Dolmabahce Palace

Beautiful history and culture. Breathtaking gardens and views. Stunning palaces. Dolmabahçe has the largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers in the world. The famous Crystal Staircase has the shape of a double horseshoe and is built of Baccarat crystal, brass and mahogany. This is first European-style palace in Istanbul and was built by Sultan Abdülmecid between 1842 and 1853

Exceptional place although they should close it down for a year for restoration. The chandeliers are amazing but dirty. You see wallpaper falling off, dust in a few places, just in need of a cleaning. When you go to Versialles or Peter the Greats winter palace, they sparkle and everything is original. Anyway, lines move well, two lines are cash only. Recommend a free audio guide, it's worth it. Ignore skip the line, waste of money. It's truly a cool pace.

This was our first trip to Istanbul and we wanted to visit one of the two palaces this time around, either Topkapi Palace or Dolmabache Palace, we ended up choosing the later. Again, the trick is to go early and beat the rush so we did. It was a 5 min uber ride from where we were staying but irrespective, taking a cab is advisable to save time. The ticket is 450 TL per adult so more like a mid range attraction in terms of price. Taking photos inside the palace is not allowed, there were many who were taking pictures from there phones, however I believe we should respect the rules - after all we are visitors here and its very disrespectful if you don't. It's the same expectation from visitors to our home country. The trip to the palace took about 2 hours, audio is a good way to know the history about the different rooms you would visit and its already included in the ticket cost so why not. The visit gave a nice glimpse of how sultans from the Ottoman empire used to live and spend their days. The history is preserved well. The surroundings outside the palace are also well kept, it's right beside Bosphorus so if you have time, you can walk around the area close to the water and take some pictures, there is a nice little cafe beside the palace that you can grab a quick cup of coffee - which I would also recommend. All in all.. it was a nice visit and we liked it. If you are first timer in Istanbul and have some interest in history - this would be a nice place for you to visit.

It is a grand place and reminds one of the old days when all the european countries were ruled by monarchs. It is more modern than the old Top palace. But nothing much different than other palaces in Europe.

Don’t bother! Way too many brilliant places to visit in Istanbul than wasting your time here. You really don’t get to see much. The exterior is absolutely gorgeous, and the grounds are lovely with beautiful views overlooking the Bosporous as well as views of both continents. Inside is drab. You are just walking down hallways with closed off areas with robe with a sign saying ‘wife’s apartment’ or ‘mothers apartment’. There was zero information anywhere on what a room was used for, when you actually walked through one. Just big rooms with chairs in. No photos of what it may have looked like. Nothing. It was like walking through your grandmas Victorian house on the inside. The security were unhelpful and unfriendly. All they do is yell ‘no photos’. There’s literally nothing to take a photo of. You get all the way to the end and you enter a beautiful, breathtaking room with massive ceilings. I would have expected more of the palace to look like this. You can’t take a photo and the gift shop don’t have a picture of it in their book to even buy. Bizarre. They also let you join a queue, and then you get all the way to the front to discover that’s a cash only line and have to go to the back of the other one and start all over again. There are no signs above each queue to tell you this.