The Celal Sultan Hotel is in an excellent location for touring the various sites in the old area of Istanbul. Within walking distance are The Blue Mosque, The Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, Basilica Cistern, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Topkapi Palace, Archaeological Museum, and then in the other direction, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market and Galata Bridge and Ferry stations. In addition, there is a tram stop close by which can take you to other far-flung areas in Istanbul.
We had three rooms, each of which were fine; roomy enough, with large bed, small sitting area, small, but adequate bathroom. There appears to be a great divergence in the room types here. We paid extra for slightly larger rooms; they were not suites, but were sufficiently large. One room had a nice view of the Hagia Sophia.
Breakfast is the typical Turkish buffet with cereals, fresh and dried fruit, yogurt, cheeses, olives, cucumber and tomato, cakes, breads, hard boiled eggs and a couple of hot dishes. Much of the buffet was available prior to 7AM, if you needed an early start, but at the official starting time, 7:30, there were still many dishes missing--fresh bread and the hot dishes came out separately and slowly. This was annoying.
Although in the middle of the "tourist" area, we found several great restaurants within walking distance with which we were quite pleased.
If you are planning a short stay in Istanbul, and want to be close to the major tourist sites, this would be an excellent choice.
Room Tip: Seems to be worth it to book slightly larger rooms.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
