Bar in Istanbul

Homemade liqueurs and inventive cocktails in Beyoğlu

Rooftop cocktails with panoramic Marmara views

360° panorama of Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Golden Horn

Panoramic Princes Islands views with sunset cocktails

Turkey's premier whiskey bar with 435+ labels

Electronic music festivals on the Black Sea

London pub ambiance with craft cocktails

408 wines from 72 producers on the Asian side

Sophisticated cocktails from the Paolina creators

Sustainability-focused cocktail bar with vertical farming and workshops

1881 Camondo legacy in a restored stone cellar

Historic 1914 wine house with garden oasis

Craft cocktails in Caferağa's creative heart

All-day venue that flips into a cocktail bar with workshops and guest DJs after sunset.

Swissotel's see-and-be-seen rooftop with DJ sets

Restored 1924 White-Russian salon where Atatürk had a permanent table

Retro-boutique hotel bar at the marina entrance, seasonal cocktails

Late-2025 waterfront bar with a beachfront terrace

Cihangir rooftop institution since 1993 with a real Bosphorus view

1890 Greek-captain meyhane on the Golden Horn shore

Boğaz-narrowest fish house with full bar program since 1967

Over-water fish-meyhane on the Baltalimanı seam.

Café by day, a loose Arnavutköy bar with DJ nights by dark, the most informal room on the strip.

Nordic-minimalist side-street bar with a seasonal menu and serious cocktail list.

Live jazz, refined cocktails and dining inside Khai Hotel Karaköy

Bosphorus garden classic since 1997, brunch by day, full bar and cocktails after dark

Seasonal kitchen and an opinionated Turkish wine cellar on the quiet Mühürdar slope, adults-only, no menus in seven languages

Istanbul's most prestigious live-music stage, jazz, funk, electronic, indie in an ex-brewery, the Robert-College-kids' institution

Historic charm meets modern cocktails in Bebekoy

Turkish viticulture by the glass at the Tünel mouth, 85 boutique producers, no foreign-name flex

Asmalımescit sixth-floor terrace with Golden Horn sunsets

Compact neighborhood cocktail bar behind the avenue

Paris-bistro-in-Bomonti, Kojo Hospitality's French-Turkish fusion with a kitchen that gives the bar a reason to exist

Fifty-year-old Bebek Hotel bar where dressed-up locals watch the Bosphorus

Neighborhood bistro that turns into a late cocktail room, the kind of address Bebek residents list when asked for 'somewhere normal'.

Villa dining in the old Tribeca space, homemade-syrup cocktails, open-kitchen ambition

Cocktails + rakı/meze + live music on the Akaretler row-house strip

Gül Sultan mansion, Bosphorus, rakı, fish

Three floors of Anatolian wine in a candlelit Asmalımescit townhouse

Three-story Kadife Sokak townhouse with a garden pool and a stone lion

Tucked-in Sakız Gülü wine bar with a tight, evolving Turkish-focused list.

Gayrettepe English-pub-style brewpub, 8 house taps of real ales and lagers, the craft-beer brewery for Levent's after-work crowd

Sea-view rooftop meyhane reworking Greek, Sephardic and Turkish meze with a real bar.

Square-side Ortaköy classic since 1988, meze, rakı and a renovated upper terrace under the bridge

34th-floor rooftop: Japanese bites, creative cocktails, jazz nights

Living-room-sized wine bar with charcuterie that punches above the General Yazgan address

Twenty-year-old Asmalı cocktail room with Tuesday Turkish-music nights and a regulars-only feel

40-year-old Etiler villa reborn as cocktail-led comfort kitchen by chef Hüseyin Kılıç

Cafe by day, hi-fi cocktail bar by night on Şakayık

Onur Balk's award-winning mixology with global street food

Sunset terrace at the marina's edge, classic cocktails and white sails

Divan Group's gastropub in a historic Akaretler row-house

Watergarden havuz katında meyhane-pub melezi; küratörlü şarap, ekspert kokteyl.

Dancing and cocktails in fashionable Nişantaşı

Sarıyer Çarşı fish-meyhane known for kalkan and meze depth.

Dimly lit Esat Işık room pairing classics-first cocktails with a short, serious kitchen

Day-to-night high-fidelity bar and bakery on Hüsrev Gerede

Maksut Askar and Levon Bagis pair Anatolian grapes with endangered regional plates.

Turkey's pioneering natural wine bar by Maksut Askar

Selectist's harbour-side hi-fi house with Funktion One sound

Expertly crafted cocktail menu refreshed every ten days

Microphone-free fasıl ensemble in a restored 20-year house, the real version of what Sultanahmet sells tourists

After-work cocktail room on Büyükdere for the Levent towers

Topağacı neighborhood bar with a sharp cocktail list and a proper local crowd.

Small Bebek room with 20+ wines by the glass, Bosphorus-edge tables, and the early-evening crowd that owns the neighborhood.

Bosphorus-side live-rock institution out at Burunbahçe

1871 Pera wine house in the Hazzopulo Pasajı arcade, intellectuals' canteen, not a museum

Two-floor bistro-bar a few steps off Ortaköy pier, Bosphorus view, locals over tourists

Glass-enclosed rooftop at DoubleTree Moda

Small Teşvikiye cocktail room with a considered signature list.

The city's flagship Bosphorus-side shisha-and-cocktail lounge, a Kuruçeşme nightlife fixture

Marina-side rooftop with a bartender-led cocktail program

Neighbourhood listening bar on Ahmet Fetgeri with vinyl-only program

Bohemian backstreet cocktail den off Necatibey

Former antique shop turned speakeasy: billiards, vintage decor, theatrical cocktails

All-day Mediterranean kitchen turning into a cocktail-led night spot

Tepebaşı rooftop with Golden Horn view and ethno-house program

Narrative-driven cocktail room on Moda Caddesi where each drink is a paragraph, not a prop

Pigalle ve MiniBar ekibinden izakaya esintili Japon tapas barı, vinil geceleri.

A park-keeper's hut built over the water, windows on three sides, classic mezes and full rakı/wine bar

Gault & Millau-awarded mixology in a minimal, modern Kadıköy room

Gault&Millau Top 500 Bars list, bartender-driven Etiler outpost of the Alaçatı original

Kireçburnu waterline fish house, rakı nights the neighborhood still uses.

The former Babylon Kilyos, now curated music festival beach.

Reimagined '5 Cocktails & More', craft cocktails with sushi pairing

Intimate Fenerbahçe-park-side cocktail room tucked off Bağdat on Faruk Ayanoğlu, the quiet alternative to Suadiye

23-year Nevizade meyhane named for a Can Yücel poem

House Cafe stable's tiny day-to-night cocktail room on Atiye Sokak

House Cafe's neighborhood-bar sibling, coffee by day, DJ nights Thu-Sat

Moda's most arty cocktail bar with mixology that takes itself seriously without being precious

New-generation Teşvikiye meyhane – contemporary meze, raki, serious pours.

Aegean meze terrace with live fasıl and a proper raki-ouzo program

White-tablecloth modern meyhane on a Kurtuluş back street, run by veteran Bülent Bey

Lobby-floor jazz room at The Marmara Pera, four nights a week of local and international sets.

Cemil Topuzlu'da 30 yıllık kurumsal-canlı müzik adresi, soliste kadeh kaldırılan yer.

Three-storey corner building on the Moda tram line, evening-favourite room with sharing plates and a confident cocktail list

House-music rooftop facing Galata Tower

Jigger Istanbul's flagship, signature cocktails with Turkish bitters

Kalamis Marina views with creative cocktails and proper kitchen

The Tarabya fish crescent local without the tourist markup.

Modern Anatolian meyhane with a strong drinks program

Tapas-style plates and a tight cocktail menu on one of Karaköy's busiest lanes.

The Black Sea's original beach-club institution, open June–September.

1km of Black Sea beach with concerts and pools

Design-forward cocktail lounge by Cafe Cadde founders

14th-floor sushi-and-cocktails bar overlooking both continents

Day restaurant, night cocktail bar on Nişantaşı's liveliest street

Turkey's original craft brewery in a three-story seaside Bebek mansion, Kölsch, Smoked Lager, and a full kitchen.

Golden-age cocktail tribute: expert mixologists, dinner-to-dance-floor at 10pm

Hilltop Baltalimanı panorama, bar open until 2am.

Palazzo Corpi ground-floor lounge, the only Soho House bar open to the public, meze-and-cocktail anchor of Meşrutiyet.

Gastro-jazz lokanta run by jazz musician Eren Noyan with a proper stage

Old City panoramic views from boutique hotel rooftop

Modern Anatolian kitchen with serious cocktail bar and hidden Teşvikiye garden

Water-edge House Café flagship, two terraces, full bar, summer DJ weekends

27-storey Ataşehir tower with a proper lobby-bar cocktail hour

London gastropub on Plajyolu, among Istanbul's best cocktails

Bosphorus-mouth fish-house where the strait opens to the Black Sea.

Hand-built tiny Şair Nedim cocktail room, speakeasy live music Fridays, smoke inside

Zorlu PSM's 120-seat jazz box, live programme, intimate room, cocktails with the set

Intimate Teşvikiye cocktail bar with a tight signature list and quiet confidence.

Dim, music-first Sofyalı cocktail room from the new wave, opens late, closes at 02:00

The cognoscenti's mixology lab, sustainable program, workshops, bottle takeout

Restored Camondo vault with local-producer wine list and nightly saxophone.

Ottoman-motif velvet lobby bar inside the Akaretler row-house W, late DJ sets

72 Turkish wine producers, 400+ labels, all available by the glass

Chef Kaan Kayhan's waterfront meyhane on the Yeniköy pier.

Candle-lit meyhane in a stone building beside the Armenian church.

Bosphorus-pier classic since 1949 under century-old plane trees.

French-inspired wine bar with Mediterranean flair

Tarabya marina fish-house with a working bar program.

Boutique wine and olive house on Emirgan's prettiest backstreet

Istanbul's pre-eminent 1980 classic bar – stained glass, live music, real regulars.

Walton Hotels Galata rooftop framing Galata Tower at sunset

Signature pistachio cocktails in less-crowded Göztepe

Iconic club-restaurant hybrid with wraparound views

40 signature cocktails in a garden oasis on Bağdat Caddesi

Turkish DJs, live-jazz, and funk in classic-elegant Beyoğlu

Local Turkish flavors meet creative mixology

Hidden art-deco izakaya in Bebek

Golden Horn views from Sishane's stylish rooftop

Mythological-themed cocktails in a warm Suadiye setting

Hidden art-deco in a 1920s Cukurcuma apartment

Curated wines near Galata Tower

Lal Dedeoğlu's French Passage hideout, kitchen counter, candlelight

1980 Sıraselviler wine cellar, Cihangir's reference for natural pours and serious staff advice

138 whiskies, six guided malt tours, one chef-curated pairing

Tomtom side-street cocktail lab with bartender-led menu

Sloped-alley rooftop on Kumbaracı, once on World's 15 Best Bars, Bosphorus-to-Historic-Peninsula panorama.

Sophisticated cocktail bar with Mediterranean kitchen

Natural wine bar with chef-driven small plates in Nişantaşı