Best Time to Visit Spice Bazaar to Avoid Crowds
The Spice Bazaar is one of the most popular destinations in Istanbul, and at its busiest moments its narrow galleries are packed shoulder to shoulder.

The Spice Bazaar is one of the most popular destinations in Istanbul, and at its busiest moments its narrow galleries are packed shoulder to shoulder.

The Spice Bazaar has stood on the waterfront of Eminönü since the 1660s, and in that time it has witnessed the transformation of Istanbul from an imperial capital to a modern metropolis.

The Spice Bazaar is one of the finest surviving examples of Ottoman market architecture, a building that has done the same job, in the same form, for more than three and a half centuries.

Every great city has its essential experiences, and for Istanbul, few are more essential than a visit to the Spice Bazaar.

The Spice Bazaar of Eminönü is one of the most accessible and rewarding sights in Istanbul, a compact, colorful market that you can enjoy in an hour or two and still carry its scent with you for days.

At the waterfront of Eminönü, where the ferries dock and the seagulls wheel above the fishing boats, stands one of the most fragrant buildings in the world: the Spice Bazaar, known in Turkish as the Egyptian Bazaar.

The Grand Bazaar is one of the busiest places in Istanbul, and for much of the day its lanes are packed with shoppers, tour groups, and hawkers.

Few places on earth can claim more than five and a half centuries of continuous commercial life, and the Grand Bazaar is one of them.

The Grand Bazaar is not a building but a city, and its architecture is the architecture of a working commercial world that has been adding rooms to itself for more than five centuries.

Some places you visit; others you step into like a different world. The Grand Bazaar belongs firmly to the second category.

The Grand Bazaar is one of the great experiences of Istanbul, and it is also one of the most confusing places for a first-time visitor.

The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, and for more than five and a half centuries it has been the beating heart of the city’s commerce.
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