Sultanahmet Shopping: Things I Bought + Best Place For Shopping
Sultanahmet is one of Istanbul’s old areas with a historical texture. You should not look for luxury shopping centers there, but you should prepare yourself to see antique shops, bazaars, and old arcades.
I have visited Sultanahmet many times during my trip to Istanbul, and I have experience shopping at different markets and shops in this area. In this Sultanahmet shopping guide, I want to share all my experiences with you.
You can find anything you can think of in Sultanahmet. Clothing, spices, Turkish handwoven carpets, souvenirs, handicrafts, and antiques are some of the best sellers in Sultanahmet.
My unique shopping experiences in Sultanahmet
Table of Contents
There are various shopping areas in Sultanahmet, such as the Grand Bazaar, Arasta Bazaar, and Nuru Osmaniye Street, which allow you to interact with artisans, witness the making of traditional handicrafts, and shop in a lively atmosphere.
In the following, I will share with you my experience of visiting different places and talk about how I felt when I was there so that you can get to know the atmosphere of this area well.
Arasta Bazaar
The first place I visited for shopping in Sultanahmet was Arasta Bazaar. This market is located behind the Sultan Ahmed Mosque and the Hippodrome Square. To get there, I took the T1 tram, got off at the Sultan Ahmed station, and walked for 10 minutes to this market.
Before I entered this market, I thought Arasta was a small market where I couldn’t find much products, but when I entered it, I realized that all my ideas about this market were wrong.
While visiting this market, I noticed that there are many stalls selling different goods, such as women’s and men’s clothes, bags and shoes, jewelry, carpets, and handicrafts.
This market was not too crowded and not too quiet, so it is suitable for people who don’t like crowds.
During my visit, I noticed that most tourists visit this market, which is why the prices of products are a little higher than those of other weekly markets in Istanbul. Since I knew there were better places to shop cheaply in Istanbul, I didn’t buy anything from this market and just visited.
After walking around the market, I went to one of the cafes located in the middle of Arasta market. I ate baklava and tea while watching live music and dervish dance to gain energy to visit other shopping centers in Sultan Ahmed.
Visiting hours of this market are from 9 am to 9 pm, and during this time, all the shops are open.
If you want to know more about this market, just read the article “Istanbul Arasta Bazaar.”
Nuruosmaniye Caddesi/Avenue
During my visit to this market, I noticed that local people call it Orient Bazaar and mostly visit it to buy and sell gold and precious stones.
When I visited this street, I remembered Istiklal street, but this street was very different from Istiklal Street. Unlike Istiklal Street, it was less crowded and noisy.
This street has beautiful cobblestone, and old and tall trees and green plants placed in the middle of it have multiplied its beauty.
If you like to interact closely with artisans and watch them at work, this street is for you. During my visit to this street, I went to many gold shops and saw the goldsmiths at work. I also talked to them about the price of gold in Turkey and the cost of making gold and got some helpful information. If you want to read the information I got about gold in Turkey, you should refer to the article “Is GOLD Cheap In Turkey?”
I must mention that in addition to gold and jewelry, antique goods such as handwoven carpets and rugs are also sold on this street. For example, one of the famous carpet shops called Punto of Istanbul is located on this street, where you can see artisans weaving carpets.
I saw hand-woven carpets in this shop that I had never seen before. I must mention that the price of these carpets is costly: You have to pay about 2000 dollars to buy a small hand-woven carpet.
This street is located in the Fatih area, and the working hours of the shops there are from 9 am to 8 pm. To get to this street, you need to take the t1 tram and get off at Çemberlıtaş station and reach this street after a 5-minute walk.
Istanbul Grand Bazaar
Most tourists visit the Grand Bazaar at the beginning of their trip to Istanbul, but I was not like that, and I visited the places I introduced above first.
At the very moment of entering the Grand Bazaar, the difference between this market and Arasta Bazaar and Nuruosmaniye Caddesi was evident. There was a large crowd and a lot of noise. According to the conversations I had with some sellers, about 20,000 people visit this market daily.
I spent more than 3 hours visiting this market, and during the visit, I noticed that there are about 3000 stalls in this market with different goods such as clothes, spices, souvenirs, handicrafts, carpets, bags, shoes, fabrics, jewelry, etc. are sold.
The thing that I noticed in this market is that the price of a product is different in different shops. For example, the cost of a pair of shoes in a shop at the beginning of the market was about 2000 liras, while the price of the same shoes in a shop at the end of the market was 1800 liras.
I learned in this market that to buy anything, you have to bargain with the sellers to get a discount from them; otherwise, the sellers will sell you the goods at a higher price.
Since this market is ancient and was built in 1435, you should not expect to be able to visit all its different places with a wheelchair. It has many uneven surfaces, and disabled people have limited access to other parts of this market.
The working hours of this market are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., but according to my experience, all the shops open after 10 a.m., and if you want to visit all of them, it is better to see them after 10 a.m. The busiest time of this market is from 4 to 6 p.m., and many people visit this market during these hours.
To go to this market, take tram t1 and get off at Beyazıt station.
To sum up
If you are interested in shopping in Sultanahmet, visit the places I introduced above and buy the goods you want. Since the Sultanahmet area is a tourist area, you should not expect the prices of products to be low. If you don’t want to pay a lot of money to buy the goods you wish, I recommend you to read the following articles
