Istanbul

ISTANBULSTARTER

Between the Two Domes

≈ 1,500 steps0.7 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.

Two hours on the oldest public ground in the city: the square that was a Roman racetrack, the free courtyard of the Blue Mosque, and the palace garden that has been a public park since 1912. Flat, walkable, and best early, before the queues form at the doors that charge.

ISTANBULSTARTER

The Bridge, the Stairs and the Tower

≈ 1,800 steps0.9 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.

Cross the Golden Horn on foot, climb the hill behind Karaköy on a nineteenth-century banker's staircase, and finish at the base of the tower. Two hours, one long uphill, and the only money you need is for tea. The tower sells a ticket to go up; the square around its foot does not.

ISTANBULSTANDARD

Across to the Other Side

≈ 4,000 steps + 6.6 mi by car2.0 mi on foot · about 5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

Cross to Asia on a public ferry and give the afternoon to the other shore: the Kadıköy quay, the bull at the six roads, the grass at Moda that faces the old city, then north for the Maiden's Tower view and the smallest mosque Sinan built. Half a day, mostly flat, one bus or a long walk between Moda and Üsküdar.

ISTANBULSTANDARD

Colours of the Golden Horn

≈ 4,500 steps + 0.2 mi by car2.0 mi on foot · about 4.5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

Take the Haliç ferry up the Golden Horn and walk the old Greek and Jewish quarters: a wooden pier, the wall of the patriarchate, the red school on the hill, the painted lane everyone photographs, and the pier back down. Around four and a half hours, with some steep lanes.

ISTANBULSTANDARD

Spice, Stone and Covered Streets

≈ 4,000 steps1.8 mi · about 5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

Half a day on the market hill: the ferry quay at Eminönü, the spice halls, a tiled mosque hidden above a hardware street, Sinan's greatest courtyard with its terrace over the Golden Horn, then the eastern gate of the covered bazaar. About five hours, all of it free, and the bazaar is shut on Sundays.

ISTANBULADVANCED

The Walls, Marmara to the Horn

≈ 13,500 steps6.5 mi · a full dayAdvanced · 8 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.

A full day along the Theodosian land walls, roughly eight kilometres of towers, gates and rebuilt masonry from the sea to the Golden Horn, then the square at Eyüp and the hill above it for the look back. Start early at Kazlıçeşme on the Marmaray. Rough ground and open sun in stretches; the fortress and the museums charge, the walls do not.

ISTANBULADVANCED

Two Shores to the Black Sea

≈ 7,000 steps + 52 mi by car3.3 mi on foot · 1 day or moreAdvanced II · 10 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.

Two days and both banks, from the first bridge to the open Black Sea. Day one runs north up the European shore by ferry and bus to the lighthouse village at the mouth; day two comes back down the Asian shore from the castle hill above Anadolu Kavağı. Long days and a lot of public transport. The forts and the museums all charge; the quays, the parks and the castle hill do not.