- Opening hours
- Monday to Saturday, morning until early evening; closed Sundays and public and religious holidays
- Entry
- Free — it is a working market, not a ticketed sight
- Founded
- 1461 is the accepted date, under Mehmed II
- Size
- About 4,000 shops on some 60 streets, with 11 main gates
- Best for
- Gold, carpets and kilims, leather, antiques, textiles, copper, lamps
- Getting there
- T1 tram to Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı, two stops from Sultanahmet
Private tours from €150 per group, per day
Licensed local guide, private car and driver, and skip-the-line priority entrance. The day runs at your pace, and the plan stays yours to change.
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The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is open Monday to Saturday, from morning until early evening, and closed on Sundays and on public and religious holidays. Entry is free. Kapalıçarşı means simply "the covered market", and it is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world: about 4,000 shops on some sixty vaulted streets, trading since the 1460s. It is less a market than a roofed town, and it rewards an hour of getting deliberately lost.
What are the opening hours of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul?
Monday to Saturday, morning until early evening; Friday is a normal trading day. It is shut every Sunday and on public and religious holidays, and the two that catch visitors out are Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı, whose dates move each year with the lunar calendar. We print no clock times on this site: they shift, and a stale figure costs you more than none.
Timing matters more than hours. Go early: the lanes are calmest in the first hour or two and fullest from late morning. If Sunday is your only free day, the Spice Bazaar trades every day of the week. And since Topkapı Palace closes on Tuesdays, Tuesday makes a very good bazaar day.
What is the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul?
It started as a strongbox. Mehmed II had the Cevahir Bedesten, the Old or Inner Bedesten, built after the conquest of 1453, and 1461 is the accepted founding year. Its rents were meant to bring income to Hagia Sophia. Jewels and fine textiles changed hands inside, its vaults and rented strongboxes held gold, silver and documents, and the gates were locked at night. Trade gathered around it, a second hall followed, and over some two and a half centuries the streets between them were built up and roofed over.
The street and gate names still say who worked where: Halıcılar for the carpet sellers, Kalpakçılar for the fur-cap makers (it is jewelers now), Terlikçiler for the slipper makers, Takkeciler for the skullcap makers. Fire went through it in 1618, 1660, 1701 and 1791, among other years, the 1894 earthquake did heavy damage, and there was a major fire as late as 1954. It was rebuilt every time. The city could not do without it.
How big is it, and how many gates does it have?
Counts differ. The Fatih municipality gives about 3,600 shops on 65 streets; the Istanbul municipality's culture guide counts about 4,400 on 61. The Fatih municipality names eleven main gates, though you will see eighteen or twenty-two in print, depending on which doorways are counted. Either way, you can lose your bearings in minutes. Agree a meeting point at a named gate, and if you get lost, find Kalpakçılar Caddesi, the long street of jewelers between the Nuruosmaniye and Beyazıt gates.
Is the Grand Bazaar worth visiting?
Yes, even if you buy nothing. Come for the building as much as the shopping: more than five centuries of vaulted stone, and a working town rather than a museum piece. Parts of it serve visitors and parts serve Istanbul itself (Istanbullus still come here for gold), and a local can show you both within ten minutes. Being covered, it is also one of the best rainy-day answers in the old city. Give it two hours, more if you are choosing a carpet.
What to buy in the Grand Bazaar, and where to find it
Nothing is signposted by trade, but the old quarters still cluster:
| What to buy | Where to look | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Gold and jewelry | Kalpakçılar Caddesi, and the Cevahir Bedesten at the center | The day's gram price and the workmanship charge, itemized |
| Antiques and old silver | The Cevahir Bedesten, full of antique dealers and jewelers | How old it is, where it came from, and what paperwork goes with it |
| Carpets and kilims | Halıcılar Caddesi and shops right across the bazaar | Hand-knotted or machine-made? Wool, cotton or silk? Then turn it over: the back shows the knots |
| Leather and bags | The Sandal Bedesten, and the Bit Pazarı lane for suede and leather clothing | Can it be altered to fit, and how long would that take? |
| Towels, fabrics and scarves | Yağlıkçılar Caddesi, named for its kerchief sellers | Cotton, linen or a blend? |
| Copper | Cebeci Han, a courtyard of coppersmiths | Hand-hammered? Tin-lined, if you mean to cook in it? |
| Lamps and ceramics | Spread through the bazaar, so compare a few shops | Hand-painted or printed, and will they pack it for the flight? |
Sellers are glad to answer all of them. Our Istanbul shopping guide explains each craft and why it costs what it does.
Is the Grand Bazaar expensive? How prices and bargaining work
It can be either. The same street sells a towel you buy without thinking and a silk carpet that is a real investment, and most things carry no printed price. Gold is the exception: it is priced by weight against the day's rate plus a workmanship charge, so ask for the breakdown.
Everywhere else, a conversation about price is normal and meant to be enjoyable. Decide roughly what a piece is worth to you first. Ask what a fair price is; most sellers enjoy the question, and the answer often comes with the story of where the piece was made. Look in two or three shops for anything large, which nobody minds. Accept the tea: it is hospitality and obliges you to nothing. If you cannot agree, thank them warmly and move on; that is a normal end to the conversation, not an insult. Most shops take cards, and cash sometimes moves a price a little further.
Is the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul safe?
Yes. It is one of the busiest places in the city, so carry your bag in front of you and keep your phone zipped away, as in any big market. Our guide to whether Istanbul is safe for tourists covers the rest, and the mosques around the bazaar ask for covered shoulders and knees (see what to wear in Istanbul).
How do you get to the Grand Bazaar?
From Sultanahmet, take the T1 tram two stops west to Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı. Çemberlitaş, the stop in between, leaves you closer to the Nuruosmaniye gate, the natural way in from that side. On foot it is ten to fifteen minutes from Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque, following the tram line; our public transport guide explains the İstanbulkart.
From the bazaar, Süleymaniye Mosque is about fifteen minutes uphill, and the Spice Bazaar ten to fifteen minutes downhill along Mahmutpaşa, a steep, crowded shopping street. Coming off a ship? Our shore excursion guide shows how the bazaar fits a day ashore, and on our Galataport shore excursion it is the flexible last hour, the one we shorten if the roads are slow.
Grand Bazaar or Spice Bazaar?
Both, ideally: they are under a kilometer apart and do different jobs. This one is carpets, gold, leather and lamps, closed on Sundays; the Spice Bazaar is food, open every day. We compare them side by side on our Spice Bazaar guide. Only time for one, and you like to eat? Take the Spice Bazaar. Want the full five-century experience? This is it.
Touring the Grand Bazaar with a local guide
Istanbul Tours by Locals is the Istanbul arm of Gezginol Turizm, a TÜRSAB-licensed agency, No. 15746 — licensed local guides, a private car, and skip-the-line priority entrance at every major sight.
A guide earns their keep more directly here than anywhere else in the city. Ours will tell you what a fair price looks like for a given carpet, which workshops make what they sell on the premises, and how to send a parcel home, with no pressure to buy anything at all. The bazaar is where our Best of Istanbul day ends, and it fits any one-day itinerary beside the Spice Bazaar and Süleymaniye. Guide and private car included, at your pace, from €150 per group per day; tips are extra and entirely up to you. Tell us you'd like to shop well and we will build the day around it.
The Grand Bazaar — frequently asked questions
What are the Grand Bazaar's opening hours?
It is open Monday to Saturday, from morning until early evening, and closed on Sundays and on public and religious holidays, including Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı. Go early: the first hour or two is the calmest.
Is the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul open on Sunday?
No. The Grand Bazaar is closed every Sunday. If Sunday is your only free day, the Spice Bazaar trades every day of the week and makes the natural Sunday market.
Is there an entrance fee for the Grand Bazaar?
No. It is a working market, not a ticketed monument, so walking in and out costs nothing. You only pay for what you decide to buy.
Is the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul safe?
Yes. The main thing to know is that the crowds are dense, so carry your bag in front of you and keep your phone zipped away, as in any big market. Our guide to whether Istanbul is safe for tourists covers the rest.
Can you pay by card in the Grand Bazaar?
Yes, most shops take cards. Cash is still handy for small things and sometimes moves a price a little further, and it is worth asking whether you are being quoted in lira or euros.
How far is the Grand Bazaar from the Blue Mosque?
About ten to fifteen minutes on foot, following the tram line, or two stops on the T1 tram between Sultanahmet and Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı. The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia face each other across Sultanahmet Square, so the same walk works from either.
The Grand Bazaar in pictures
See it with a private local guide
Every tour we run is private and tailor-made — you choose the places, your licensed local guide plans the day with you, and a private car is always included.
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