I’m going to share with you a true gem of a hotel that I discovered in Istanbul last month.  It gets a rating of 5 on Tripadvisor, not something you see too often, so I felt relatively confident that I had chosen well.  My stay, though, far exceeded my expectations – I can’t remember when I last said that!

View from the roof terrace of Sirkeci Mansion

LOCATION
Sirkeci Mansion is located in an old konak or traditional house, close to tram, train and ferry, and just a short walk from the main sites of the Old Town. In fact, it overlooks Gülhane Park, the former gardens of the Topkapi Palace.
One thing to be aware of is that the road isn’t open to traffic. When arriving from the airport, I recommend you book a pickup through the hotel as these cars will know how to take you right to the door. Failing that, the tram or taxi will drop you at the Gulhane Park tram station from where it’s a mere hop and a skip to the hotel. If your bag is too heavy for hopping and skipping it’s a very short amble, and you may even find a friendly local with a trolley waiting to help you for a small donation.

ARRIVAL
As with most things in life, first impressions of a hotel are important. The conclusions drawn are hard to disprove later.
Happily, I can say that I cannot remember receiving a warmer or more informative welcome than here at Sirkeci Mansion.
I arrived early and I was prepared for the all too frequent chant of “rooms are not ready until 2 o’clock [troublesome customer]” (Hotels that apply this as an absolute rule no matter how many rooms may actually be ready score a huge black mark in my book.)  I need not have feared: Here, was the complete opposite. While they rushed to get a room ready for me, I was shown to a comfortable seat, given a cup of fruit tea and a member of staff came to visit me to introduce me to the hotel and the city.

FOOD
I am not generally a fan of hotel restaurants; all too often they serve bland international food in anonymous surroundings.
Once again, this charming hotel broke those conventions. The Neyzade Restaurant serves excellent local food and wine. The quality was excellent and the service was charming and efficient.  I enjoyed a delicious evening meal – some of the best flavoured lamb I’ve ever tasted.
In addition to normal meal times, as a great bonus to hotel guests, free meze and tea are served every afternoon. There is a different selection of meze each day along with a variety of fresh bread. It is a perfect indication of the hotel’s ethos of hospitality.

ROOMS
I had a lovely, welcoming room, with fresh and calming decor, tea and coffee facilities and a free dish of excellent Turkish delight.
The mattress was both firm and cosy. I slept incredibly well, and this is from the fussiest of bed reviewers.  I suffer from a bad back and the slightest sag, bump or dip will mean a sleepless night, but there were no such problems here.

ACTIVITIES
The hotel offers a number of free walks and other activities (mainly cooking and eating).  These are free to guests, though the eating one does charge for the food consumed.  The staff can help you arrange anything else you would like to do in the city and with the tram stop literally yards from the front door, getting around isn’t difficult.  This tram takes you to the main parts of the Old Town, whilst the opposite direction takes you to the ferries at Eminönü and on over the Galata Bridge to the Pera district.

FACILITIES
The hotel has two standout facilities. Starting from the top, literally, there is a pleasant rooftop terrace with views across Gulhane Park. This is great at any time of year, but especially spectacular during the Tulip Festival.
The second is in the basement – it is a spectacular Turkish bath, spa and small swimming pool. I can’t recommend the hammam experience enough. For true hedonism, go for the Sultan’s massage, a combination of Turkish bath and scrub, followed by a massage. I came out cleaned, polished and utterly refreshed and relaxed.

I will most definitely stay here again.  If you book now for a stay in October this year, you’ll be looking at a room price of around 190 euros per night.  Not cheap, but this star of a hotel is most definitely value for money.

My overall verdict: “ten out of ten, must return, soon”.

Sirkeci Mansion, Taya Hatun Sokak No:5, 34120 Sirkeci, Istanbul

For those on a tighter budget, they have a sister hotel, Hotel Ilkay, still in the Old Istanbul.  Sirkeci style service and value prices – what’s not to like.

Jo over at Restless Jo kindly invited me to join the Five Photos, Five Stories challenge that has been rattling around the blogosphere in recent months. This photo challenge requires participants to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem, a long post or a short paragraph, and each day you should nominate another blogger for the challenge.
This is the fourth of my required five posts, and I’m breaking the rules again by making my nomination of future participants an open invite – if you haven’t been invited yet and you’d like to take up the challenge, then please accept my invitation.

 Copyright Debbie Smyth, 2 June 2015