Grand Bazaar Istanbul

get your sites done but if you don't stop by the bazaar you'll regret it after you get back. there are 2 bazaars, the grand bazaars have some aggressive sales people, but the food/herbs bazaar is fine. Turkish sales people are very professional, they don't pressure you in a negative way, but they just keep asking what they can do to make you buy, so you just firmly say you don't want to buy, it's ok. but if you do want to buy, they're very flexible with the price. as far as you overcome your own fear of negotiation, you'll be ok. it's nothing like buying a used car.

Wow, that's a tough one. The Grand Bazaar is one of the sites (and experiences) of Istanbul. But, with only one day, I would say concentrate on the other sites. See the Blue Mosque, one of the palaces, and maybe a tour of the underground cisterns (I thought they were very interesting). You probably won't have much time for anything else and you do want to have a leisurely lunch and do some people watching too. You should post this thread on the "to the east" board, you'll get more responses.

One thing that might help you decide is to go on Youtube and do a search for 'Grand Bazaar Istanbul'. You'll find some videos that'll give you a very good idea of what the Bazaar is like.

The Grand Bizzare is one of the top sights - read about it in a few books to see if it's for you. We had a great time wandering and found some off the beaten path things. The area where they guys do the currency exchange was interesting as the whole thing just seems so casual. We really enjoyed the areas in which the locals were doing shopping - such as for gold coins and silver pieces. We didn't buy anything and kind of enjoyed the high pressure tactics to get us to look in the main touristy areas. If you are courteous and laugh with the salespeople, they seem to back off. They would approach us in English and we would use our very few words in Turkish and many of them stopped 'selling' and just talked with us....

Topkopi Palace, Blue Mosque, Cisterns first and then The Bazzar. Just my thoughts. TC

For just one day in Istanbul, IMO, the Bazaar is skippable. The three mosques, and the Basilica Cistern should be a higher sightseeing priority.

Stacy,
I agree with David. If you see the other main sights first and still have time you should go to the spice bazaar. I really enjoyed that more than the grand bazaar and he's right, the sales people are very nice. I found that was true everywhere we went in Turkey.

We visited all these places and more in Istanbul last September. Topkapi is a collection of buildings and park grounds. It is historic and several of the buildings have museum displays in them. We chose not to pay extra to see the harem. Haggia Sophia and the Blue Mosque were much more interestning to us, as was the Grand Bazaar. Haggia Sophia and the Blue Mosque sit across from each other on two sides of a large plaza. It would be easy to see them both in half a day. Across the street from the plaza is the street that goes to the Cisterns entrance. The exit is across the street from the aforesaid plaza. If you continue up the street past the Cisterns entrance you will be guided by street signs to the Grand Bazaar. We spent four hours there on two different days and loved it. We tend to interact with people and there was lots of opportunit to interact there. As you stand in the plaza and look towards the Blue Mosque there is a small bazaar down the street to the left. It is called Arasta Bazaar. My wife bought two pieces fo Uzbek hand woven and hand dyed silk there at Galeri Mehmet. You could visit the Blue Mosque and Haggia Sophia in the morning and the Grand Bazaar and Cisterns in the afternoon, You could visit the Arasta Bazaar if you didn't want to explore, and I mean EXPLORE, the Grand bazaar, but there is really nothing like it. Rick Steves' Istanbul guidebook would be helpful to you.

Hello. We were in Turkey with a Tauck cruise/land tour in September. I would definitely suggest you see the mosques, instead of the Grand Bazaar. Both the tour guide from the cruise ship and the Tauck tour guide told us to beware of buying ANYTHING in the Grand Bazaar. We spent only about 30 minutes in there, as the smoke made both of us sick. Everybody smokes in the confines of that clostrophobic place. Both my husband and I were sick for almost two full weeks from all the smoke. I only bought some decorative purple glass thing for our back yard. A lot of the stuff in the bazaar are copies of designer purses, scarces, etc. Most of it is a bunch of junk. You definitely don't want to buy jewelry there. A lot of it is also fake. We were also warned about buying rugs there. They might never arrive in the US. after you purchase them. Save your money and buy them in the U.S., where you can return them if you don't like them. The Spice Market isn't anything exciting either. You can buy the same spices here in the U.S.

There was nothing about Istanbul that I did not enjoy. With only one day all you really have time for is a 'taste of Istanbul', but if you can make it work I would try to see the Bazaar. I did not feel harassed at all, and my grandson (age 11) loved bargaining for his chess set. It was all part of the experience. I enjoyed all of the sights, but did not need to see every artifact at the Blue Mosque or Haiga Sofia. We just wandered around Topkapi and did not spend tons of time at any of the 3. We also enjoyed the Cistern. The Spice Market (if I remember correctly) is way down at the other end. It was fun also but I would spend 30-45 minutes at the Grand Bazaar just to see it. You can also eat street food (doner) while you wander around insted of using time at a sit down restaurant. My favorite purchase from the Grand Bazaar are the bath towels that are Turkish cotton and are really thin....love them and haven't seen them many other places. They are also easy to carry home. I also bought one of the beautiful pepper grinders and my grandson loved the apple tea, so he bought a tea set. It's a great city.

I hope you will be able to return to Istanbul some time in the future as there is SO much to see. In 2010 we spent 2 days there before starting a RS Turkey Tour, 2 days there with the tour, and then returned for another 5 days after the tour was over. I did not know what to expect about visiting that country, but after spending nearly a month there, I met the friendliest people, the most beautiful sights, and would return in a minute.

Grand Bazaar was far from one of my family's favorite Istanbul experiences. After 15 minutes, it's just repetitive shops selling the same stuff. We found the shopping to be much better on side streets and chose not to spend our money in the Bazaar. We had pretty lousy weather on our 2nd day in Istanbul, so we opted to spend time in the Bazaar just to be more inside. But if the weather is nice, I'd say you are better off being elsewhere.

Def see all the other sights for sure. If you have time after stop by G Bazaar it is a cultural experience it is not for the shopping!

I agree with all those who advise putting the bazaar on the bottom of the list of things to see. Frankly, I would rather walk random streets watching the people in their daily lives than go into that claustrophobic space again.

Thank-you so much everyone!! Your thoughts and experiences are much appreciated. We will see the sites first then if we have time we may wander into the Bazaar...seems the best way to go!