The Yilsam Sultanahmet Hotel is in a great location if you are in Istanbul for the first time. As I discovered, it is really close to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, and many other places of interest.
I stayed at this hotel twice so I have a general opinion about the actual accommodations. The first room was supposedly an ocean view room (with an obstructed view due to the mosque behind behind the hotel). The room was tiny as there was practically no room for my suitcase. The bathroom was alright, but was less to be desired. I wasn't really sure which dispenser was for the shampoo and which one was the body wash. In any case, their washing products were mediocre at best. As soon as you get in the room, turn on the DO NOT DISTURB sign, or else the housekeeping lady will barge in your door even though you have the deadbolt engaged like I experienced. With my luck, my safe needed to be reset by the staff as it was not working properly.
The second time I stayed at this hotel, they put me in a much larger room. Unfortunately, the bed portion of the room was on the street side. It was very noisy. I had earplugs on to mitigate the noise, but it wasn't very pleasant. Also, the HVAC doesn't disperse the heating/cooling into the actual bedroom, so that was also unpleasant. The bathroom was always a hot mess on the bathroom floor from all the water coming from the shower area. Also, the height that they constructed the bathroom is a huge problem. It is way too low for an average person. It was very uncomfortable having to lean downward to use the sink.
The continental breakfast on the top food was OK. You can tell that the staff spends a significant amount of time preparing the food, with detail to the presentation. However, for me, the food wasn't very appetizing. There is so much you can do with boiled eggs, plain bread, etc.
Since this hotel is in the old portion of town, there isn't much room for larger vehicles to maneuver into this area. This was an issue for me whenever my tour bus came to pick me up and/or drop me off.
If you have to stay here, insist on an oceanside room so you are not on the street side listening to all the extraneous noise on the street. read more