Hagia Sophia at sunset, seen from the hotel

Welcome to Optimist Hotel

Sultanahmet · İstanbul

OPTIMIST

Feel the true spirit of Istanbul: the perfect stay in the heart of Sultanahmet

Cosy rooms with French balconies and views of the Blue Mosque. Optimist Hotel is where deep history meets flawless Turkish hospitality.

A small hotel with a very large view.

Optimist is four rooms tucked into the old streets of Sultanahmet, close enough to the Blue Mosque that you can watch the call to prayer roll across its domes from your own window. There's no lobby to speak of, and nothing to compete with where you are — just the rooms, a terrace, and one of the best-placed addresses in the old city.

Rooms with the view built in

Every one of the four rooms looks toward the Blue Mosque or Hagia Sophia — that's the whole point of staying here. Air conditioning and a private bathroom come as standard; there's no television to compete with the view, and no reason you'd want one.

Featured

The Blue Mosque framed directly in a guest room window

The Mosque-View Room

Upper floor · unobstructed view

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Ottoman ceiling Hand-painted Ottoman-style ceiling medallion with a Turkish glass chandelier

The Ottoman Room

Hand-painted ceiling

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Rooms

Room with slate-blue walls and a gilded ceiling medallion above the bed — Blue room, gold ceiling

Room with round Turkish medallion wall art and a window onto the balcony — Medallion room

Bed facing tall windows and a private balcony over the trees — Balcony view

A cluster of colourful Turkish glass lamps hanging over the bed — Turkish lamps

Blue room with an ornate gilded ceiling and hanging chandelier lamps — Ceiling detail

Bathroom with black and white diamond mosaic tile and a red-trimmed ceiling — Bathroom

Close view of a bed with round Turkish medallion wall art and soft curtains — Medallion detail

Blue room with a desk, mirror and wall-mounted TV — Blue room, desk

Blue room with panelled doors and an ornate ceiling — Blue room

Blue room with a writing desk and red chair by the window — Writing desk

Another angle of the black and white diamond mosaic bathroom — Bathroom, mirror

Blue room with mirrored wardrobe doors and a wall-mounted TV — Blue room, mirror

The Optimist Hotel building, Sultanahmet

Optimist Café at street level, with the Turkish flag above the awning

A house on a small street

Optimist isn't a tower — it's a narrow, four-storey house wedged between neighbours on a street in Fatih, with a café spilling onto the pavement below and a terrace tucked on top. The sign has been red since before Instagram existed.

Two cups of Turkish coffee on a table facing the Hippodrome obelisk

Kahvaltı — the terrace breakfast

Coffee by the Hippodrome, tea on the roof

Five minutes from the door, the old Hippodrome is where the day usually starts — two small cups of Turkish coffee, the obelisk catching the evening light. Back at the hotel, the terrace buffet runs to more than forty dishes, with tea poured black and strong into tulip-shaped glasses until it's time to watch the mosque again.

Free Wi-Fi · full breakfast included

Hagia Sophia silhouetted against a deep orange sunset sky

More of Optimist

Fresh flowers on a table with the Blue Mosque visible through the window — Room, mosque side

Twin beds beneath Turkish stained-glass wall lamps — Twin room

Bed made up with towels folded into swans — Turndown

Room with green leather armchairs and a garden view — Sitting corner

Gilded ceiling with a cluster of colourful Turkish glass lamps — Ceiling detail

Bathroom finished in dark geometric marble with a glass shower — Bathroom

Bathroom with a carved star-pattern ceiling light above a mosaic-tiled shower — Bathroom, ceiling

Twin room with slate-blue walls, a Turkish lamp and a small balcony — Blue twin room

A gilded ceiling medallion glowing above the bed at night — By lamplight

A split-level loft room with a painted mural and stairs down to a sitting area — The loft room

A tall Turkish floor lamp strung with coloured glass globes beside a bed — Turkish lamp

Snow-covered trees with the Blue Mosque and obelisk beyond, under a blue winter sky — Winter, by day

The illuminated Optimist Café sign above its entrance at night — Optimist Café, by night

Optimist Café storefront by day, with a red umbrella and Turkish flag — Optimist Café, by day

Inside Optimist Café, a cluster of colourful Turkish glass lamps above the counter — Café, inside

The old Hippodrome square on a quiet, rain-washed afternoon, with the obelisk and a minaret in view — The Hippodrome

Sultanahmet, on foot

Hagia Sophia

5 minute walk

Topkapı Palace

5 minute walk

Grand Bazaar

8 minute walk

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