The neighbourhoods: Balat, Karaköy and Kadıköy
6 h route4 stopsBest: Balat in the morning. Kadıköy at sunsetUpdated July 2026
Sultanahmet is unmissable and it’s a stage set: outside it, the city where people live begins. This route goes to three places that aren’t in the brochures and that are, by a distance, what repeat visitors love most: Balat, Karaköy and Kadıköy.
All three fit in one long day or split into two, and none needs a ticket. It’s the part of the trip you remember once the mosque facts have faded.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
Balat and Fener
Up the Golden Horn come Balat and Fener, once the Jewish and Greek quarters of Constantinople. It’s a maze of slopes lined with coloured houses jammed together, synagogues, Orthodox churches and mosques on the same streets.
For decades it was abandoned and now it’s becoming fashionable, with cafés and antique shops among the peeling houses.
Go in the morning and get lost: it’s the most photogenic neighbourhood in the city and it isn’t overrun yet.
- 02
Karaköy and Galata
Across the Galata Bridge, the old port district has become the city’s trendiest zone: warehouses turned into galleries, specialty coffee shops, design stores and the best rooftops.
Above it stands the 14th-century Galata Tower, with the finest panorama of the old city across the water.
The climb is steep but short, and on the way you cross the ironmongers’ quarter, unchanged in a century.
- 03
İstiklal and Taksim
İstiklal Avenue climbs three kilometres from Galata to Taksim Square, pedestrian, with a historic red tram nudging through the crowd. It’s the busiest street in Turkey and it’s never empty, not even at four in the morning.
The interesting part isn’t the avenue but what comes off it: covered 19th-century arcades, bookshops, meyhanes hidden in side alleys and the Balık Pazarı fish market.
Turn down the perpendicular streets.
- 04
Kadıköy and Moda
Twenty minutes of ferry drop you on another continent and in another city: Kadıköy has no monuments and no tour groups. It has Istanbul’s best market, whole streets of bars, and the people who live here. Next to it is Moda, a low-rise neighbourhood with a seafront promenade, cafés and grass to sit on and watch the sun set over the silhouette of Europe. It’s the best afternoon plan of the whole trip.
Frequently asked
Which Istanbul neighbourhood is most worth it outside Sultanahmet?
Kadıköy, on the Asian side, a 20-minute ferry away: it’s where the city lives and eats, with the best market and no tour groups. Balat, with its coloured houses, is the most photogenic.
What is Balat?
It’s the old Jewish quarter of Constantinople, on the Golden Horn next to Fener, the Greek one. Today it’s known for its slopes of coloured houses, its synagogues and Orthodox churches, and for being Istanbul’s most photogenic neighbourhood.
Is the Galata Tower worth climbing?
For the views, yes: it’s the best panorama of the old city, the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus from a single point. There’s usually a queue, so go early, or at sunset if you don’t mind waiting.