İstiklal Avenue & Taksim Square

İstiklal Caddesi & Taksim Meydanı

Istanbul's main drag, with a red tram nosing through the crowds

Hours

The street is always open; shops mostly 10:00–22:00

Tickets

Free; the nostalgic tram charges a normal İstanbulkart fare

Address

A 1.4 km pedestrian street from Taksim Square to Tünel; Galata Tower is 5 minutes' walk from the south end

A pedestrian street running south from Taksim Square, Istanbul's busiest shopping strip. Nineteenth-century European-style buildings house chain stores, lokum shops and dondurma sellers, and down the middle the red nostalgic tram rolls through ringing its bell. Step into a side passage and you find older places like St Anthony of Padua church and the Flower Passage (Çiçek Pasajı). At the north end, Taksim Square has the Republic Monument facing the Taksim Mosque, opened in 2021.