hagia Sophia and Topkapi entries

Posted by mightykyonghee on 07/08/23 02:05 PM

My family plans to visit Istanbul in mid-September, and we consider Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace as our must-visit sites. I have a few questions:
1. Hagia Sophia offers free admission, but there are various skip-the-line small group guided tour options available. Is it necessary to choose one of these options? Will there be long lines to enter? Can visitors explore the upper part of Hagia Sophia without a guide?
2. For Topkapi Palace, how can we purchase online tickets in advance? The website lists the prices but does not provide a function or button to purchase tickets. Also, is it advisable to have a guide with a skip-the-line option for this visit as well?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Posted by Darrel

Fredericksburg, VA

07/08/23 03:05 PM

237 posts

Mightykyonghee: We recently returned from Istanbul. We used "GetYourGuide" to find guides for both the Topkapi and the Hagia Sophia tours. We found the guides to be very knowledgeable and well worth the cost of the tours, particularly since you mention the skip-the-line benefits. We did not visit the upper levels of the Hagia Sophia. I strongly recommend the harem tour option for Topkapi; although it doubles the time in the palace, you learn a lot about the inner working of the Ottoman court and its practices.

~Darrel

Posted by Marie

Atlanta, GA

07/08/23 05:13 PM

700 posts

Hagia Sophia is a mosque now, hence the free admission. Upstairs was closed when I was there in late 2021. Supposedly, the upper floor was closed for renovation, but I get the impression that it's a semi-permanent arrangement because they (Erdogan and friends) don't want the Christian mosaics to be viewable in a mosque.

For Topkapi, we bought the Istanbul museum pass, which included "skip the line" entry to Topkapi, the harem and Hagia Irene. I purchased it at the museum kiosk next to Hagia Sophia. The museum pass was not much more expensive than a Topkapi/harem ticket, and it's probably worth the money if you are planning on visiting other museums. Theoretically, you can buy a museum pass online, but it was temporarily suspended while we were there because of some kind of Covid-related issue. The passes might be available online again now.

I totally agree that the harem is an essential part of Topkapi.

We hired a private guide for a day in Sultanahmet. It was nice to have the additional background and context from a guide, but it didn't help with entry to the sites. I have not tried any of the Viator or Get Your Guide tours.

We did not experience long lines at either Hagia Sophia or Topkapi in 2021. I recall a little bit of a line (maybe 10 minutes?) at Hagia Sophia when I was there in 2015, when it was still a museum.

Posted by Larry42

Bend, Oregon

07/11/23 12:32 AM

261 posts

We were in Istanbul last week of March 2023. Topkapi full tour for sure. No advantage to skip the line as got tickets at nearby building quickly but waited long time for security. Hagia Sophia upstairs closed. Add Blue Mosque, Spice Market & Grand Bazaar to your "must sees".