1- & 2-Star Hotels in Istanbul

Istanbul‘s good, cheap budget hotels, in all hotel districts, include low-cost pensions as well.

The 1- and 2-star hotels tend to follow standard hotel format, with expected services: 2-person rooms with private shower and toilet for a budget price. But there are exceptions.

Hostels and pensions, by contrast, usually have a variety of accommodations from double-rooms-with-shower through multi-bed dorm rooms sharing common facilities to space on the roof where you roll out your sleeping bag.

There are no cheap hotels near Taksim Square. Your best bet to find a simple, clean, convenient small hotel is in Sultanahmet:

Terrace Guesthouse

Only 8 simple, cheerful rooms, views from some, good location on Kutlugün Sokak, great views from the rooftop breakfast room and terrace. More…

Hotel Yunus Emre

Most of this fine little hotel’s rooms are of three-star quality, but there are also tidy 4- and 6-bed dorm rooms with a bathroom for each room. More…

Efendi Apartments

What about this: you don’t need the services of a hotel, you just want a room, but you want it to be clean, pleasant, safe…and inexpensive because you’ll be staying for a week or two, or even a month or more.

Efendi Apartments may be just the thing for you, with two different buildings: Sultanahmet Efendi Apartments, and Gedikpaşa Efendi Apartments. More…

Here’s a good place to look for inexpensive hotels and pensions as well as hostels:

—by Tom Brosnahan