Hotel in Istanbul - Sultanahmet area

There is an excellent tram system. I have stayed in three hotels in Istanbul. The first two were the Nippon Hotel and the Point Hotel Taksim. Both were located at Taksim square and required taking the furnicular down to the tram and then the tram to the Major sites. It was easy to walk to the Mehter Band Concert from that location and I really enjoyed that concert. Nippon Hotel was located next door to Point Hotel Taksim and was actually less expensive and provided a fruit bowl in the room.

The third hotel was located near the ferry port and spice market, also easy to get on the tram. It was the Legacy Ottoman Hotel and by far the fancier. The hotel itself is beautiful. Yummy Istanbul's "Taste of Two Continents" food tour meets just out front so that is fairly convenient.

There are many choices in Istanbul, I'll just note that only people who have stayed at a property can leave a review on Booking, so I tend to give them more weight then the other sites. My hunch is some of the one-off poor reviews are from people who have unreasonable expectations (like getting a super quiet room in Sultanahmet where there are calls to prayer and plenty of traffic).

FWIW I stayed at Agora Guesthouse in Sultanahmet and Galata's Hotel in Karakoy (on a RS tour). Two very different properties but both were well situated and comfortable.

We booked the Emerald Mansion Hotel in Sultanahmet. It has good reviews, looks very nice, and is conveniently located.