Start the tour

Self-guided free tour

Galata and Beyoğlu: Towers, dervishes and arcades

Free · no booking Loop route

Duration
2 h approx.
Distance
3.8 km on foot
Stops
10 stops

From the Karaköy waterfront up to Galata Tower, the whirling dervishes' lodge and the great İstiklal Avenue, then down through the antique quarter of Çukurcuma to the admiral's mosque in Tophane. Bankers, poets, a painter who trained tortoises, a future pope and a novelist who built a museum for his characters. About two hours and four kilometres, with steep slopes and stairs on the way up, not counting time inside buildings.

Start and end Karaköy waterfront

Get there

The route

The 1 marks where the tour starts and ends.

The 10 stops

At each one, a story of about two minutes.

  1. 1

    Karaköy waterfront Start

    370 m · 5 min on foot

  2. 2

    Camondo Stairs

    280 m · 4 min on foot

  3. 3

    Galata Tower

    290 m · 4 min on foot

  4. 4

    Galata Mevlevi Lodge

    100 m · 1 min on foot

  5. 5

    Tünel Square

    390 m · 6 min on foot

  6. 6

    Pera Museum

    240 m · 3 min on foot

  7. 7

    Church of Saint Anthony of Padua

    150 m · 2 min on foot

  8. 8

    Galatasaray Square

    490 m · 7 min on foot

  9. 9

    Museum of Innocence

    550 m · 8 min on foot

  10. 10

    Tophane

    970 m · 14 min back to the start

  11. Back at Karaköy waterfront

    The tour ends where it started.

How it works

  1. 1. Get to the start

    Head to the starting point and tap “Start the tour”.

  2. 2. Listen

    At each stop, tap “I'm here” and listen to the story.

  3. 3. Follow the map

    Follow the map to the next stop. No rush.

Before you set off

Bring headphones and a charged phone: audio and map use up battery.

  • It is a loop: you finish where you started.
  • Stop whenever you like. Your progress is saved on this phone.
  • The route and the texts load when you start, so it keeps working with patchy coverage.
  • The walk stays outdoors. The time does not include going inside the buildings.
  • Available in Spanish and English.
Photo credits
  • 1. Karaköy waterfront: Rrburke · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • 2. Camondo Stairs: Yair Haklai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • 3. Galata Tower: A.Savin · FAL · Wikimedia Commons
  • 4. Galata Mevlevi Lodge: VikiPicture · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • 5. Tünel Square: A.Savin · FAL · Wikimedia Commons
  • 6. Pera Museum: Pangaea W · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • 7. Church of Saint Anthony of Padua: A.Savin · FAL · Wikimedia Commons
  • 8. Galatasaray Square: No machine-readable author provided. ... · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
  • 9. Museum of Innocence: Fuzheado (talk) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  • 10. Tophane: Metuboy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons