More hIpstanbul, House Hotel in Nisantasi
Istanbul or Constantinople?… While we love the old town of Istanbul for its proximity to touristic blockbusters, the eating, drinking and partying is so much better in the new town. Wherever you choose to lay your head, visitors will probably find themselves travelling between the two… here’s some accommodation ideas to get the imagination firing…or at least puttering about. For eating, drinking, mooching about and arty bits see Our Perfect Day in Istanbul.
NEW ISTANBUL
elegance meets bling-bling in Nişantaşı, Istanbul (Image: House Hotel)
The House Hotel (part of Istanbul’s home-grown glamorous cafe chain) is busily opening up a string of hotels across Istanbul (and more power to them) it’s a tough choice, but we think their hotel in Nisantasi (pictured above and left), created with design collaborators Autoban, strikes the right balance of elegance and eccentricity. The location lends itself to fashionable shopping and eating as well as sight-seeing (not to mention parading around in Prada sunglasses). Autoban may sound like the creation of square-glasses wearing creative types who spent too much of their youth listening to Kraftwerk – it’s actually a melding of both the Turkish and German word ‘highway’.) This homegrown design firm has won a proverbial ‘swathe’ of design awards for hotels, restaurants, including the extremely glamorous Witt Hotel, also in Istanbul).
That said, the House Hotel at Galatasary evokes what life might be like if you were able to combine large sums of money, excellent taste and a sense of flamboyance with restraint (not a combination we have a lot of personal experience in) so perhaps that’s worth a looky too? See their website for other outlets and future developments.
Make yourself at home: 5oda hotel, Istanbul
The fashionably named 5oda is a New York loft style five-room boutique hotel with handy kitchenettes in the Galata district (our inner-grandmother always appreciates a complimentary tea kettle). ‘Oda’ means ‘room’ in Turkish, and with one room per floor, space is not an issue here. Warm, cute, very comfortable and unashamably modern, it doesn’t seem quite Istanbul until you remember that this city was the NYC of the medieval world! It’s just by the Tunel metro station, placing you bang in the middle of some of Istanbul’s best restaurant and nightlife options. Continue reading
