Crowne Plaza Istanbul - Old City, An Ihg Hotel

“Conveniently located historic building”

Located in Laleli district in the old city of Istanbul, this hotel is located conveniently on the T1 tram line. There are a number of shops nearby, including a large tempting baklava shop, money exchange offices with good rates, restaurants and a couple of small supermarkets. We found it easy to ... more

Located in Laleli district in the old city of Istanbul, this hotel is located conveniently on the T1 tram line. There are a number of shops nearby, including a large tempting baklava shop, money exchange offices with good rates, restaurants and a couple of small supermarkets. We found it easy to travel around Istanbul from here. This hotel was originally the Tayyare Apartment Building designed by architect Kamaleddin Bay built in 1922. It retains many of the old architectural features; the graceful stairways, the canopied atriums, chandeliers and polished floors. Our block had an internal atrium surround on four sides by rooms. There are small elevators to each of the blocks. We booked four nights before joining a tour that was staying an additional two nights here at the start. We had the same room for this entire stay and didn’t have to book in again so that worked well. Our room was outfitted in a more modern style but had old fashioned opening windows with good blackout curtains. The only street noise heard from our room was that of the tram as this district restricts cars but we had no trouble getting dropped off from the airport by our taxi service. The bed was comfortable, the air conditioner operated well on heating (we didn’t try cooling) and there was adequate luggage storage, hanging space, mini-fridge, wall TV, coffee and tea making facilities as well as mugs, glasses and wine glasses, small desk and chair and a small table and chair. The mini-bar was the most extensively stocked I have seen! You are supplied with two free bottles of water a day. Bathroom has clean lines and fresh towels. The sink tap release was missing its cap but housekeeping released it the next day. Water pressure is great but I had to press the override on the hot water tap up as high as I could, not use any cold water at all, and run it for a while to get decently hot water. We returned here at the end of our tour for another two nights and the hot water was working well then. Breakfast buffet, starting at 7 am, had a good range of fresh salads and fruit, olives, stuffed peppers, various cheeses, as well as breads, pastries, hot food such as scrambled eggs or shakshuka, sausages and some local specialities. There were about five types of jams and fresh honeycomb. It had two special dishes designated as vegan or gluten free and an omelette cooking stand. Juices included fresh lemonade and grapefruit juice as well as orange juice and others. Hot tea and coffee were available. Crowne does charge a deposit to cover their extensive mini-bar with charges debited at the start of your stay and returned, they said, 10 days after checkout. It doesn’t slow down checkout as the checks, for us, were carried out afterwards. I checked my statement afterwards and this charge was no longer there.

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“Highly recommend”

This is a great hotel with an amazing spa. There is a fun barber shop for a shave that I highly recommend. They have very friendly and helpful staff. Close to the great bazaar. Haci Ahmet at the front is very professional and knowledgeable. It’s a 15minute walk to the main sites and shopping.

“Barber in crowne plaza old town”

The shave was very clean and fast just the way I like it. Very friendly owner, spoke Arabic so it was comforting to hear my mother tongue, didn’t see many here.

“Great Hotel in the heart of Istanbul”

A very nice hotel with lots of history. Great central location as well. Staff were friendly and helpful. Special shout out to the on-site hairdresser, who gave me the best pamper morning imaginable, including haircut, beard trim, face wax and facial. I highly recommend him!! Photos attached.