Beyond Emirgan the Bosphorus coast road sweeps round a wide and picturesque bay full of moored boats. If you’re an American living in İstanbul you may well have to come here at some point to sort out paperwork in the fortress-like US Consulate that replaced the elegant old one in Tepebaşı.
For everyone else this is somewhere to hop out of the bus and perhaps lunch at one of the long-lived fish restaurants such as Fish Var Balıkçı. Alternatively you can sit down to tea at the secluded İstinye Çay Bahçesi (tea garden) that you can find by looking out for the fine restored fountain in front of it. From here you will be able to look out in admiration on the stately 19th-century Deli (“Crazy”) Fuad Paşa Yalı, home to the Turkish delegation to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation (BSEC).
Alternatively it’s a place to come to shop in style at the upmarket İstinye Park Shopping Mall which boasts a Food Hall to rival Harrod’s.
Transport info
Buses heading up the Bosphorus to Sarıyer from Kabataş or Beşiktaş pass through İstinye.
Nearby areas
