Istanbul is one of my favourites, so I expected a lovely stay in a lovely family owned hotel.

However, when we finally got to the hotel, after a pretty long flight, I was completely disappointed by what I saw when I entered the lobby of the hotel.

Please see the photos attached to this review, which are indicative without any other comments needed.

The room I stayed in had NO window, although the prospect promised 'a marvellous view on Blue Mosque'. It was nothing to breathe in the room.

The bathroom is worth separate mentioning. It is very small room with no separate shower place, so if you take shower all your toilet paper, sink and toilet itself got wet. The mirror was in an awful condition as well. Please see the video, as I can not describe it fully.

The breakfast is served on a nice terrace, but taking into consideration that winter happens sometine in Istanbul, it is Absolutely not usable in December - February.

We escaped this hotel the next morning.

The first thing to note is that you're in the middle of everything --and that's both good and bad. By luck and intent, we stayed at the Sultanahmet during the first day of Ramadan, and the city was alive. So alive, that by 3am, we wanted people to actually go to sleep. Rooms facing the street have the best views but are among the loudest. Remember the main tram is outside your window. There are rooms that face away from the street, but these either face another building or nothing at all.

There are lovely and amazing views of the Blue Mosque from some of the rooms, towards the Bosphorous, but most of them will face the smaller mosque (still pretty). They're also generally small and most rooms facing the street will not have air conditioning. You'll have to weigh your poison: loud street noise with the window open, or a bit warmer yet quieter with the window closed. The manager said they were looking into installing them with no timetable.

The staff is friendly, gracious, and speak a little English. The rooftop restaurant for breakfast offers fantastic views (though because of the angle, not as good as you might expect). Free and reasonably fast Internet is available downstairs. In all, if your primary reason for staying in the Sultanahmet area is access to everything, but are still on a budget, then this is probably the best
hotel you'll be able to manage for under $60 USD.

This place was so beautiful! I felt like I was staying in a royal palace, but with a more personal feel. The rooms were a good size, and I loved that the windows have a window seat where you can sit/lie, and open the window and stick your head out and smell the sea, and view the Sultan Ahmet Mosque literally right across the street. The bathroom is really cool, with a traditional Turkish bath that also can work as a shower. The lobby of the hotel is just right, not too big - small enough to sit around with friends and meet other people staying there all around a little table. The staff was very polite, and the bellhop/room service guy was incredibly helpful, above and beyond what anyone could expect. Hmm, all I can say is if I'm fortunate enough to go back to Istanbul I want to stay here! If only they would let me move in ....