From the Grand Bazaar to Sultanahmet on Foot: A 20-Minute Walk That Ends With Coffee

The walk from the Grand Bazaar to Sultanahmet Square takes about twenty minutes: leave the bazaar by the Nuruosmaniye Gate, follow Nuruosmaniye Caddesi to the Column of Constantine at Çemberlitaş, then follow the tram line down Divan Yolu until the minarets of the Blue Mosque appear ahead of you. It is flat, it is the oldest street in the city, and it ends at our terrace on the Hippodrome. Here is the route, with what to look at on the way and what to order when you arrive.

Before you leave the bazaar

The Grand Bazaar was begun in 1455–56, within three years of the Ottoman conquest, around two stone-vaulted bedestens that still stand at its heart; the covered streets grew around them over the following centuries. Today it has more than sixty streets and thousands of shops under one roof. Two practical notes: it is closed on Sundays, and the exits are confusing. Ask any shopkeeper for the Nuruosmaniye Gate, which is the eastern exit and the one you want.

Nuruosmaniye Gate to Çemberlitaş (about 8 minutes)

You come out of the gate into the courtyard of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, completed in 1755 and the first big mosque in Istanbul built in the Ottoman baroque style; the curves of its courtyard tell you immediately that you have left the classical era. Walk through the courtyard and continue along Nuruosmaniye Caddesi, a street of carpet dealers and jewellers, until it meets the tram line at Çemberlitaş.

The column in the middle of the small square is the Column of Constantine, raised in 330 AD when Constantine dedicated the city as his new capital. It is built of porphyry drums held together by iron hoops — çemberli taş means “hooped stone” — and it has been standing here, scorched and repaired, for nearly seventeen centuries. Across the street is Çemberlitaş Hamamı, a bathhouse built by Mimar Sinan in 1584 and still in use.

Divan Yolu (about 10 minutes)

Turn along the tram line, keeping the Column of Constantine behind you. You are now on Divan Yolu, the Ottoman name for the Byzantine Mese, the ceremonial road that ran from the city gates to the Hippodrome and the Great Palace. Emperors processed along it; so did sultans on their way to the Divan.

On the left as you go, a walled garden holds the tomb of Sultan Mahmud II, built in 1840, with the graves of statesmen and two later sultans around it. Further on, the small Firuz Ağa Mosque of 1491 marks the point where the road opens out. The Basilica Cistern’s entrance is off to the left, and Sultanahmet Park, with the fountain and Hagia Sophia beyond it, is ahead.

Arriving on the square

Bear right at the park and you are on the Hippodrome. The German Fountain, an eight-columned pavilion given by Kaiser Wilhelm II after his 1898 visit, is the first thing you pass; the Egyptian Obelisk is down the line of the square. We are on the square at At Meydanı Cd. No:10/1, beside the Hagia Sophia ticket office, with the terrace under the trees.

You have walked twenty minutes on a warm afternoon through the busiest streets in the old city. A Cold Brew (₺340) or a Homemade Lemonade (₺320) is the immediate answer; a Turkish Coffee (₺370) is the slower one, and after a bazaar it is the right one. If you bought something, the terrace is the place to unwrap it. The full board is on the menu page.

Doing it in reverse

From our door the route works just as well the other way: up Divan Yolu against the tram, left at the Column of Constantine, through the Nuruosmaniye courtyard and into the bazaar. Have the coffee first — an Espresso (₺280) sharpens the bargaining — and remember that the bazaar closes in the early evening and all day on Sunday, so check its current hours. We are open every day from 09:00 to 19:00, which means that whichever direction you walk, there is coffee at the Sultanahmet end. The terrace and the square are in our gallery if you want to see where the walk ends before you start it.