Topkapi Palace: all you need to know to enjoy it

Situated on a triangular promontory overlooking the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, Topkapi Palace is one of the richest museums in the world and can be considered the best and most visited museum in Istanbul along with the neighbouring Hagia Sophia. I'll tell you everything you need to know about how you can buy your tickets, when is the best time to visit and how to avoid the queues.

Because remember, this is a palace worth seeing from all angles and perspectives and one of the greatest architectural works in the world. Precisely for this reason, I encourage you to book a guided tour so that you can get all the details of the different corners, rooms and items hidden inside. Read on!

The perfect choice

Istanbul Topkapi Palace Guided Tour

Discover the Topkapi Palace

Enjoy a one-hour guided tour of Istanbul's Topkapi Palace with a professional guide, giving you free access to all the palace's halls except the harem.

From £48 at Hellotickets

With this guided tour of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, you can get to know in detail one of the most visited monuments in the Turkish city, avoiding the queues.

With more than 700,000 square metres, the palace has four courtyards and several different buildings inside, such as the royal stables, the armoury and the treasury, rooms that you can access with this ticket, which only excludes access to the harem, and where you will be accompanied at all times by a professional guide who will explain everything you need to know about the interior. You will also see some of the most valuable objects in the world, such as the Cutler's Diamond and the Topkapi dagger

Why I like this option... It is ideal if you want to avoid the queues at one of the most visited monuments in the Turkish city.

You can buy them at the ticket office just outside the main entrance to the Topkapi Palace. However, on peak season days, be aware that you may have to wait in line for up to 2 hours, which will affect your sightseeing planning, especially if you plan to travel to Istanbul for a day or two.

Once you get your tickets from the ticket office you can start exploring the Topkapi Palace and discover all parts of the palace, with the exception of the Harem which includes a separate entrance. If you intend to buy the tickets at the ticket office, I recommend you do it all in one go (Palace+Harem) to save time.

However, I always recommend a guided tour so that you can get to know this emblematic place in detail.

The price of a visit to the palace is €7; however, a separate entrance ticket is required to enter the Harem, which costs €4. Visiting hours may vary on special days, usually shortening in duration.

There are also two combined tickets that are frequently purchased: the combined Topkapi Palace + Hagia Irene pass, which costs 200 TL (12.41 euros); and then the combined Topkapi Palace + Hagia Irene + Harem tour, which costs 285 TL (17.68 euros).

As an added bonus, guided tours usually cost between 30-40 euros.

Istanbul has three discount tourist passes. The Istanbul Tourist Pass, the Istanbul Welcome Card and the Istanbul E-Pass. The good news is that both the Topkapi Palace and the Harem are included in both passes.

I recommend you visit the websites of both passes to be able to work out the costs, as they vary according to the number of days.

With the exception of Tuesday, the palace is open to the public daily from 09:00 to 18:00.

While the palace is huge and there is room for everyone, some specific areas, which house the highlights of the museum, can be too busy. Therefore, if you are looking for more freedom and comfort, I advise you to avoid the hours between 10:00 and 15:00.

It usually takes between 1:30 and 2 hours to see the highlights of the museum. This includes passing through the three main gates**(the Imperial Gate** (Bâb-ı Hümâyûn), the Greeting Gate (Bâbüsselâm) and the Gate of Happiness (Bâbüssaâde)), the four courtyards, the Harem and the Royal Gardens (also known as the Rose Garden or Gülbahçe).

This is the best option to enhance your experience at one of the most iconic places in the world and highly recommended if you are a first-time visitor. With this option you will be able to connect with an experienced Istanbul historian and learn a lot from it.

Once you book your guided tour you will receive an email confirmation with the meeting details and there your name will be verified on the guide's official list.

If you like to discover things on your own, but need some basic directions, you can opt for a VIP entrance to the Topkapi Palace. This option is offered by Istanbul Welcome Card and includes: skip-the-line entry with an authorised tour guide, 30-minute tour and access to the Topkapi Palace audio app for IOS and Android in 9 languages. The price is €28.

The Topkapi Palace is located in Sultanahmet, one of Istanbul's best neighbourhoods and is situated in the Fatih district, very close to the famous Hagia Sophia. The most convenient way to get to Sultanahmet is via the Bagcilar-Kabatas tram (line T1).

The nearest tram stop is Sultanahmet. Please note that Sultanahmet Square and most of the connecting roads are closed to vehicular traffic, except for the tram and Istanbul tourist buses.

If you start from Taksim Square you can take the funicular to Kabatas. If you start from Tünel Square, you can do the same to Karakoy. From any of these destinations you can take the T1 tram to Sultanahmet.

If you are staying at the Sultanahmet hotels, then you will only have to walk to the palace.

The Topkapi Palace houses the finest displays of seals, historically important books, jewellery, handicrafts and inscriptions. In addition, you will be able to see the costumes of the sultans and traditional clothing of the time. The Imperial Kitchen is also an area to consider, as it houses the finest collection of porcelain items exported from China.

The Palace Treasury includes an impressive collection of jewellery such as emeralds, rubies and diamonds; some of these luxurious minerals are also embedded in swords, costumes or crowns.

The Baghdad Pavilion, which is characteristically decorated with beautiful blue tiles, houses a shrine with relics of the Prophet Mohammed, paintings and holy manuscripts. And, of course, the famous Harem, the private part of the palace where the wives of the sultans lived and lived their lives.

Topkapi Palace Collections

Among the items in the immense collection are:

• Weapons: Some of them are ornamental and have been a way of representing status and power and also weapons of war that have been owned by some of the most important sultans of the Ottoman Empire such as Mehmed II, Bayezid II, Selim II, Suleiman the Magnificent, Mehmed II,...
• Chinese and Japanese porcelain: Both are displayed in the palace kitchens and some are of tremendous historical value.
• Copper and gold utensils: Although gold utensils are in the minority, they are very well cared for and decorated, while copper utensils or works of art are an important part of the kitchen.
• European porcelain and glass pieces: There are an estimated 5,000 pieces from various European countries.
• Imperial Treasure: Includes ornamental weapons, crowns, jewellery and gifts for sultans.
• Istanbul glassware: Around 2,000 pieces made in Istanbul.
• Sacred items: Sacred relics, Mantle of the Prophet Muhammad, beard hairs of the Prophet Muhammad, tray used by Abraham, the staff of Moses, the sword of David, the swords of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, the tunic of Joseph... For more information on these sacred items from the palace visit the following website.
• Artistic Part: Portraits of sultans, including the valuable portraits of the 36 sultans who ruled the Ottoman state.
• Textile Art: Collection of sultans' clothes and some samples of Ottoman textile art.

• Buy your tickets in advance to avoid long queues, especially in high season and peak times**, and book your tickets for 9.30am or 3.30pm**, when the crowds are the least crowded. Also avoid weekends if possible.
• I recommend opting for guided tours because the Topkapi Palace has a long history and is very large, so it is convenient to know where to go and what to see to make the visit an unforgettable memory and not to extend the experience so much. A 90-minute visit will be enough time to see the most significant parts of the museum.
• The harem section of Topkapi Palace and the St Irene Museum (formerly the church) are visited independently.
• The palace is divided into four courts, in the first court you will find a beautiful garden with huge trees, a museum souvenir shop, a café with a historical feel and a ticket area.
• I recommend spending the same day visiting the Hagia Sophia Mosque and the Basilica Cistern, both of which are within walking distance of the palace.
• Avoid unofficial guides (official guides have an official badge).
• Try one of the four quality restaurants inside the palace overlooking the Bosphorus.
• Check the weather forecast and plan your day for a sunny and pleasant day.

Topkapi Palace was the residence of the Ottoman sultans and the educational and administrative centre of the Empire. It was built at the tip of the historical peninsula between 1460-1478 under the order of Fatih Sultan Mehmed after the conquest of Istanbul in 1453.

Topkapi Palace continued to be the residence of the Ottoman sultans until 1850. When it became unsuitable for some cultural activities such as ceremonies and other protocols, the sultans moved to the Dolmabahce Palace in Besiktas (see Bosphorus Strait tours). Despite the move, collections such as the royal treasury and the Holy Relics of the Prophet Muhammad remained in Topkapi. In 1924, the Topkapi Palace was converted into a museum on the orders of the heads of the Republic of Turkey.