Istanbul short break from Dubai - Europe or Asia or both
An Istanbul short break from Dubai is one of the coolest trips you can make.
Less than 5 hours away, culturally rich, fabulous food and brilliant people.
BUT you need to plan very carefully and know the geography of the city like a local to ensure you don’t come back exhausted and overwhelmed!
This is how we did it. Everything you need to know before you go.
Most people know Istanbul straddles Europe and Asia, divided by the Bosphorus. What they don’t always realise is that the European side itself is split into two very distinct halves.
An older city (Sultanahmet, Süleymaniye, Balat, Fener) and a newer city (Beyoglu, Galataport, Pera, Nisantasi, Taksim) separated by an inlet called the Golden Horn.
Traffic builds quickly, distances are deceptive, and if you haven’t structured your day around staying in one area, you will spend a shocking amount of time in a car going nowhere.
The Asian side – Kuzguncuk, Kadikoy and the beautiful Bosphorus villages – is its own world entirely, reached by ferry or bridge. Worth every minute, but it needs a minimum half day at least.
The single most useful piece of advice I can give you: plan each day around one or maximum two areas. Don’t try to do Sultanahmet in the morning, Nisantasi for lunch, and Balat in the evening. It won’t work!
The areas worth
your time
in Istanbul
Nisantasi
Nisantasi felt like Istanbul’s answer to Marylebone High Street or the quieter side of Chelsea.
Think beautiful, walkable streets with independent shops, cafés and restaurants tucked into the side streets, unhurried and genuinely lovely to explore.
Dip in and out of cafés and independent shops as you fancy, and look out for Flower Shoes, Ipekyol and Beauty Omelette.
A newish boutique and beauty store, Beauty Omlette is small but perfectly formed with a Scandinavian palette. Think Acne Studio but with its own distinct identity – more reasonable too!
We also loved a store called Beyoglu, well worth a browse.
Süleymaniye Mosque, Balat & Pierre Loti
These three together make one of the best half-days in Istanbul and one that most visitors miss entirely.
Süleymaniye Mosque is simply extraordinary: calmer and more architecturally interesting than the Blue Mosque, free to enter, with a terrace looking out across the Golden Horn.
From there, colourful Balat is a natural continuation with painted houses and steep cobbled streets.
Don’t miss the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate church. It’s the spiritual home of Orthodox Christianity worldwide, we loved it.
Continue to Pierre Loti Hill (cable car – but it was too crowded) we took the driver – for panoramic Golden Horn views and beautiful cold drinks.
Pera & Beyoglu
Istanbul’s grand old cultural district. The Pera Museum is gorgeous and not too big or crowded.
Stay a while and do some art in the free workshop room and have a coffee down in the cafe.
The Pera Palace Hotel a few minutes walk away is one of the great railway-age hotels of the world;
Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express here.
If you have any interest in history, visit Room 101 – It’s Atatürk’s personal room, preserved as a museum exactly as he left it. BUT it fills up quickly so book ahead.
If you’re a Soho House member, there’s a branch a few minutes walk away from here too.
Non-members can stop in for a drink at the bar or the garden.
We also loved our dinner in this area, see our Istanbul foodie guide for where we ate.
Karakoy & Galataport
Istanbul’s equivalent of London’s Soho – creative, independent, Karakoy is cool.
NOTE Galataport is NOT the area around Galata Tower. I would suggest sticking to the Galataport area. Galataport is a beautifully redeveloped waterfront and a car-free promenade, Turkish designer boutiques, and the stunning Istanbul Modern museum.
We browsed, walked around and had a leisurely luxury feeling lunch here. We even saw dolphins!
See our Istanbul Foodie guide for where we recommend.
The Asian Side
Most visitors never cross to Asia.This is a mistake.
We went twice, once just for a beautiful dinner via an easy restaurant shuttle boat crossing north of Bebek.
The the other time we went via car for longer to get a feel of the place.
Kuzguncuk is a small Ottoman village of wooden houses and cobbled streets where artists and old families still live side by side.
We had a wander down one main street that ends at the seafront then walked back for coffee and cake. It didn’t take long, but then continued to the cool Kadikoy.
Kadikoy is livelier – a proper market neighbourhood with spices, fish, olives, coffee, and a very Eastern vibes feeling place, well worth immersing yourself here and having a late lunch.
We also saw groups of people doing food tours in this area too.
Get a Dedicated Driver. Non-Negotiable for stress free holiday
At the airport in the taxi queue back home in Dubai, we met people who had driven themselves around Istanbul all week. Not for us!
A dedicated driver with a good car will transform your experience. Knowing that our driver could re-route on the spot, suggest alternatives, drop us at one end of a walk and meet us at the other and always find us was pure gold!
Treat it as a non-negotiable line in your budget if you want a stress free experience.
Where to Stay
Raffles Istanbul, Zorlu Center - our choice
Why? The spa is world-class. We started with a swim and spa session every morning, included in your room rate and open from 7.00am! They even have a reformer too!
The concierge team is outstanding – proactive, genuinely knowledgeable, going above and beyond the call of duty.
Genuine people taking on your questions as their personal problems not referring you to the place they receive a commission!
But what really set Raffles Istanbul apart was the staff quality across the board, at every level and in every interaction.
This is a property that clearly invests in its people. I’d hold it up as a benchmark for how luxury hospitality should feel.
They also give genuine compliments too – see below!
It’s one of the best I’ve ever seen!
Alternative: Karakoy
If location matters more than the sanctuary feeling, Karakoy is where I’d look, as you can’t walk anywhere easily from Raffles although it does have the metro connected to it.
Karakoy is central to old and new city, walkable in multiple directions, with excellent boutique hotels.
Lot’s of cool bars and restaurants, but peaceful and calm is NOT a word I would use for this area to stay in!
I also would not be comfortable walking around late at night here either.
A Word on Eid
If you’re travelling over Eid – which we did, we found that even confirmed restaurant reservations can be cancelled with one day’s notice. Not walk-ins – confirmed bookings made through the restaurant’s own system. This happened to us more than once.
The solution: go in with more restaurant options than you need, identify backups for each evening before you travel, and be genuinely prepared to book on the spot.
The Honest Summary
Get a car and a dedicated driver. Have a solid itinerary. Plan each day around one or two areas maximum.
Have backup restaurant options ready. Build in more flexibility than you think you need.
And then let go, because when Istanbul works, it is absolutely spectacular.
Monica Kapila
I create luxury travel content and real-world itineraries for destinations and hotels that want to reach an audience who knows the difference.
Click to connect with me.
