How many days should travellers spend in Istanbul?
Give Istanbul real time. Three days gives you the headline sights; five or more lets ferries, food, neighbourhoods and the city’s slower rhythm start doing the work.
Answer
Istanbul is not a city that improves by sprinting. The old city has the obvious monuments, but the trip deepens when you cross the water, eat without rushing, ride ferries, sit over tea and let neighbourhoods feel different from each other. Three days can cover the big-ticket sights if you are disciplined. Four or five days is better for most first-timers because it leaves room for weather, queues, jet lag and the kind of wandering that makes Istanbul feel less like a museum list. If Turkey has one place worth under-scheduling on purpose, this is it.