From Ena’s Little Black Book: where to stay in Sultanahmet. The Four Seasons with a prison past, a rooftop view of the domes, and the concierge worth trusting.
It was my first Four Seasons, and the start of a love affair, with the hospitality, and with the property itself.
You do not so much arrive at this hotel as get released into it. The building opened in 1918 as the Ottoman Empire’s first modern prison, with the words “Dersaadet Murder Jail” once inscribed over the gate. For half a century it held Turkey’s political prisoners, dissidents, and writers, among them the great poet Nazım Hikmet. Walk the corridors and you can still find words carved into the walls by the men who were held here. It sits in the middle of Sultanahmet with Hagia Sophia practically leaning over the garden wall, which means you step out of the front door and directly into fifteen centuries of history.
We arrived mid-trip, refugees from a hotel that was not working out, and the staff treated us like we had been expected all along. This is the thing about the service here: it is warm without hovering, and it anticipates. When we asked the concierge where to have lunch, he did not hand us a map. He walked us to a tiny café nearby, where I had the best pearl couscous of my life. I have been chasing it ever since.
The conversion hid nothing. The high ceilings, tall windows, pointed arches, and a watchtower or two are all still there, and the old exercise yard is now a garden courtyard so quiet you forget the entire old city is on the other side of the wall. The rooftop terrace is the payoff: Hagia Sophia rising directly behind it, domes and minarets filling the sky, close enough to feel like part of the hotel. And at dinner one night, with the courtyard glowing through the windows, we ordered a cocktail called the Golden Horn. The bartender was kind enough to share the recipe, and every time I make it, it takes me straight back to that table.
Insider Note
Don’t ask the concierge for a restaurant list. Ask them where they would eat lunch, and let them walk you there. That is how I ended up with the best pearl couscous of my life. Order the Golden Horn and be charming enough to leave with the recipe. Ask about the building’s history; the hotel employs a storyteller who gives tours of it. The hotel completed a top-to-bottom renovation in 2023, so it will have only improved since our stay. Note there is no pool on site; a complimentary shuttle runs to the sister property on the Bosphorus if you need one.
Destination · Istanbul, Turkey
Best time to visit · April to June and September to October are ideal: warm, clear, and manageable crowds. July and August are hot and packed. Winter is quiet and atmospheric, with the occasional dusting of snow on the Blue Mosque, and hotel rates to match.
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