Turkey / Other
Spice Market
Istanbul's 17th-century covered bazaar where sacks of saffron, cardamom and cinnamon line the aisles and vendors slice Turkish delight to order.
At the southern edge of Eminönü, where the Galata Bridge meets the old city, the Spice Market rises in a cluster of stone domes and arched windows. Officially called the Egyptian Bazaar — Mısır Çarşısı in Turkish — it was built in the 1660s as part of the Fatih Mosque complex, funded by taxes levied on grain and spice shipments arriving from Egypt. Centuries of commerce have passed through its doors since.
What fills the air
Walking in from the street, the first thing is the smell. Warm, layered, cumulative — cardamom and cinnamon closest to the spice stalls, sweeter further in where vendors display baskets of dried apricots and figs, sharper near the red pepper flakes and sumac piled in deep wooden bowls. The market's interior follows a roughly rectangular plan with a central corridor and side aisles, all covered by a series of domes that let slanted light fall across the stalls below. The stone walls hold the warmth, especially in the afternoon.
What fills the market
The stalls nearest the entrance display small mountains of spices in clear bags: cumin, turmeric, pul biber, saffron threads in tiny jars. Further in, the passage widens into sections where Turkish delight vendors slice bar after bar with scissors, wrapping each piece in paper. Dried nuts, lokum, herbal teas, natural cosmetics, and hand-made copper goods fill the remaining stalls. Every shopfront displays its wares with a kind of deliberate colour — the red of pepper flakes beside the pale gold of dried figs, deep purple mulberry beside the pale green of tea leaves.
Beyond the covered halls
The market's outer streets extend the commerce outward, particularly the lanes running north toward the bus station, where spice shops stand shoulder to shoulder with stalls selling spices by the kilo. Whether you move through the domed interior or the open streets around it, the effect is similar: a dense, purposeful marketplace that has operated on much the same terms for decades, where the transaction is direct and unhurried, and the products on offer are the same ones that have moved through this part of the city for a very long time.
On the map
Find it on the map
- Spice Market Other
Tours that visit Spice Market
14 Nights / 15 Days
The Ultimate Journey Across Turkey
3 Nights Istanbul | 3 Nights Cappadocia | 1 Night Gaziantep | 1 Night Sanliurfa | 1 Night Diyarbakir | 3 Nights Mardin | 1 Night Van | 1 Night Kars
8 Nights / 9 Days
Turkey's Golden Triangle
8 Nights | 3 Istanbul · 3 Cappadocia · 1 Pamukkale · 1 Kuşadası — Hagia Sophia, fairy chimneys, white travertines and Ephesus.
9 Nights / 10 Days
Turkey's Grand Cultural Journey
9 Nights | 3 Istanbul · 3 Cappadocia · 1 Gaziantep · 1 Şanlıurfa · 1 Diyarbakır — imperial capitals, surreal landscapes and the cradle of civilization.
6 Nights / 7 Days
Turkey's Timeless Classics
6 Nights | 3 Istanbul · 3 Cappadocia — imperial palaces, Byzantine churches and the surreal fairy chimneys of Cappadocia.
Good to know
Before you book you should know
-
Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
-
Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
-
Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
-
Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
-
Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
