Istanbul has been a top choice for shoppers for more than 1,500 years, famed as the trading point connecting the Silk Road from China with Europe.Shopping in Istanbul is often a huge part of any visit, and the city’s famous historical bazaars offer a wonderful insight into city life.

Whether shopping for carpets, spices, vegetables or clothes, the process of making your purchase is likely to be enhanced by the atmosphere of wandering through the crowded stalls - and of course haggling. Turkish leather and textile products reflecting the latest fashion are attracting the visitors of malls with reasonable prices.Also silver and gold jewellery with precious stones are most popular items of shopping in Turkey. The most well-known shopping center The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul. The Spice Bazaar is also in the neighborhood.

The oldest and biggest closed bazaar in the world, also known as the Grand Bazaar, has around 4000 shops and over 60 alleyway, and attracts between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.

Grand Bazaar The original two structures covered with a series of domes and remains of the 15th century walls, became a shopping area by covering the surrounding streets and adding to it over the following centuries.

In Ottoman times this was the centre of trading, and a vital area of town. The Sandal Bedesten was added during Suleyman’s reign, to cope with the rising trade in fabrics, during the 16th century.

 
 

Grand Bazaar Apart from the usual shops selling clothes, textiles, jewellry and carpets, there are small workshops where craftsmen cast and beat silver or brass, in a skilled trade handed down through the generations. If all that shopping, bargaining and fending off persuasive salesmen is a little too tiring, there are also traditional cafes dotted inside the bazaar in which to relax, eat and sip tea. There are also money-changing booths inside and out.

The Grand Bazaar has four main gates situated at the ends of its two major streets which intersect near the southwestern corner of the bazaar.

Opening Times are Monday to Saturday  9:00 - 19:00. Closed Sundays and bank holidays.

Grand Bazaar is a good place for an overview of goods and prices, however better bargains can often be found in the smaller shopping areas of Sultanahmet and Beyazit.
Likewise, the famous Spice Bazaar in Eminönü is a must see, if only for the mountains of Turkish delight and its busy surrounding streets selling delicious olives, cheeses and dried fruits.

The market was constructed in the 1660s as part of the New Mosque complex; the rent from the shops supports the upkeep of the mosque and its charitable activities, which include a school, baths, hospital and public fountains. It was called the Egyptian Market because it is thought that it was initially endowed with taxes levied on goods imported from Egypt.

There is also the boutiques and shops of Beyoglu the trendy shops of Nisantasi, and numerous modern shopping complexes here and there around the city.

Istanbul also has a number of outdoor swap meets and street markets, such as the Wednesday Market next to the Fatih Mosque, a neighborhood gathering with lots of fresh produce, household goods and flowers, and the Ortakoy Handicrafts Market, which takes place on weekends. On the Asian side is the frantically busy Kadikoy Street Market, held on Tuesday.

Shopping malls and department stores are usually open daily 10 am-10 pm in Turkey.

Turkish Assistance aim is to help you get just the right items that you want.

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