Did the blue mosque reopen

It was supposed to reopen on March 1, but I haven't heard any real confirmation of that. I have found ultra-recent TripAdvisor reviews to be a pretty good way to figure out what the actual situation is. Give it a few days, and check TA to see if there's any indication.

I have been looking at Istanbul Clues, an excellent blog run by a local tour guide in Istanbul, which I have found to be a very reliable source of information. (We booked him as our tour guide in 2021, based largely on the quality of his blog.) When I looked last week, Serhat was was saying that the Blue Mosque was supposed to open on March 1. He is now saying April 21. Sigh.

The full article is here:

https://istanbulclues.com/istanbul-blue-mosque-sultanahmet/

Any updates from someone that has visited the Blue Mosque in the past week?

It was not reopened last week. We were told it was expected to reopen around April 19. There are terrific recommendations elsewhere in this forum for other mosques to see the inside (Rustem Pasha mosque has beautiful blue tiles) and the outside is still visible during the construction and quite lovely.

Also just returned yesterday from Istanbul. Can confirm still closed.

So we plan to go there on April 27, 2023. When is the new reopening date ?

I read that the Blue Mosque reopened on Friday 4/21, the first day of Eid Al-Fitr! The scaffolding on the minarets has been completely removed (though scaffolding and tarps are still up on the southern facade).

I asked my guide in Ephesus today if it had reopened and he said yes. We are scheduled to see tomorrow. I will post whether or not it is open

The Blue Mosque is open. We went there today. Beautiful

So it reopened 4 days after I left 🤦‍♂️

So now that the Blue Mosque is open, does the "Best of Turkey in 13 days" tour take you inside?

I was inside the Blue Mosque last week. It is fully open. It is gorgeous! A friend did the 13 day tour of Turkey starting May 15 and said the group did not go inside the Blue Mosque. They did stop outside and talked about it. The group went inside the Suleymaniye Mosque instead, also gorgeous.