. Three: where our own judgement fills a gap — how long a visit takes, when the crowds come — the page says it is ours.
Key takeaways
- Ticket prices come from DÖSİM, muze.gov.tr and millisaraylar.gov.tr
- Transport fares come from Metro İstanbul's own fare table
- Climate figures are the State Meteorological Service normals for 1950–2025
- Hotel rate bands come from Google Hotels for a stated date, and are labelled as one reading
Where each kind of figure comes from
The source behind every class of number on this site, and what we do when that source is silent.
| Figure | Source | If it is silent |
|---|---|---|
| Museum and monument fares | DÖSİM tariff sheets and muze.gov.tr | We print 'not stated' |
| Palace fares | millisaraylar.gov.tr, per location | We print 'not stated' |
| Basilica Cistern | No published tariff since the June 2026 handover | No price is printed anywhere on this site |
| Transport fares | Metro İstanbul's fare table | We note the display date, since the page carries none |
| Prayer times | Diyanet's daily list for Istanbul | We tell you to check the day's list |
| Climate | State Meteorological Service normals, 1950–2025 | — |
| Hotel rates | Google Hotels for a stated night | Labelled as one reading, not a fixed price |
| Time needed, crowd notes | Our own routing | Labelled as ours, never as official |
Where two official sources disagree, we take the more specific page and say which one we used.
What this guide will not do
It will not print a price it cannot source. The Basilica Cistern is the working example: figures for it circulate widely, and every one we could trace belongs either to the old municipal tariff or to a different monument. So this site prints none, and explains why on the cistern page.
It will not pass off an estimate as a fact. Meal costs on what it costs are labelled as our own observation. 'Time needed' figures are ours unless a venue publishes one, and the pages say so.
It will not quote crime statistics the city does not publish, or dress rules the religious authority has not written down. On safety and scams we describe the situations visitors report; on mosque etiquette we say plainly that the code is convention rather than a published regulation.
How this site makes money
Some links to tours and tickets are affiliate links: if you book through one, the operator pays us a commission and you pay the same price. Official ticket-office links are never affiliate links, and the official fare is printed beside the reseller price on every page where both exist, so you can see the margin before you click.
We are not a tour operator, a ticket seller or the official site of any museum or monument. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and no venue has paid to appear.
How often it is re-checked
Every page carries its own review date, and they differ because pages are checked on different days. The whole ticket layer is re-read quarterly, and sooner when something moves — the Basilica Cistern handover in June 2026 is exactly the kind of event that invalidates a page overnight.
Currency is handled differently: lira figures are the official ones and do not change on our side, while the dollar and euro conversions on what it costs refresh to the day's European Central Bank rate as the page loads. If you spot a figure that has moved, the fastest fix is to tell us — contact.
Method questions
Where do your prices come from?
From the body that charges them: DÖSİM and muze.gov.tr for Ministry museums, millisaraylar.gov.tr for the palaces, Metro İstanbul for fares. Each figure carries the date it was read.
Why is there no price for the Basilica Cistern?
Because its operator changed in June 2026 and no official tariff has been published since. Printing a figure we cannot source would be a guess dressed as a fact.
Are you affiliated with any museum or operator?
No. This is an independent guide. Some tour and ticket links are affiliate links that pay us a commission at no extra cost to you; official ticket-office links never are.
How often are the pages updated?
The ticket layer is re-read quarterly and sooner when something changes. Each page shows its own last-checked date.
Page last reviewed 2026-09-03. Prices, hours and terms are set by the venue or operator and confirmed at checkout.
We may earn a commission if you book through one of our links, at no extra cost to you. Full affiliate disclosure