Must see attractions in Beyoğlu

Top Choice

There's plenty to see at this impressive museum, but its major draw is undoubtedly the 2nd-floor exhibition of paintings featuring Turkish Orientalist…

Top Choice

The painstaking attention to detail in this fascinating museum/piece of conceptual art will certainly provide every amateur psychologist with a theory or…

Top Choice

This lavishly funded and innovative museum has an extensive collection of Turkish art and also stages a constantly changing and uniformly excellent…

Top Choice

Once called the Grand Rue de Pera but renamed İstiklal (Independence) in the early years of the Republic, Beyoğlu's premier boulevard is a perfect…

Housed in a building attached to the Neve Shalom synagogue near the Galata Tower, this museum was established in 2001 to commemorate the 500th anniversary…

The semahane (whirling-dervish hall) at the centre of this tekke (dervish lodge) was erected in 1491 and renovated in 1608 and 2009. It's part of a…

Located opposite the grandiose entrance to the 1868 Galatasaray Lycée, one of the city's most prestigious educational institutions, this much-loved…

With works displayed under glass on top of worn wooden desks or lecterns, and exhibition titles written on blackboards, the historical atmosphere of the…

Contemporary Turkish and international artists are featured in the shows at this gallery space, opened in late 2016 in one of the historic buildings in…

With a brief to explore critical and timely issues in visual and material culture, the İstiklal branch of the SALT cultural centre is one of the city's…

Occupying a former tobacco warehouse, this alternative space is operated by Anadolu Kültür (www.anadolukultur.org), a not-for-profit organisation that…

The cylindrical Galata Tower stands sentry over the approach to 'new' İstanbul. Constructed in 1348, it was the tallest structure in the city for…

Set in a distinctive yellow building just off Taksim Square, the French Cultural Centre in İstanbul hosts regular art exhibitions (with a particular focus…

The Pera Palace was a project of Georges Nagelmackers, the Belgian entrepreneur who linked Paris and Constantinople with his famous Orient Express train…

Towering over Galatasaray Sq, this sleek cultural centre affiliated with a major Turkish bank stages art exhibitions, hosts classical-music concerts, and…

Back when promenading down the Grand Rue de Pera (now İstiklal Caddesi) was the height of fashion, the Cité de Pera building was İstanbul's most glamorous…

Turkey's big banks and philanthropic trusts vie to be seen as the greatest sponsor of the arts. İstiklal is a showcase for their generosity, and with this…

The descriptor 'cultural centre' is used a lot in İstanbul, but is often a misnomer. Here at SALT Galata it really does apply. Housed in a magnificent…

The cornerstone of this Gothic-style Anglican church was laid in 1858 by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, known as 'The Great Elchi' (elçi meaning ambassador)…

This pretty mosque, designed by Sinan and built in 1577, is unusual in that it, and the minaret, are raised on a platform. It was commissioned by Sokollu…