Dolmabahçe Palace — Attraction in Beşiktaş

It is open between 09:00-17:00 except for Mondays. The first garden of the palace is open every day. In the first garden of the Palace, you can see the clock tower and enjoy a beautiful meal in the cafeteria located on the Bosphorus side. The Ottoman Sultans lived in Topkapi Palace for about 400 years. In the late 19th century, European rivals of the Ottoman Empire started building glorious palaces. As the Ottoman Empire lost significant power in the same century, Europe began calling the Empire the sick man of Europe. Sultan Abdulmecit wanted to show the Empire's power and the Sultan's glory one final time and gave Dolmabahce Palace's order in 1843. By 1856, it became the throne's main seat, and the Sultan moved from Topkapi Palace to there. Some of the ceremonial gatherings were still held in the Topkapi Palace, but the primary residence of the Sultan became the Dolmabahce Palace.The new Palace had more of a European style, unlike the Topkapi Palace. There were 285 rooms, 46 saloons, 6 Turkish baths, and 68 toilets. 14 tons of gold were used in the ceiling decorations. French baccarat crystals, Murano glasses, and English crystals were used in the chandeliers.As a visitor, you enter the palace from the ceremonial road. The first room of the palace is Medhal Hall. Meaning entrance, this was the first room every visitor would see in the palace. The people working in the palace and the head secretariat are also here in this first hall. After seeing this room, ambassadors in the 19th century would be using a crystal staircase to see the audience hall of the Sultan. The audience hall of the palace was the place where the Sultan would be used to meet with kings or ambassadors. In the same hall, there is also the second-largest chandelier of the Palace.The highlight of the palace is Muayede Hall. Muay means celebration or gathering. The majority of the big celebrations of the royal family were held in this room. The biggest chandelier in the palace, which is nearly 4.5 tons in weight, is visible in this room. The biggest handmade carpet is also decorating the beautiful reception hall.The harem of the palace has a separate entrance. This was the place where members of the royal family stayed. Similar to the Topkapi Palace, close family members of the Sultan had rooms inside the Harem. After the collapse of the Empire, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stayed in this section...

We visited this absolute historic beauty on a whim. This wasn’t on our list to do whilst in Istanbul but when we passed this via the trams we just had to stop off and check this out. Glad we did! The atmosphere is amazing and on the day we managed to get really lovely weather, perfect for taking photos by the famous gates with the sea view behind. There are a few gates along the same stretch and you will find small ques at times. It’s not a long wait and you do get really lovely photos and videos so that’s a must if you look for photo opportunities. The rest of the grounds are beautiful and really well kept. Once inside, you have to wear foot coverings to explore the living spaces. Visitors must follow the guided path and can only view from behind the barriers to most rooms. Cameras are strictly forbidden and the security personnel are very hot on catching out sneaky visitors! You can if you are discreet take some photos but you need to be very cautious as there are security personnel everywhere! We managed to take a few pictures inside, quite a few others did the same. The architecture is absolutely stunning! Everything is really well preserved and presented. The palace is huge inside so take your time taking everything in! I think the price does reflect good value for money minus the no camera policy! As tourists, you want memories so I was a little disappointed with no camera policy. You can easily spend a good amount of time here for a day out, either a full morning or afternoon. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this if you love good architectural history! It gives you a very unique insight in to how living conditions were for the elite. I’d advise going on a day when no rain is forecast as you can spend so much time outside and inside that way. A lovely experience,...

While the Dolmabahçe Palace is very beautiful, our experience as international visitors was frustrating and disappointing.

Firstly, ticket prices for foreigners are nearly three times higher than for locals and this feels like discrimination rather than feeling welcome. A student discount was advertised, but my valid international student card was rejected. Are tourists good just to help them get money?!

The staff spoke little to no English, which is quite surprising for a major touristic place. What’s worse, no one told us at the ticket counter that the palace closes at 17:30. We were allowed in without any warning, only to be rushed out later and denied access to some parts of the museum, even though we had just paid full price. In other museums around the world, if staff know you’re arriving late and won’t be able to see everything, they either warn you or offer a discount. Here, nothing was said. No transparency, no respect.

Taking pictures is strictly forbidden inside. Most major museums and historical sites allow at least non-flash photography. The staff’s overall attitude felt cold and dismissive, with no sign of hospitality or cultural care toward international guests.

Another frustrating aspect of the visit: due to the way the rooms are roped off, many of the paintings are placed too far away to read their descriptions.

In short: it’s a gorgeous building, but the way it’s managed makes you feel unwelcome, overcharged, and rushed out. Definitely not the cultural experience we...