What to Do in Istanbul on Sunday: What Is Open, What Is Closed and a Day Plan

On a Sunday in Istanbul almost everything a visitor wants is open: Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace, the Basilica Cistern, Dolmabahçe Palace and the Bosphorus ferries all run as usual. The one big exception is the Grand Bazaar, which is closed every Sunday. Go to the Spice Bazaar in Eminönü instead, which opens daily, or to the Feriköy antique market, which only happens on Sundays. If you want the day organised for you, our Istanbul tours run seven days a week with hotel pickup, and on Sundays our guides swap the Grand Bazaar for the Spice Bazaar automatically.

Sunday is also the day Istanbul goes out. Families fill the Bosphorus shore, cafés serve long breakfasts until early afternoon, and the ferries to the Asian side and the islands are busier than on weekdays. That changes how you should plan, more than which places are open.

Is the Grand Bazaar open on Sunday?

No. The Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays and on the first days of the two religious holidays, Ramadan Feast and Sacrifice Feast. Its gates are shut, and most of the shops in the streets around it, down towards Mahmutpaşa, are closed too. Visitors who arrive on Sunday morning find a quiet, empty neighbourhood and usually lose an hour working that out.

The Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) next to the New Mosque in Eminönü is the best substitute. It is smaller, but it opens every day, including Sundays, and sells the same Turkish delight, spices, teas, ceramics and lamps you would buy in the Grand Bazaar. The streets behind it, towards the Rüstem Paşa Mosque, are busy with local shoppers on Sundays too. The small Arasta Bazaar behind the Blue Mosque also opens on Sundays and is useful for carpets and textiles.

In our own private tours this is written into the programme: when a classic Old City day falls on a Sunday, the guide visits the Spice Bazaar instead of the Grand Bazaar. If the Grand Bazaar matters to you, put it on Saturday or Monday.

Hagia Sophia, Topkapı and the museums on a Sunday

All the main sights of the Old City are open on Sunday. Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque are working mosques, so visits pause around the five daily prayers, but Sunday has no special restriction (that is Friday, around midday prayer). Topkapı Palace closes on Tuesdays, not Sundays, and Dolmabahçe Palace closes on Mondays. The Basilica Cistern and Galata Tower open daily.

What changes is the crowd. Weekends bring Turkish visitors on top of foreign tourists, so the Hagia Sophia queue can be long by 10:00, and Topkapı's courtyards are busier after lunch. Start at Hagia Sophia before 09:00 or late in the afternoon. A licensed guide helps here: on our Istanbul city tours the guide handles ticket buying while you wait in the shade, and the route is reordered to avoid the worst of the queues.

If you only have Sunday for the Old City, our Classic Istanbul Full-Day Private Tour covers Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı, the Basilica Cistern and the Hippodrome, from $200 per person, with the Spice Bazaar in place of the Grand Bazaar.

A Bosphorus cruise or ferry ride on Sunday

The water is where Istanbul spends its Sunday. Commuter ferries between Eminönü, Karaköy, Beşiktaş, Kadıköy and Üsküdar run all day, and the long Bosphorus tour boat from Eminönü runs to Anadolu Kavağı and back. For a visitor, the simplest Sunday plan is a ferry to Kadıköy for lunch, a walk along the Üsküdar shore and a ferry back at sunset.

If you would rather not queue at the pier, the Bosphorus Lunch Cruise picks you up at your hotel, lasts about 3 hours, includes lunch on board and a licensed guide, and costs from $75 per person. It runs on Sundays, and it is a calm way to see Dolmabahçe, Ortaköy and Rumeli Fortress from the water. Compare it with the other boats on our Bosphorus tours page.

Expect crowds on the ferries back from Kadıköy and the islands in the early evening. Board 15 minutes before departure, and keep your Istanbulkart topped up.

Sunday markets: Feriköy antiques and neighbourhood bazaars

Sunday is the only day of the Feriköy Antique Market, held in a covered car park in Şişli, a short taxi or metro ride north of Taksim. Hundreds of dealers lay out Ottoman brass, old photographs, vinyl records, glassware, furniture and plenty of junk. Come before 11:00 for the best choice; by mid-afternoon dealers start packing up. Prices are negotiable, and cash in Turkish lira is easiest.

Many districts also hold weekly open-air markets on Sundays, selling fruit, vegetables, cheese and clothes. They are noisy, cheap and entirely local; nothing is aimed at tourists, which is the point. The streets of Kadıköy's market area on the Asian side, with fishmongers, delis and pickle shops, are busy all weekend and easy to reach by ferry.

For sweets, Sunday is a good day to sit down in an old pastry shop for baklava or künefe after lunch. On our street food tour, which runs on Sundays too, the guide takes you to places Istanbul families go after the market.

Sunday breakfast, brunch and where to eat

Istanbul takes Sunday breakfast seriously. A serpme kahvaltı, a spread of cheeses, olives, eggs, honey and clotted cream, jams, pastries and endless tea, can last two hours. Locals book a table on the Bosphorus shore or in Beşiktaş's "breakfast street" near the fish market, and the popular places have queues by 10:00. Go early or late.

Restaurants and cafés are open on Sundays across the city, including in the Old City. The only places that close are some office-area lunch spots and a handful of family-run eateries. Fish restaurants on the Bosphorus are fullest on Sunday lunchtime; book ahead if you want a waterside table.

If you want to taste widely in a few hours, our food tours work on Sundays and suit people who are in Istanbul only for a weekend.

Church services and a quieter Sunday

Istanbul still has active churches, and Sunday is the day to see them in use. The Catholic St Anthony of Padua on İstiklal Street holds Sunday Mass in several languages, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Fener holds the Orthodox Divine Liturgy on Sunday mornings. Visitors are welcome if they dress modestly and keep quiet. Our guide to Christian heritage in Istanbul lists the main churches.

For a quieter Sunday, the Basilica Cistern late in the day, the Kariye (Chora) mosque with its mosaics, or a walk in Gülhane Park below Topkapı are good choices. Avoid the Princes' Islands and the Bosphorus villages on summer Sundays if crowds bother you; those are better on a weekday.

What to do on a Sunday evening in Istanbul

Sunday evenings are quieter than Fridays and Saturdays. Bars in Karaköy and Kadıköy stay open, but many locals head home early because Monday is a working day, so restaurant tables are easier to find after 20:00. That makes Sunday a good night for a sit-down dinner rather than a late night out.

Two evening options are easy to book for a Sunday. The Bosphorus Dinner Cruise with a Turkish night show picks you up at your hotel, lasts about 6 hours including transfers, and costs from $90 per person; the boat passes Dolmabahçe, Ortaköy and the lit bridges while a folk dance and belly dance programme plays on board. For something calmer, the whirling dervish ceremony in the Old City lasts about an hour with reserved seats from $60. Both are listed with our other evening boats on the Bosphorus tours page.

If you prefer to eat your way through the evening, a guided walk from our food tours list covers meyhane meze, street snacks and dessert in three or four stops. It is also a good way to spend a Sunday night if you fly out on Monday morning and do not want a late finish.

Sample Sunday itinerary in Istanbul

This plan works for a first visit and avoids the closed Grand Bazaar:

• 08:45 – Hagia Sophia, before the weekend queue builds.
• 10:00 – Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome.
• 11:00 – Basilica Cistern.
• 12:30 – Lunch near the Spice Bazaar, then the bazaar itself.
• 14:30 – Ferry from Eminönü to Kadıköy (about 20 minutes), walk the market streets.
• 17:00 – Walk or bus to Üsküdar for the sunset over Maiden's Tower.
• 18:30 – Ferry back to the European side; dinner in Karaköy.

Prefer a guide? Book a private day on our Istanbul tours page and we will build this route for you; Sunday bookings made the evening before are usually possible if a guide is free. For short stays, see also our Istanbul tours today page, which explains same-day pickup.

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