Where to Eat and Sleep in Istanbul, Turkey
Restaurants & Food Shops
Günes Dondurma
A tiny shop with waffles and goat's-milk ice cream (try the sour cherry).
Kandilli Borsa
Located in a grand Ottoman mansion, this is the best traditional Turkish food in town.
Karaköy Özsüt
Near the Galata bridge, this atmospheric breakfast dive specializes in buffalo-milk yogurt and cheeses.
Kiyi
A classic seafood place near the Black Sea with wonderfully fresh fish; window tables on the second floor have the best views.
Meshur Bebek Badem Ezmecisi
Istanbul's tastiest pistachio and almond marzipans are soft and ultranutty.
Mikla
Mehmet Gürs offers terrific Scandinavian-Turkish dishes at his avant-garde restaurant. The views are stunning, too.
NumNum
The vast menu at Gürs's fast-food chain includes exemplary sandwiches.
Hotels
Four Seasons Bosphorus
Once a 19th-century palace, this extravagantly comfortable hotel has 170 plush rooms and a vast marble terrace overlooking the water.
W Istanbul
With edgy East-meets-West interiors by architect Mahmut Anlar (who also designed Mikla), this hotel has 134 gadget-packed rooms.
