TERRIBLE experience. Disappointing and overpriced for foreigners…read more Summary: Employees don't speak English so your kids will have no clue what is happening during the activities and be bored. You aren't allowed to enter the activities with your kids. Also, very few activities for little kids. Lots of the activities were closed when we came. The whole experience felt like a scam. Detailed: I took my two kids (4 and 11 years old) to Kidzania while in Istanbul. We were looking forward to it all week. But we were all realllly disappointed. Bear in mind that the tickets for foreigners are much more expensive. Kids tickets are double the price and adult tickets are more than 3x the price. Because foreigner tickets cost more and the website is in English, I assumed that the employees would speak English. Not the case. NONE of the employees at the activities spoke English. This meant that my kids couldn't really participate in many of the activities because they didn't understand what to do. The manager's "solution" was to send us a translator who would walk around with my kids to each activity while we adults sat in the parents lounge. Understandably, my kids didn't want to walk around with some strange guy. My 4 year old was scared of him. On top of that, his translations during the activities were boring. After a LOT of arguing, I was able to convince the manager to let me attend the activities with my kids so I could explain things and try to make it more interesting. Despite getting permission, I still had to explain to each activity leader that I was allowed to enter with my kids. Then they would get on the phone and call the manager. Basically, we had to wait 5-10 minutes before each activity (not counting the time spent in line) just to get permission again. The entire experience was frustrating and annoying. I felt like they were scamming the foreigners. It's not okay to charge more than double the price for such terrible services. Now, if you speak Turkish and your kids are around 6 to 8 years old, then Kidzania is probably worth it: you get to sit and relax while your kids run around and have fun. But, if you don't speak Turkish, it's definitely a waste of money.

"I am an American with degrees in Psychology and Communication, and I work in Human Resources with…read morean International Company here in Istanbul. I speak Turkish fluently, and we send our daughter to a reputable Turkish preschool. Today we visited KidZania for the first time, and I expected to be treated both fairly and respectfully; however, that was not my experience today. Unfortunately, a number of the employees treated both myself and my Turkish friend disrespectfully. While I understand that there are guidelines that must be followed in such an establishment, the manner in which an employee enforces certain guidelines and conducts him or herself with customers (many of them highly educated professionals bringing their children) says a lot about the business. While I love the product that KidZania is "selling" and the experiences my daughter had, the manner in which some of the employees carried themselves left something to be desired. I wondered if their manner comes back to the training KidZania provides or the lack of education and experience of their employees. At any rate, it will be a while before I venture to KidZania again, and when I do I will put my "thick skin" on and prepare myself for the disrespectful behaviour of their employees." - Sarah, Dave L's wife

Enjoyed visiting so much. The vibe, the lovely people, our hotel Sofitel was great. Loved the…read morecats in the streets, the shops and restaurants are fantastic. I would visit again for sure.

Taksim Meydanı or Taskim Square is a large open area with a monument in the center…read more It as a vast complex surrounded by shops, vendors, a huge mosque and the like. There is also a park adjacent as well as several embassys, and its one of the main shopping districts in Istanbul It was later in the day and some light rain on and off so for our visit it was not packed. But we also wanted to get back to Sultanment so we did not spend a ton of time here,

One of the best public parks in Istanbul. It's located at Emirgan neighborhood along the European…read moreshores of the Bosphorus. You can reach there by taxi or there are public busses from Taksim, Besiktas, and Maslak. There are a couple of old pavillions inside which serve as restaurants and cafeterias with nice views and reasonable prices, but no alcohol is served. There are lots of green spaces and trees, a decorative pool, wc's, children playgrounds etc. The best time to visit the park is during the Tulip Festival in April every year, when you can see millions of tulips of each kind and color, absolutely spectacular.

İstiklal Avenue means Independence and is the longest pedestrian street in the historic Beyoğlu…read moredistrict of Istanbul, one of the most famous avenues in the city, known for the cute red trams, lots of shopping - malls, US stores, restaurants, some street food, elegant buildings, fun to walk it. We found our way from Galata Tower and once we reached it, we explored it and stopped along the way to check out stores (cute bookstores), coffee shops, a cool passage, an Italian church -of St. Anthony of Padua(the biggest catholic one in Istanbul) and so on. Lots of American chains, clothes, food (fast-food) which we avoided. But we tried a cheese borek (salty cheese pastry) from the gentleman with the cart. It is fun to see the vintage trams passing by. We continued to the end, till we reach the end of it marked by the French Institute and Taksim Square. It is worth checking it out while visiting Istanbul, not super crowded, but very lively!

Istiklal Caddesi is a great/must see area of Istanbul. Basically, what this location presents is a…read morestreet full of all kinds of shops, cafes, galleries, restaurants, and a bunch of other businesses. It truly shows off the unique culture of Istanbul. My suggestion is that you come here early in the day on a weekday. During this time frame the street is not too crowded and you can really take time checking things out. On the weekends and later in the day, this area can get pretty hectic and very crowed with people. If you want to avoid that, come during the off-hours. I suggest the way to visit this street is to walk over the Galata Bridge. This bridge, of course, provides you with a great view of Istanbul. From there, just follow the main street up. If you have any location concerns, GPS will easily take you here. This is a long street with an uphill trek. Of course, that also means, on the way down, it is a downhill trek. Nothing too steep or anything like that, but it can provide you with a bit of a cardio workout if you are a fast paced walker like myself. Overall, this is one of the must see areas of Istanbul. This street provides you with an excellent view into the modern shopping and culinary culture of Istanbul.

At first everything was somewhat ok we had to wait a little bit for menus and to order however once…read morethe food came it was nice. This was until the waiter spilled boiling hot tea on my leg. The waiter apologized later and I was checked on by a waitress in the bathroom when I was icing my leg. The manager looked like he did not care and we were still charged for our breakfast. It was 140-160 Lyra so not a huge bill but I would expect if you injure a customer at least offer to comp the bill.... our nice breakfast was ruined by the incident.

It's such a beautiful place the view is amazing everything is wow but the only problem the food is…read moretoo expensive but you can enjoy the view with just tea you neeed to come here