hotels in Istanbul

Sumahan on the Water Hotel

Formerly an Ottoman-era distillery, this place was converted into an award-winning hotel by its discerning Turkish-American owners. As the hotel is situated on the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait, guests arrive from Europe in the hotel’s own launch. There can be few finer ways to begin a visit to Istanbul. Sumahan on the Water Location The hotel is situated in Çengelköy, a pretty village once home to a mixed population of Greeks, Armenians, Jews and other non-Muslim minority groups. It’s renowned for its fish restaurants, some with fabulous views down the Bosphorus to the first suspension bridge and beyond, and Ottoman period, wood-built waterfront mansions known as yalı. Indeed there’s not a whole not to do in the immediate vicinity of the Sumahan bar watch the ships and flights of shearwaters glide up and down the strait – and that of course is a major plus in this often noisy, frenetic city. The hotel launch will take you across to the European side of the Bosphorus at Kabataş – a wonderfully scenic ride in its own right – from where it is easy to pick up a tram into the old city, a ferry out to the Princes’ Islands, …