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Suitel Bosphorus Taksim Review – Helpful Things to Know

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Check out my review of the Suitel Bosphorus Taksim.

I booked a stay at the Suitel Bosphorus Taksim for 4 nights in late October 2019/early November 2019.

It was my first visit to Istanbul, a city I had wanted to visit for a long time.

The pictures on the internet looked nice and the location looked handy for the things I wanted to visit, as well as for public transport connections from Taksim Square.

Suitel Bosphorus Taksim

Arriving Suitel Bosphorus Taksim

I arrived later in the evening due to my flight time and getting from the airport in Istanbul.

When I arrived it was starting to get dark and the bus arrived at the far side of Taksim Square. Thankfully it was easy to walk across the square, which was quite busy due to an antiques fair being on at the time.

The Suitel Bosphorus Taksim was located just off from Taksim Square, not far from the Burger King restaurant.

Check-in was straightforward.

suitel bosphorus taksim

Hotel Room at the Suitel Bosphorus Taksim

  • The hotel was clean which is always important.
  • The room had a kettle, some tea and coffee equipment, a television, an en suite shower room, and plenty of storage space in wardrobes and drawers
  • There was a fridge in the room but it wasn’t plugged in, and there was no lead to plug it in so it was really there for the kettle to stand on top of.
  • The bathroom had a continual small leak which meant the floor was always a little bit wet. This caught me out a time or two when I went into the bathroom and nearly slipped.
  • It also had a desk
  • The bed was large and comfortable with nice crisp white linen
  • The room was located at the front of the hotel with a view into some sort of sex shop.
  • The street outside the hotel room was extremely noisy, with traffic continually beeping their horns.
  • There was also a nightclub further along the road which emptied in the early hours of the morning, meaning many more car horns blaring as people piled into taxis.
  • The problem of sleeping was made worse by the room being very light. There were large curtains but the distance from the rail to the window at the top of the curtain was big, which meant lots of light crept in. The window was also an L shape which meant it was impossible to get the curtains to fit snugly, despite using chairs and a desk to keep the curtains against the window. Even though I had an eye mask which I use in such cases the room was still light.
  • Despite having earplugs and being extremely tired I was not able to sleep very well.
  • Not being able to sleep meant that I slept in later than I had hoped because I simply fell asleep from exhaustion in the early hours and then woke up around 11 am. This meant I had less time to explore than I had hoped.

Suitel Bosphorus Taksim

Hotel Dining

  • I had dinner one evening at the hotel.
  • The menu had enough options for me as a vegetarian and the food was really nice.
  • It arrived very quickly.
  • The view from the terrace at the rear of the hotel where the restaurant was located was great. I especially enjoyed watching the sunset over Istanbul and the bats hunting overhead.
  • There was lots of greenery giving it a nice peaceful feel, very different from the front of the hotel view and experience.

Suitel Bosphorus Taksim

A Very Odd Hotel Experience

While I was in my room one evening and ringing home to talk to my family I saw three men enter a building that looked under construction opposite the hotel. A couple of minutes later two of the men started fighting before one appeared with a very large sword.

It was an extremely weird and strange scene to witness and I wasn’t sure what to do.

In other countries, I would have probably gone over to make sure everyone was OK but I didn’t feel comfortable or safe doing that in Istanbul so I just watched and a few minutes later the men left, individually.

Want to Stay at the Suitel Bosphorus Taksim?

If you do want to stay I would strongly recommend booking the rooms at the rear of the hotel. There you can enjoy the views without the street noise.

Silver Travel Advisor Europe 5

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