Our compilation for İstanbul, not an official route. It is drawn from the same pool as the province route and ranked by the same measured criteria; the grouping comes from the coordinates, so each group holds places that are near one another rather than places that share a theme.
One group uses both shores of the strait: Yıldız Sarayı on the European side and Beylerbeyi Sarayı on the Asian, which face one another across the water and are reached from each other by bridge or ferry.
Another works down the European shore — Dolmabahçe Sarayı, then the Kız Kulesi, which stands offshore near the mouth of the strait and is the one stop here that cannot be walked to.
The last group is the dense one and can be crossed on foot: Topkapı Sarayı, Ayasofya, Sultan Ahmed Camii and the Yerebatan Sarnıcı in the old quarter, with the Galata Kulesi on the higher ground north of the Haliç.
No driving or ferry times are given anywhere in this guide. What each place is, when it was last checked, and which source says so is on its own page.
