Local time
Wed, 7:38 PM GMT+3Europe/IstanbulCityProvincial capital
Istanbul
İstanbul · local name
41.11° N, 29.01° E
- Population
- 10,061,000
- Population from Natural Earth (POP_MAX). The source does not state which year the figure belongs to, so no year is shown.
- Population rank
- 1 of 82
- Rank by Natural Earth population among the 82 cities of Türkiye in Terratlasia that have a population figure. Terratlasia does not list every city of Türkiye, so this is not a national ranking.
- Province
- Istanbul Province
- Natural Earth marks this city as the capital of a first-level administrative unit; the province is the one whose boundary contains the city.
- Present city founded
- 1453
- Year of founding from Wikidata (P571). Only the year is known, not the day; a city whose sources give more than one year shows no row. The label is an editorial decision: the source gives the year, the atlas says what the year is the year of.
- Elevation
- 100 m
- Elevation above sea level from Wikidata (P2044), rounded to the metre. A city whose sources give two different elevations shows no row.
- Area
- 5,343 km²
- Total area from Wikidata (P2046). Where two statements differ by less than half a percent the smaller is shown; a larger disagreement (land area against total area, say) shows no row.
- Time zone
- Europe/Istanbul
- Places
- 58
- editorial
- Districts
- 12
Traveler brief
Only what this atlas can source — no hours, prices, visas or safety advice.
Practical bearings for Istanbul, from the same records as the rest of this page.
Connections
Sister cities
Places 58
- Hagia SophiaJustinian's 6th-century basilica, later an Ottoman mosque and museum — for a thousand years the largest cathedral in the world.UNESCOAncient Site
- Topkapı PalaceSeat of Ottoman sultans for four centuries, a city of courtyards above the meeting of two seas.UNESCOPalace
- Blue MosqueSultan Ahmed I's six-minaret mosque, named for the İznik tiles that line its interior.UNESCOMosque
- Grand BazaarSixty covered streets and four thousand shops, continuously trading since the reign of Mehmed II.Market
- Basilica CisternA subterranean forest of 336 columns built to water the Great Palace — two of them resting on Medusa heads.UNESCOAncient Site
- Süleymaniye MosqueSinan's imperial mosque on the third hill — the architect considered it his journeyman work, not his masterpiece.UNESCOMosque
- Galata TowerA Genoese watchtower over the Golden Horn, and the best-known silhouette on the northern shore.Landmark
- Dolmabahçe PalaceThe Ottoman answer to Versailles, where the empire spent its last treasury and Atatürk died in 1938.Palace
- İstiklal AvenueA pedestrian mile of arcades, consulates and passages, with a nostalgic tram running its length.Landmark
- Spice BazaarAn L-shaped hall of spice, dried fruit and lokum, built to fund the New Mosque next door.Market
- Chora ChurchByzantium's finest surviving mosaics and frescoes, in a modest church far from the tourist spine.UNESCOChurch
- Maiden's TowerA tower on its own islet mid-Bosphorus, rebuilt many times and attached to more legends than dates.Landmark
- Hippodrome of ConstantinopleThe chariot-racing spine of the Byzantine city, now a square holding an Egyptian obelisk and a bronze serpent column.UNESCOAncient Site
- Istanbul Archaeology MuseumsThree buildings holding the Alexander Sarcophagus, the Treaty of Kadesh, and the Tiled Kiosk of 1472.History Museum
- Walls of ConstantinopleSix kilometers of triple land walls that held for a thousand years, until gunpowder.UNESCOAncient Site
- Rumeli FortressBuilt in four months to cut the Bosphorus before the siege of Constantinople.Castle
- Eyüp Sultan MosqueBuilt over the tomb of the Prophet's standard-bearer — the most venerated Islamic site in the city.Mosque
- Ortaköy MosqueA small Baroque mosque at the water's edge, framed by the first Bosphorus bridge behind it.Mosque
- BüyükadaThe largest Princes' Island: no private cars, wooden mansions, and a monastery on the southern hill.Landmark
- Galata BridgeAnglers above, fish restaurants below, and the two halves of the old city on either end.Landmark
- Istanbul ModernTürkiye's first modern art museum, since 2023 in a Renzo Piano building on the Karaköy waterfront.Art Museum
- BalatSteep lanes of painted timber houses, the old Jewish and Greek quarter of the Golden Horn.Landmark
- Museum of Turkish and Islamic ArtsCarpets, calligraphy and Seljuk woodwork in İbrahim Pasha's 16th-century palace on the Hippodrome.Art Museum
- Beylerbeyi PalaceThe sultans' summer residence on the Asian shore, where Empress Eugénie was received in 1869.Palace
- Pera MuseumOrientalist painting and Anatolian weights and measures in a restored 1893 hotel.Art Museum
- Fatih MosqueThe conqueror's own mosque complex, raised on the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles.Mosque
- Rüstem Pasha MosqueRaised above a row of shops and lined wall-to-wall with the best İznik tile in the city.Mosque
- Sakıp Sabancı MuseumCalligraphy and Ottoman painting in a Bosphorus villa, with a garden of sculpture above the water.Art Museum
- Valens AqueductA double tier of Roman arches striding across the modern boulevard that runs beneath it.Ancient Site
- New MosqueSixty-six years between foundation and completion, anchoring the Eminönü waterfront.Mosque
- Great Palace Mosaic MuseumA surviving peristyle floor from the Byzantine imperial palace, hunting scenes rendered in tesserae.UNESCOHistory Museum
- Gülhane ParkThe outer garden of Topkapı, opened to the public and famous for its April tulips.Park
- Ecumenical Patriarchate of ConstantinopleThe senior see of the Orthodox world, behind a gate welded shut since 1821.Church
- Little Hagia SophiaSaints Sergius and Bacchus — the dome experiment that preceded Hagia Sophia by a few years.Church
- Rahmi M. Koç MuseumIndustry, transport and communication — submarines, trams and a full Bosphorus ferry.Science Museum
- ModaA seaside promenade and the bookshops, meyhanes and record stores behind it.Landmark
- Pierre Loti HillA cable car up to the café where the French novelist watched the Golden Horn.Viewpoint
- Şehzade MosqueSinan's memorial to the prince Mehmed — the work he called his apprentice piece.Mosque
- Emirgan ParkThree restored pavilions among terraces that hold the city's largest tulip festival each April.Park
- Yedikule FortressSeven towers grafted onto the Golden Gate, used in turn as treasury, prison and place of execution.Castle
- HeybeliadaPine slopes and the shuttered Halki seminary, quieter than its larger neighbor.Landmark
- Çamlıca HillA hill above the Bosphorus, looking back across both continents at once.Viewpoint
- Museum of InnocenceOrhan Pamuk's novel built as a physical collection — 4,213 cigarette butts among the vitrines.Art Museum
- Yıldız ParkThe wooded grounds of Abdülhamid II's palace, climbing steeply from the Bosphorus road.Park
- Belgrad ForestOak and beech woodland north of the city, threaded with Ottoman aqueducts and reservoirs.Park
- KuzguncukOne street of pastel houses where a mosque, a church and a synagogue stand within sight of each other.Landmark
- Zeyrek MosqueThe Pantokrator monastery, second only to Hagia Sophia among the city's surviving Byzantine churches.UNESCOChurch
- BebekA sheltered bay of moored boats and waterfront cafés under the second bridge.Landmark
- Bulgarian St. Stephen ChurchCast in iron in Vienna, shipped down the Danube and bolted together on the Golden Horn.Church
- Çemberlitaş HamamA working Sinan bathhouse, in continuous use since Nurbanu Sultan endowed it.Landmark
- Anadolu FortressThe older, smaller fortress on the Asian bank, built sixty years before the one facing it.Castle
- Church of St. Anthony of PaduaThe largest Catholic church in the city, set back from İstiklal behind a brick courtyard.Church
- MiniatürkTurkish monuments built at 1:25, laid out along the Golden Horn.Open-Air Museum
- Panorama 1453 History MuseumA 360-degree painted panorama of the final assault, standing where the walls were breached.History Museum
- Yoros CastleA ruined Byzantine fort where the Bosphorus opens into the Black Sea.Castle
- SALT GalataResearch library and exhibition space inside the former Ottoman Bank headquarters.Gallery
- Istanbul Naval MuseumImperial caiques — gilded royal barges up to forty meters long — in a purpose-built hall.History Museum
- Tekfur PalaceThe only substantially intact Byzantine palace left in the city, wedged into the land walls.Palace
