etickets for Topkapi Palace

e- tickets are now available for a great number of very popular sites here in Turkey,including Hagia Sofia,Topkaı Palace and Ephesus.You can then down load and bring the printed off ticket with you.Please note however that for Topkapı Palace you MUST purchase the Harem section e-ticket separately and for Ephesus a seperate e-ticket for the Terrace Houses section.If you don't...you have to go back to the entrance gate!
This is a government run web site and payment is made via a secure system so your C/C details are safe.
https://www.muze.gov.tr/en

On this same web site you can also find details for the museum pass card.Previously there were 2 cards;one for 3 days and one for 5 days.Now there is just the one card for 5 days but the price is the same as the 3 days card...just 85 Turkish Lira!Aside from being able to skip queues it also offers a variety of discounts are various participating venues too.For those visiting for several days this is great value.

Two years ago, in early September, we were at Topkapi a few minutes before it opened. There were only a handful of people in line. We bought our tickets and walked right in. So try to schedule your visit for first thing in the morning.

Another thing that may have helped is that we timed our sightseeing days around the cruise ship schedules, which you can see here. We visited Topkapi, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia on a day when there were NO large cruise ships in port. Hopefully you will find at least one day like this during your visit. On the day with the most cruise ship passengers in town, we took our Bosphorus Cruise, which was lovely.