Dolmabahce Palace, Harem and Painting Museum Entry Ticket

Dolmabahçe Palace: the last palace of the Ottoman sultans

Dolmabahçe Palace was built between 1843 and 1856 for Sultan Abdülmecid I on reclaimed land on the European shore of the Bosphorus, when the court left the medieval courtyards of Topkapi for a palace that could rival the capitals of Europe. The facade is 600 metres of white marble in a mix of baroque, rococo and neoclassical styles, set behind formal gardens with pools and swan fountains and fronted by a quay where imperial barges once tied up. Six sultans lived here, and the first president of the Turkish Republic used it as his Istanbul residence; the clocks inside are stopped at the hour of his death in 1938.

A Dolmabahçe Palace visit begins at the Treasury Gate beside the clock tower and Dolmabahçe Mosque. Allow a few minutes in the gardens before you go in: the view of the facade with the Bosphorus and the Asian shore behind it is the classic photograph, and photography inside the palace is not allowed.

The Selamlık: Crystal Staircase and Ceremonial Hall

The Selamlık is the ceremonial and administrative half of the palace, the part open to men of state. The route takes you up the Crystal Staircase, whose balusters are made of Baccarat crystal under a glass dome, and through a sequence of reception rooms decorated with gold leaf, silk carpets, porcelain stoves and painted ceilings; fourteen tonnes of gold were used on the ceilings alone. The audio guide explains each hall, from the ambassadors' waiting room to the sultan's bathroom in alabaster.

The climax is the Ceremonial Hall, a domed space 36 metres high where the great chandelier of Bohemian crystal with 750 lamps, weighing about four and a half tonnes, hangs over the floor used for receptions and the first sessions of the Ottoman parliament. Visitors stand on a walkway around the edge; it is the room that answers the question of whether Dolmabahçe Palace is worth visiting.

The Harem and the Painting Museum

The Harem occupies the other half of the palace and was the private world of the sultan, his mother, his wives and children, reached through corridors that kept it apart from the Selamlık. Its rooms are quieter and more domestic: the blue hall, the pink hall used by the sultan's mother, bedrooms, nurseries and the simple room where the republic's founder spent his last days, with its bed draped in the Turkish flag. The audio guide covers it in about forty minutes.

The Painting Museum, in the apartments once reserved for the crown prince at the northern end of the complex, shows Ottoman and European canvases from the imperial collection, including palace scenes, Bosphorus landscapes and portraits of the sultans; it is calmer than the main palace and a good place to finish. Your ticket covers all three parts, so visit in any order; most guests take the Selamlık first, then the Harem, then the paintings.

The practical visit and how to get to Dolmabahçe Palace

Dolmabahçe Palace opening hours are 09:00 to 17:30 every day except Monday, with last admission at 15:30, and entry slots on this ticket run every half hour from 09:00 to 16:00; plan two to three hours. Your e-ticket arrives by email the day before and lets you pass the ticket line, though the security check is mandatory. At the audio guide desk you leave your passport or ID card and receive a device; note its number and reclaim your ID on the way out. Strollers and large bags cannot be taken inside, and modest clothing covering shoulders and knees is recommended.

How to get to Dolmabahçe Palace: take the T1 tram or the funicular from Taksim to Kabataş and walk five minutes along the waterfront; from Sultanahmet the tram takes about twenty minutes. The Beşiktaş ferry piers, with boats to Üsküdar and Kadıköy, are ten minutes' walk in the other direction, and the Bosphorus cruises from Kabataş make an easy afternoon combination.