Hotel Turkish House

✓Hotel Turkish House is a small, easy-to-miss boutique hotel deep in the winding cobbled streets of the old Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, a short walk from the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Check in was pleasant and quick, complete with complimentaryTurkish tea and biscuits. They insisted on giving us a free upgrade to a third floor superior room, which they said would be quieter (the room itself looked pretty much the same to me but, yes, it was quiet). Despite.the older style of the room, it comes with the usual complement of mod cons: kettle, AC, flat-screen TV, safe. The smoke alarm has a very bright flash, but hey, at least there's a smoke alarm! The bathroom is modern and clean, although the shower floor seems to slope the wrong way, so instead of draining it overflows into the bathroom, although not too badly. Not a major problem. Shampoo and shower gel come in refillable dispensers, which I approve of. I also approve of the underfloor heating in the bathroom! At one point I realized that, although I could use the Internet, I wasn't receiving emails. I could receive emails in other wifi areas, so that seems to be a quirk of the hotel's wifi. Heads up. Breakfast, in the small garden area, was surprisingly good - a comprehensive help-yourself buffet plus eggs to order. There's even a glass floor revealing Byzantine ruins below the hotel. Definitely a good choice for a snall independent hotel in central Istanbul.

!Shower overflowed. The light switches were a bit confusing.

✓Very quaint and the staff were super friendly and knowledgeable

!The area is superb right in the heart of the old city and I suppose it was a bit rough and ready in places which didn’t bother me

✓Great location, very close to all of the landmarks in the old town but in a quiet street. Fantastic garden for breakfast. Extremely helpful staff

!Nothing