Topkapı Palace

Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi

Four centuries of sultans; half a day with the Harem

⚠ Closed Tuesdays

Hours

Ticket office 09:00–17:00 (National Palaces official). Closed Tuesdays, 1 January and the first day of Ramadan Bayram

Tickets

Foreign visitors' combined ticket (palace + Hagia Irene + Harem) 2,750 TL; Harem alone 1,050 TL; Hagia Irene alone 1,050 TL. Valid on the day of purchase. Official site millisaraylar.gov.tr or on site

Address

Enter by the Imperial Gate behind Hagia Sophia; the ticket office is past the First Courtyard

Ottoman sultans lived and ruled here from the 15th to the mid-19th century. It is not one big building but four courtyards in sequence, with the council hall, treasury, sacred relics room and kitchens to step into one by one, so it is bigger than it looks. The highlight is the Harem, where the sultan's women lived: narrow tiled corridors and rooms in a maze. The terrace at the far end looks over the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara at once, which keeps tired legs going to the end.