Set Üstü terrace
Turkish tea on a raised terrace above the meeting of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, reached by steps at the far end of the park.
Bjørn Erik Pedersen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Taylan Nice — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 30824: Adományozó/Donor: Krasznai Gyula. archive copy at the Wayback Machine — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ninara — CC BY 2.0
Not everything in Gülhane Park is trees. This was the outer garden of Topkapı Palace, opened to the public in 1912, and decades earlier, in 1839, the Gülhane Edict that launched the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms was read out here. Today you enter through a stone gate beside the tram stop and are met by shaded avenues of old plane trees running under the palace walls down to Sarayburnu, where the Bosphorus meets the Golden Horn. The park is free and open daily from dawn until around 10.30 pm, and it is the best place in Sultanahmet to catch your breath between Hagia Sophia, the palace and the museums. Walking is easy, the paths are paved and pushchair-friendly, and there is a small playground. The first thing to aim for is the Set Üstü tea garden at the far end: Turkish tea on a raised terrace above the strait at sensible prices, though reaching it means a flight of steps. In April the park turns into a carpet of flowers: the city plants hundreds of thousands of tulip bulbs in geometric patterns, the peak is usually the second and third weeks of the month, and they fade here a little earlier than at Emirgan. In August the dense shade is what makes a midday visit worthwhile, when the streets of Sultanahmet show no mercy. Weekends bring what feels like every family in Istanbul; pick a weekday morning for quiet. Also inside the walls: the Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam in the old palace stables (foreigners pay 10 EUR, open daily), the Goths' Column from the third or fourth century, and the entrance to the Archaeological Museums. Don't make a separate trip for the park; give it an hour within your Sultanahmet day, and it may turn out to be the nicest hour of it.
Turkish tea on a raised terrace above the meeting of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, reached by steps at the far end of the park.
Hundreds of thousands of tulip bulbs in geometric patterns, peaking in the second and third weeks of the month.
Models of astrolabes, clocks and astronomical instruments in the old palace stables, on a separate 10 EUR ticket.
Cankurtaran, Alemdar Cd., Fatih
Istanbul Archaeological MuseumsA complex of three museums below Gülhane Park beside Topkapı Palace, holding one2 min walk4.5
Museum of the History of Science and Technology in IslamIn stables that once housed the sultans' horses beneath the walls of Topkapı Pal2 min walk
Topkapı PalaceThe principal seat of the Ottoman sultans for some four hundred years, on the he4 min walk4.7
Hagia SophiaOne building that has carried three identities across fifteen centuries. The emp5 min walk4.7
Basilica CisternThe largest surviving underground cistern of Constantinople, below ground a few 6 min walk4.5If you are in Sultanahmet anyway, Gülhane is enough and saves you an hour of travel, but Emirgan is bigger, has more varieties and stays in bloom a little longer. If you have come to Istanbul specifically for tulips, go to Emirgan; if you are passing through between museums, Gülhane will do.
Yes, but as a rest stop rather than a sight. The shade, the terrace café and the playground work all year, and in summer it is the best midday refuge in the area. Do not cross Istanbul for it in November.
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