Nordstern Hotel Galata — Hotel in Beyoğlu

My husband and I just got back from a 12-day, amazing vacation to Turkey and the Nordstern was our home base for a three-night stay in Istanbul. We really enjoyed our stay and highly recommend to anyone!! The location is awesome. Multiple ATMs are just a few steps from the front door, you can walk up the hill to Galata Tower or jump on the tram to see all the sights for just 4TL one way. We never really had a need to get a cab, the hotel is so centrally located to all the major sights and is easy to find once you get oriented. We took the advice on Trip Advisor and requested a sea view room as high up as possible. It is true that there is a lot of traffic noise below you, but wow -- it was so amazing to be able to open our huge windows to the Bosphorous every morning. And we were so beat from running around during the day we slept like babies despite the noise, so it doubt it will be a problem for most. Our room was so beautiful!! There is a nice, small hammam downstairs that we didn't have time to take advantage of, but it looked great for a couple or small family. Our airport transfer was right on time and easy to find (one of the only reliable ones we ended up having on our visit to Turkey). The staff is wonderful and kind, we never got a pitch for tours or guides or anything like that. The breakfast buffet was great, they made us eggs in addition to what as displayed. And the view from the restaurant at the top of the hotel is also amazing!! If you're in a hurry while on your way to something you can walk over the bridge and get great fish sandwiches for just 5TL in just five minutes, or walk under the bridge for something more fancy. We wanted to make sure to share our experience in hopes of encouraging everyone to visit Turkey now!! We had such a great time and felt totally safe. Don't miss out on Istanbul and places like...

SHOULD NOT EXPECT TO HAVE WHAT YOU PAID!!!

We have booked the hammam suit for 7 nights, which was renovated from an office and public steam bath with half windows and limited space for a longer bed. The half windows face the busy street with limited daylight and very poor sound insulation, on the 2nd floor. NOT ABLE TO SLEEP AT ALL. Hotel manager arranged had sealing strips added that reduced the noise. Bed length 180cm, think carefully if taller than 175cm.

Talked with some guests from other rooms, same comment of hearing the noise with difficulties to sleep. That's why we didn't take the manager's proposal of changing to another room.

Air conditioning doesn't work, we moved the fan from another room, which brought a bit air but very noisy.

Roof terrace has PARTIALLY NICE VIEW, we were attracted by the beautiful view photo from the rooftop, which was not showed is AN OLD ABANDONED BUILDING RIGHT IN FRONT blocked half of the view.

3/5 OF BREAKFAST ARE OLIVES, JAMS AND CHEESE, the rest are cutted bread, cucumber slices, tomato slices, 1 egg dish, 1 fried dish and 1 cake pieces, coffee powder machine, milk. Added juice and yogurt for the last day after asked on the 2 day.

Not sure about the 'shower gel' is still good to use. Welcome fruits had not been touched and stayed in the room even they had turned bad. Not sure how frequent of changing bed sheets but 2 wine drops showed it wasn't changed since the 2nd day till the 7th, our last stay. Most of staffs don't speak ENG.

Steam room works fine. Location is convenient. Hotel manager is kind.

We trusted the pictures and booked for our vacation, not mention the cost, we were tired with poor quality of sleep and disappointed.

I highly doubt about the nice reviews, but each may has different opinion. As mentioned at the beginning:

DON'T EXPECT TO HAVE...

The main advantage of the hotel is the location: nearby Galata bridge! For those willing to enjoy a nice view over the bridge and to see as many attractions of this beautiful city, it might be a perfect choice. Obviously, this advantage comes with a trade-off: city noise, so keeping the windows closed for a night of good sleep is a must. Our room had a high ceiling, the bed was ok with four pillows. WiFi was very poor; even if is free still requires login with a password given by the reception employees. It is advised to try login being attended by them as is happening very often to get the message that the password was already used, hence not valid any longer. As the hotel doesn't have a restaurant, the breakfast prepared thru catering is good to very good. One learning during our staying was NOT TO TRUST reception employees regarding logistics and touring recommendations. They are more interested to get their commissions from tourism partners. To give two examples: the hotel is "offering" transfers from and to the airport for a fare of 45 EUR; on arrival, we rejected such an offer and we got a taxi that requested 25 EUR (tip included), on departure we requested a transfer but the car couldn't arrive in time and after 25 minutes we got a regular taxi that drove us to the airport in 35 minutes.|Another example: we were willing to use a Hop On - Hop Off bus to squeeze the most of the city. Reception employees were reluctant to give us any details, recommending instead a boat trip. After a short research, we were able to find the route and stops of Hop On busses, and guess what? One of the bus stops was just in front of...