Hotels in Istanbul

Hotels in Istanbul

Hotels in the city of Istanbul in Turkey are often required by people who need accommodation in the city. Some may want a vacation or to work, study, or see entertainment, sport or culture in the city. Some may want to have a luxury or cheap hotel in the city.

Istanbul (historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see the other names of Istanbul) is the largest city of Turkey and the third largest city in the world. The city covers 27 districts of the Istanbul province. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbor known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) side of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world which is situated on two continents. In its long history, Istanbul served as the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922).

Istanbul is located in the north west Marmara Region of Turkey. It encloses the southern Bosphorus which places the city on two continents—the western portion of Istanbul is in Europe, while the eastern portion is in Asia. The city boundaries cover a surface area of 1,539 square kilometres, while the metropolitan region, or the Province of Istanbul, covers 6,220 square kilometres.

The historic peninsula of old Istanbul corresponds approximately to the extent of Constantinople in the 15th century; it comprises the districts of Eminönü and Fatih. This area lies on the southern shores of the Golden Horn, which separates the old city center from the northern and younger parts of the European side. The historic peninsula ends with the Theodosian Land Walls in the west. The peninsula is surrounded by the Sea of Marmara on the south and the entrance of the Bosphorus on the east.

North of the Golden Horn are the historical Beyog(lu and Bes,iktas, districts, where the last Sultan's palace is located, followed by a chain of former villages such as Ortaköy and Bebek along the shores of the Bosphorus. On both the European and Asian sides of the Bosphorus, wealthy Istanbulites built luxurious chalet mansions, called yal, which were used as summer residences.

To the west, to the east and to the north, Istanbul exceeds far over historical quarters. Elevated office and residential areas rise particularly in the north on height of the second Bosphorus bridge above Bebek in the quarters of Levent,Etiler and Maslak. Due to Istanbul's exponential growth during the second half of 20th century, a significant portion of the city consists of "Gecekondus", a Turkish word created in the 1940s meaning "built overnight" and refers to the illegally constructed squatter buildings that comprise entire neighborhoods and run rampant in Turkey’s larger cities, especially Istanbul, Ankara, I.zmir, and Bursa. According to the official definition stated in the Gecekondus Act of 1966, these neighborhoods are typically built on abandoned land or on lands owned by others, without the permission of the landowner, and do not obey rules and regulations.

The quarters of Üsküdar and Kadköy which are located on the Asian side were originally independent cities, like Beyog(lu also used to be. Today they are full of modern residential areas and business districts, and are home to around one-third of Istanbul's population.

The modern Turkish name Istanbul has been used to describe this city, in a range of different variants, from as far back as the 10th century; it has been the common name for the city in normal Turkish speech since before the conquest of 1453. Etymologically, it derives from the Greek for "in the city", "to the city" or "downtown".

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