Grand Bazaar Istanbul

The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

The Grand Bazaar has over 4,000 shops, 61 covered streets, and receives an estimated 250,000 to 400,000 visitors on a busy day. It opened in the 1460s under Sultan Mehmed II, four years after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, as a central trading hub for the new capital. Over five centuries, it grew from a pair of bedestens (covered market buildings for valuable goods) into the labyrinth you walk into today. It is the oldest and largest covered market in the world, and it has been continuously in commercial operation for more than 560 years.

The actual experience of entering the Grand Bazaar does not resemble most descriptions of it. The main gate on Caddesi opens onto a wide covered street full of shops selling the same leather goods, Iznik-patterned ceramics, and carpet-imitating textiles to tourists. This is the part most visitors experience. The more interesting bazaar is found by deliberately leaving the main arteries and navigating toward the hans (caravanserais) at the edges: Zincirli Han, Kuyumcular Han, Sandal Bedesteni. These are stone-vaulted spaces with central courtyards where the wholesale trade still happens and where the quality of what is sold is higher and the pressure to buy is lower.

What to Buy

The Grand Bazaar is best for jewellery. The Kuyumcular Han is where the gold and silver wholesale trade concentrates; what you find here comes from Turkish workshops rather than import factories, and the craftsmanship is genuine. Ask to see pieces that are not on display.

Turkish carpets and kilims sold in the tourist-facing shops of the main streets are reliably overpriced. If you are serious about buying a carpet, go to the Bedesten (the oldest inner market, used for valuable goods since the 15th century) and expect to spend significant time being shown what you are looking at. A good carpet dealer will explain the difference between hand-knotted, machine-made, and hand-woven; if they don’t mention this distinction, walk away.

The Spice Bazaar (Misir Carsisi) near the Eminonu waterfront is actually better for food purchases: sumac, saffron, dried figs, pistachios, good quality lokum (Turkish delight). The Grand Bazaar’s spice section is a smaller fraction of what the Spice Bazaar offers.

Leather jackets and bags are a legitimate purchase. Quality varies enormously; handling the leather before buying is the only reliable test.

How to Navigate

The bazaar closes on Sundays. Weekday mornings between 9am and 10am are the quietest. The least crowded time of year is January and February. The T1 tram to the Beyazit-Kapalicarsi stop deposits you at the main Beyazit gate.

Accept the offer of tea. It is genuine hospitality and commits you to nothing. If you want to negotiate a price, start at around 40 percent of the first quote. Walking away slowly frequently results in a better offer.

Do not follow anyone who approaches you on the street and offers to take you to their brother’s/cousin’s/uncle’s carpet shop. This is a well-documented scam that begins with friendly conversation and ends with significant social pressure to buy something expensive.

The Surrounding Area

The han courtyards at the edges of the bazaar are worth entering simply as spaces. Buyuk Yeni Han, reached through the bazaar’s northwestern section, has a domed upper courtyard with a fountain and a sense of the commercial architecture that preceded modern retail.

The Corlulu Ali Pasha Courtyard, immediately outside the bazaar’s Cemberlitas gate, is a tea garden in a converted Ottoman theological school. Narghile (water pipe) and tea are served in a stone courtyard. Whatever you think of the product, the setting is one of the most atmospheric in Istanbul.