Istanbul advance reservations

When are you going? Which sites? Some places you cannot book ahead (e.g. Blue Mosque). For others, if you have very limited time, are there on a weekend, or don't want to wait in lines, getting tickets ahead or getting a museum pass can save you time.

We didn't book anything in advance, and indeed as noted, some sites dont accept advance bookings. It was fairly quiet when we were there though.

We’ll be in Istanbul Oct. 17 -24 and we hope to tour The Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, the Topkapi Palace, the Basilica Cistern and the Galata Bridge. Should we book tickets in advance for any of these?

Hi Carol

The Blue Mosque doesn't sell tickets - you can just walk in (outside of prayer times).

Hagia Sofia, we just bought tickets when we arrived - as far as I can see from their web site, it's only the guided tour tickets that you can buy online, but someone may correct me on this.

Topkai Palace you can buy online, but we just bought on arrival.

I'd also recommend the Kariye Mosque, which is stunning (again, just but tickets on site).

Re your dates, mosque hours are more restricted on Fridays.

We're going the last week in October, and possibly we could have just lined up.

I really hate queuing though, so I purchased tickets for Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern and Topkapi Palace through Get Your Guide.

It was a couple of euro more, but at least I have them.

Sorry I should have added there were long queues for the Basilica Cistern in the afternoon (morning was fine). Short queue for the Topkapi Palace. Make sure you're properly dressed for mosques, otherwise this will slow you down renting/borrowing covering. Hagia Sofia in particular I did see people being sent off from the head of the queue and told to cover up.

You don't need tickets for Galata Bridge. If you plan to go to Topkapi Palace on the weekend I might suggest buying tickets ahead. I would check the cruise port schedule to see if there are any large ships in port on the weekend, that can really clog up the sites. https://www.cruisetimetables.com/istanbul-turkey-cruise-ship-schedule.html

And you'll want to check the prayer schedule for Istanbul, mosques generally close about 30 minutes before the start time, during prayers, and then 15-30 minutes after. Friday prayers are longer and Blue Mosque is closed in the morning. I found the best time to go is just after the second prayer in the morning. And as Simon noted, make sure you're appropriately dressed for the mosque, including Hagia Sophia and if you go in the holy relics chamber in Topkapi Palace.

Thank you everyone.