A guidebook from someone who actually lives here
Hi, I’m Deniz. I’m a video producer and writer based in Kağıthane, Istanbul, and Istanbul Guidebook started as a notebook I kept for friends who were coming to visit.
Every time someone asked me which ferry to take, which mahalle (neighborhood) to stay in, or whether their dental quote sounded fair, I would type out a long reply. Eventually I had enough of those replies to fill a website.
Why this guidebook is different
Most Istanbul travel sites fall into one of two buckets. Either they’re polished but written by people who flew in for a week, or they’re local but never get updated, so prices and opening hours go stale fast.
I built this site to sit in the middle:
- I live here, eat here, take the bus here, and watch the city change in real time
- I update prices and rules every season (the last big refresh was March 2026, and I’m doing another now)
- I cover travel and medical tourism in the same place, because most people coming to Istanbul for a dental implant or a hair transplant also want to see Hagia Sophia and eat a proper kahvaltı
- I write at a reading level that respects your time, no fluff, no “Top 10 reasons to visit”
What you’ll find here
- Plan Your Trip: Itineraries by length and season, visas, transit, currency tips
- Food & Drink: Where to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and that 3am simit run
- Neighborhoods: Honest takes on Sultanahmet, Beyoğlu, Kadıköy, Beşiktaş, and quieter areas worth exploring
- Living: Residence permits, internet, rent, schools, the boring stuff that matters if you stay
- Medical Tourism: What clinics actually cost, how to vet them, what insurance covers
- Blog: Slower pieces about culture, language, food traditions, and city life
My promise to you
If something on this site is wrong, tell me and I will fix it within a week. If a price changes, I update the article and add a note. If a place closes, I take it off the list. That is the whole standard.
You can reach me at istanguide@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful time in Istanbul.
Deniz
