I arrived in Istanbul in early winter, when the Bosphorus has that metallic stillness before the winds from the Black Sea pick up and the water turns choppy. The smell of chestnuts and sweetcorn grilling over charcoal from the street stalls; the dusk call to prayer lifting across the water; ferries carrying commuters home to Asia.
To understand Istanbul in today’s world, Beşiktaş is the place to visit. This is where the energy moves differently: youthful, lived-in, local. It’s where I always stay – a neighbourhood that reveals the city’s everyday pulse. It has a distinctly creative, female-led energy that sits naturally within Istanbul’s older rhythms.
Ortakoy Mosque and Bosphorus Bridge in the background istanbul, TurkeyGetty Images
Long before the palaces of Dolmabahçe and Yıldız rose along the shoreline, this harbour belonged to Ottoman admirals and shipbuilders. Around the main square, the fish market still spills into the surrounding lanes, and the streets twist in the familiar Istanbul way: spice sellers, meyhanes, the steady hum of a place feeding itself.
Today, Beşiktaş has become one of the city’s most interesting creative enclaves. It isn’t polished like Nişantaşı or photogenic in the curated way of Balat, and that’s part of its draw – the energy feels rooted. Much of that comes from the people who shape it: with a university population that skews female, the backstreets are full of young women moving between lectures, part-time studio jobs and the steady network of independent cafés that anchor the area.
O Coffee, tucked into the residential lanes of Türkali, and U/WE Coffee, where students slip in for Wi-Fi and San Sebastián cheesecakes, are both women-run and set the tone – warm, intentional, creative. Just uphill, Minoa – a bookshop, café and wine bar – carries the area’s intellectual thread: shelves stacked floor-to-ceiling, a glass of Selendi (an earthy, scented Turkish red), and most visitors deep in their own worlds.
At Beşiktaş’ centre is the Dolmabahçe Palace – late-Ottoman grandeur with a distinctly European sensibility. Inside, the ceremonial hall glitters beneath what is believed to be the world’s largest Bohemian crystal chandelier, and it was here, in Room 71, that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, spent his final days.
Istanbul, Turkey – March 14, 2021: Ortakoy besiktas view, which is one of the most touristic areas of Istanbul. The district is full of restaurants and cafes and has a unique view of the Bosphorus Bridge. There are also Ortaköy mecidiye Mosque and Bosphorus bridge and with pigeons, beşiktaş Istanbul.Getty Images
