Shopping in Istanbul Part Two
Istanbul Shopping Guide Part 2
The Shopping Centers Edition
Shopping in Istanbul
Istanbul is the only city in the world that lays on two continents. This mega city, is one of the world’s biggest urban areas (the biggest in Turkey) and its continued development breaks every imaginary limit. Here you will find three massive bridges over the Bosphorus, one underwater car tunnel and also an underwater metro line, that will take you from Europe to Asia and return.
The former capital of the Byzantine Empire, explodes history, culture and art. It is one of the most amazing cities one can ever see.
To satisfy the needs of the millions living here, impressive infrastructure was provided. Istanbul is, besides its normal tourism, also a medical tourism hot point by having an incredible developed health sector.
Want more? Oh yes!
In our opinion, Istanbul is the shopping capital of Europe. Everything you think of, is easy to find here. From high end fashion, to new cutlery to bring home, Istanbul is ready to serve you. Because I could honestly write a book about shopping in Istanbul, I have divided the “Istanbul Shopping Guide” in several parts. Each part will provide important details for every category. I will cover everything, from the Grand Bazaar to baby clothes and wedding dresses. Once a month, in a Sunday, a new part of the shopping guide will be posted.
The Grand Bazaar
Kapalıçarşı
Adress: Beyazıt, Kalpakçılar Cd. No:22, 34126 Fatih/İstanbul, Turcia https://goo.gl/maps/2cK899X3pTMW9D939
In order to give another reason why Istanbul should be named as the shopping capital of Europe, I could ask: “Are you sure that the first shopping mall was build near Kansas City in 1922?”.
The Grand Bazaar could be considered as a shopping mall and its building started in 1455. The Bazaar is true to its name “Grand”, here can be found over 4000 shops (inside 61 covered streets), cafés and water fountains. This shopping destination is more than the covered streets of The Grand Bazaar, it also has lots of adjacent streets with many more shops.
I really think that this is the place where you truly can find everything you desire. The prices are good, the variety is big, the competition is bigger and the quality of the items ranges from acceptable to incredibly good.
If you want to buy souvenirs or little presents to bring for your loved ones at home, this is the place to buy most of the items. We prefer to buy coffee mugs, coasters, tea cups and spice boxes. Honestly, I do recommend to buy spices also for yourself, not only as gifts. Their flavor is incredible and will give an extra touch to your homemade meals.
They got the bling:
As per clothing, unfortunately, the most of them are fake designer clothes, and the prices are comparable sometimes to the original ones. We would not recommend buying counterfeit items and to pay this huge amount of money on them. Besides this, there are also nice boutiques with good quality items at reasonable prices.
We could name The Grand Bazaar as “The Gold Country”. If you are a jewelry passionate and loves a nice spark on your neck, here you will be in paradise. They have thousands of models for each type of jewelry and I think there are at least 100 Gold Shops. The quality is good and prices are way lower than in the rest of Europe. I think that similar gold prices are to be found in Dubai, but there are less shops. The usual jewelry is made out of 14k Gold, but higher quality can be found easily. If anyone is interested, they can come with their own model, order it and in 3-5 days, the bling will be ready.
Inside the Grand Bazaar are also lots of fur and leather shops. The quality is impeccable, but just for being in a shop in the covered area of the bazaar, the prices (even negotiated) are higher as the ones from adjacent streets. If you think that you can only find that model in that shop, you are wrong. Everywhere are quite similar, if not identic models. If it is something really special, again, it can be made to measure and ordered.
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Mall of Istanbul
Adress: Ziya Gökalp, Süleyman Demirel Blv No:7, 34490 İkitelli Osb/Başakşehir/İstanbul, Turcia https://goo.gl/maps/2cK899X3pTMW9D939
One of the biggest shopping centers in Turkey and Europe offers you not just a shopping experience because of their multitude of shops, but also some fun experiences. Inside Mall of Istanbul, you will find the biggest cinema complex in Turkey and also the biggest indoor amusement park in Europe, that is fun for all ages. If you are hungry, the list of places to eat inside is enormous.
The shopping experience in Mall of Istanbul is incredible. The variety of shops and brands is huge. One thing that I appreciate is that the shops are grouped depending of what they are selling, so if you are looking for a certain item, you don’t have to search in the whole center.
To get here is very easy. If you go with your car, don’t worry about parking, there are many parking spaces in different lots. It is also very easy to reach by public transportation, now better with the M9 Metro Line.
https://www.mallofistanbul.com.tr/tr
The Mall of Istanbul was the biggest shopping center in Turkey until:
Forum Mall
Made its appearance and gained that status.
Address: Kocatepe, Paşa Cd, 34045 Bayrampaşa/İstanbul, Turcia
https://goo.gl/maps/DHmJWxag4QHhGvUV6
If you have visited Dubai Mall and think that nothing can beat the experience there, you should know that in here you will not only find an impressive aquarium, but also one of the best and fun things to try: LEGO Land.
Yes! In here, if you need a break from shopping, go to Lego Land. This area of the shopping center is wow and huge (over 3000 sqm of fun).
The Sea Life Aquarium was founded on an area of over 8000 sqm and hosts over 15000 marine creatures. It also has the longest ocean tunnel in Europe.
https://www.forumistanbul.com.tr/en Forum Mall is the place where you could shop till you drop, but also where the fun is in its place.
The Shopping Capital
In this article we have mentioned the biggest shopping centers in Istanbul, if we had to mention each one, it would be impossible because in Istanbul are over 200 shopping centers. If Disneyland wants to open an amusement park inside a brand-new shopping mall in Istanbul, for sure I will revise this article and add it here. For now, this three are the cherry on top of the Istanbul Shopping experience. They are a must visit for shopping enthusiast and not only.
Shopping in Istanbul is …
Travelicious.