Rick Steves' Istanbul
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Edition: Third Edition
- Author: Lale Surmen Aran, Tankut Aran
- Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
- Release Date: March 2009
- ISBN-10: 1598802151
- ISBN-13: 9781598802153
- List Price: $17.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryRick Steves’ Istanbul is a “tour guide in your pocket” to one of the world’s grandest cities. Walking in the footsteps of Byzantine emperors and Ottoman sultans, you’ll explore the city where Europe meets Asia. With this up-to-date advice, you’ll make the most out of your time and money, and have your pick of good-value hotels and restaurants. Self-guided walking tours lead you through historic mosques, ancient mosaic-speckled churches, bustling bazaars, and artifact-packed museums. You’ll find out where the locals go for sea-food and for the tastiest Turkish delight candies. In this guide, Lale Surmen Aran and Tankut Aran team up with Rick Steves to bring you the best of Istanbul. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Good, But ...
Rating: 
I have used Rick Steves' guides for Portugal, Spain, and Italy (including his specialty city books for Venice, Rome, and Florence). I typically read in advance of our visits abroad Rick's guides as well as other materials, usually a DK guide and novels and histories involving the locale, and whatever I can find on-line. I have always found that Rick's guides to be invaluable re: practical tips, walking tours and solid explanations of major sights. This review is written prior to our trip to Istanbul. The guide is in the same format (a good thing). I note, however, that this guide is written by a husband & wife who apparently are local tour guides. I mention this because Rick's guides typically include a few recommendations of guides, ranging from companies that are staffed by academics (like Context Travel whom we used in Rome) & expensive to moderate or even cheap for quick highlight tours. The R. Steves' Guide of Istanbul ONLY RECOMMENDS the company owned by the husband & wife who really authored Rick's city guide book of Istanbul. It mentions no other companies. This is doubly disappointing and seems very self-serving. I say doubly because when one checks out the company on-line it's website does not appear to have been recently updated and does not list any prices for its standard menu of tours. That aside, the guide otherwise appears to be Rick's standard fare of advice (a good thing, in my opinion). This is why I rate this book as "Good, But ...."
I did not think I liked it until I was in Istanbul
Rating:
I bought 4 books - (can you tell that it was my first trip abroad). This book was the book that I thought I would like the least. It seems wordy and the pictures are not so good... That was until I was in Istanbul. In the first few days, we traveled with other books. But at the end of day 2 - I sat in the hotel room and began reading this book. Once I had a good idea of the city -this book was invaluable especially the walks in different regions. On day 2 (at night) I found out that I was about 100 feet from some place I had wanted to go.. but did not get the spatial relationship of different sights. I began using this book religiously. I really liked the short historical descriptions of different sights and the way it grouped sights that were near each other together. It made my sight seeing more efficient. The index was well organized so I could look up things that we were considering going to quickly. The directions were very good. The only place we had problem was a trip we took to Kirkakoy on the Asian side.. (but there was a huge construction project that made it hard for us to orient with the book's directions).
I would highly recommend this book. I thought their recommendations on must see, should see, and see if you are nearby were very good.. They also used Turkish and English names for places - so I was able to point in book for cab drivers on occasion when necessary. The maps it had were clear but not flashy - but allowed me to use to public transportation on several occasions. The only thing I wish it had done better was talk about Turkish food.. I also bought a Just Enough Turkish for deciphering menus and they made an excellent pairing.
Another positive review
Rating:
Like all other reviewers, I have been happy with this guide. Indeed, very happy. I particularly liked the large amount of space devoted to describe arts and history. Unlike some other guides (e.g. most lonely planet) who devote 30% of space to sightseeing information and 70% of space to eating/sleeping/night life, in this guide the weights are probably the opposite. I enjoyed my trip to Istanbul much more because of all the information in Rick's guide and I thank him for it.
I also appreciated the "don't miss" lists, although I am not sure I would have included the cruise on the Bosphorus in it (nice, but hardly unique).
The guide also provides several maps, which I found very useful and well done. You will find separate maps in the first pages for "old" Istanbul, the New District and the larger Istanbul area, and inside the guide you will find more detailed maps for specific areas which also indicate the exact location of places discussed in the guide.
Overall, higly recommended!
If you're only going to take one guide, this is it
Rating:
I've always been a bit underwhelmed by Rick Steves's guide books, but this one is an exception. The authors (not Rick) clearly know Istanbul intimately and have a knack for providing concise, useful descriptions and advice for first time visitors to Istanbul and surroundings. The only reason I didn't give this little gem 5 stars is that it lacks a separate street map (which is essential for finding your way around the labyrinthine streets and alleys of Istanbul). If you're only going to take one guide, get a street map and take this one.
Valuable guide
Rating:
This book was perfect for our trip. Not only does it give the typical "how to get there" and "where to stay" information, it provides several "tours" of locations (including the Haiga Sophia museum and several guided walks around the city). The suggested itineraries based on travel time are helpful as well.
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