How can we reserve a Sunday May 14 th, 2023 9 am guided tour for two? All of the websites offer later hours or for 4 people. Phone number for Palace in RS guidebook gets me nowhere
Posted by
near San Francisco
4601 posts
When we visited Dolmabahçe Palace, arriving at 9:30 on a Sunday morning in May, 2022, it was not possible to make a reservation online. I had called Dolmabahçe Palace (yes, long distance, the lady spoke cautious English) prior to our visit and confirmed it was not possible through them, directly, to buy tickets online. I did make a (not prepaid) "reservation" but that had zero value on arrival. Our hotel also confirmed that there was no need to make a reservation. Once I got to the Palace, I made no use of that phone "reservation."
On arrival at the Palace grounds, we waited in the security line, which everyone has to wait in, ticket or not. The line was already long, but moved quickly. A lot of the visitors to the Palace were there with tours, so they did not have to wait in line to buy tickets. Therefore, the line at the kiosks to buy tickets was a few families. It took 5 minutes to buy our tickets. Perhaps if the ticket line had been longer we'd have been able to use a 3rd window that might have been for reservations.
After arriving at the palace at about 9:30, we had our tickets by 9:37.
I still don't see a way to buy the tickets online, but that can always change, so future visitors should continue to check.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thank you for your helpful response