Need Hotel Recommendations for Athens and Istanbul

[pier]

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has booked hotels on their own for Athens and Istanbul rather than take the pre-and-post cruise packages. If you liked a hotel for its location, cleanliness, etc. please let me know.

[CintiPam]

Istanbul: We spent three nights a year ago at the Sirkeci Konak, perenially top-rated on sister website tripadvisor. It's 40 yards from a tram stop, 10 minutes walk to the major historic sights (Topkapi Palace, Archaelogy Museum, Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern, etc.), most of which are located within a very small area, not more than a 10-minute walk from each other.

 

Sirkeci Konak is a small boutique hotel with nice rooms, a lovely afternoon tea, great breakfast buffet, spa in lower level with terrific Turkish hammam, as well as sauna and massage rooms and a small pool, nice restaurant, and, above all else: the absolute best service you will ever enjoy in any hotel from a wonderful staff. Assistance with anything you can think of and three people seeing us off outside the door at the end of our stay.

 

Whichever you decide, I highly recommend you stay in or near the Sultanahmet area, where 95% of the historic sites you will want to visit are located, not in the newer part of the city where the cruise ship's place their guests on giant impersonal hotels.

 

Athens: we have stayed in two hotels for the location of each, so nothing fancy. Friends of ours really enjoyed their June stay at the Athens Gate, near the Acropolis and New Acropolis Museum. Just be sure to stay centrally in either the Syntagma Square or Plaka areas. A great walkable city with again all major sights very close together.

 

Enjoy!

[Roundtop]

We stayed at the AVA Hotel in Athens post cruise in 2008. The hotel is very clean and comfortable and with an excellent location in the Plaka. All the staff were quite friendly and helpful. We were upgraded to an executive suite, which we didn't really need. Be aware that the breakfast is not included, as in many hotels.

 

Our tiny balcony had a view of the Parthenon in one direction and Hadrian's Arch in the other. Although it is in the Plaka, we were not bothered by any street noise.

 

We will probably plan to stay there again after our 8/29 cruise.

 

Jane

[tropicalkerry2002]

another recommendation for Ava Hotel in Athens. Great location, fabulous staff, lovely room.

[Benita]

We have stayed at the Royal Olympic Hotel in Athens twice over the past five years. Very nice, reasonably priced hotel within walking distance of the major sites.

[Andee]

We were very satisfied with the Athens Cypria--excellent location, large rooms, modern bathrooms, friendly & helpful front desk staff, moderate price.

[FlyerTalker]

In Athens, you can do quite well by using the "name your own price" side of Priceline. Bidding a 5 star will almost guarantee the Intercontinental (with occasional wins of the Hilton) and 4 star is almost a lock for the Athens Ledra Marriott. Bids of $85 to $100 are the usual winning range.

 

Have stayed at both the Marriott and Intercontinental. Though not in the Plaka area, both hotels have regularly scheduled free shuttles to Syntagma. Superior hotels, excellent staff and large rooms with nice appointments.

 

You can pay for lots of cab rides with the savings from PL. Also, there is a large supermarket/shop about 4 blocks from the Intercontinental if you need/want to stock up on anything for your room.

 

Another advantage is that both are off Syngrou, a major artery to/from Piraeus.

[Aussieafloat]

We stayed at the Garden House Hotel for a week before our Nautica cruise in 2007 and it was a beautiful little hotel close to all the sights.

[caribbeansun]

We stayed at the Hotel Grand Bretagne pre-cruise in Athens which was stunning. It's part of the Starwood Luxury Collection and we were fortunate to have been upgraded to a suite that was quite simply to die for. The rooftop restaurant has amazing views of the Acropolis, particularly at night. The hotel is located adjacent to the Plaka and many historical sites are within easy walking distance. One of the nicest hotels we've stayed in.

 

In rather stark contrast we stayed at the Sari Konak in Istanbul primarily due to the location in the Sultanahmet area. It was clean but very minimalistic. If you want higher end the Four Seasons is also close by.

[hrprof]

The Cirigan Palace in Istanbul is one of the best!

[wripro]

Another one to check out in Istanbul is the Park Hyatt Macka Palas. It's a supberb hotel with great rooms and service in the Nisantasi neighborhood, which is filled with great boutiques and restaurants. It is a cab ride from the main tourist sites though, but is the Ciragan Palace and the FS Bospeherus.

[pier]

Thank you all for your help! This is such a great board.

 

A note to Flyer Talker: I truly appreciate your suggestion, but I'm not as brave as you are. With my luck, if I tried Priceline I'd end up in an airport hotel. I am interested in your statement about taking taxis in Athens. You made it sound as if it were easy. From what I've been told, the taxi drivers in Athens are supposed to be very difficult. How do you manage to avoid a hassle other than to insist that the meter be on?

[FlyerTalker]

Thank you all for your help! This is such a great board.

 

A note to Flyer Talker: I truly appreciate your suggestion, but I'm not as brave as you are. With my luck, if I tried Priceline I'd end up in an airport hotel. I am interested in your statement about taking taxis in Athens. You made it sound as if it were easy. From what I've been told, the taxi drivers in Athens are supposed to be very difficult. How do you manage to avoid a hassle other than to insist that the meter be on?

If you are concerned about an "airport" hotel, I suggest you just start a request for an Athens hotel. PL will show you a map with a boundary of where the potential hotels are. You can see that it probably extends no more than 2 miles from Syntagma. Also, if you bid only a 4 or 5 star hotel, you are pretty much assured of the Hilton, IC or Marriott. At the worst and I would say it's a less than 5% probability, you end up with another luxury/deluxe hotel at a great rate.

 

I've used PL several times in ATH and never gotten anything other than the Marriott or IC. And never paid more than $90 per night.

 

As for my comment about taxis -- what I was saying is that with the significant savings by using PL, you'll have money to burn on taxis getting around. Sure, they may be "difficult", but just insist on the meter, and think of what you saved.

 

For example, assuming you get the IC for $100 per night. Punching in some random dates this coming summer, I find advance purchase prices of 159 EUROS per night. So you have about a $220 savings PER NIGHT. You can pay the taxi driver whatever he asks and still be making out.

 

With good research on PL bidding reference sites (just google for "priceline bidding"), you can have a great stay at an unbelievable rate. (Those 40% savings blubs on PL are designed so that you don't really bid as low as you could.)

[pier]

Thanks, Flyer Talker. The information you posted about Priceline is really helpful.

[Aussie Gal]

Our favourite hotel in Athens is the King George Palace Hotel right next door to the Grande Bretagne on the square in the heart of Athens.

 

We have been to Athens five times, the last visit was in November where we stayed at the Intercontinental. We would not return to that hotel again as it is out of the way in a not very select area. We had a huge room (a suite) but it didn't make up for the position of the hotel.

 

We stayed at the King George Palace in 2008 and it is a beautiful boutique hotel with a wonderful breakfast room that overlooks the Acropolis.

 

We have also stayed at the Grande Bretagne three times, but the prices there are now becoming exhorbitant.

 

Jennie

[BlindCreek]

We stayed at the Hotel Central in Athens. It was, indeed, central. The prices was right and included a very nice breakfast. The roof terrace was wonderful.

 

In Istanbul we stayed at the Sari Konak, which was perfectly located in the Sultanhamet. From the roof terrace we looked at both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia .. as well as the Bosphorus. It was wonderful.

 

We also availed ourselves of a private tour guide in Istanbul. Levent Solmaz was our guide. He was phenomenal in his knowledge of the city and the country. He was very attentive and speaks excellent English. Our two days with made Istanbul an experience we will never forget.

[mrsfish]

We did some research since we have not been there for 20 years. Our top priority outside of cleanliness was location. We are booked to stay at the Athens Gate Hotel after our Hong Kong - Athens cruise in April. It got top reviews from Trip Advisor and was reviewed also by a couple other travel books we have.:D It has good views, a roof top restaurant, nice staff and was remodeled for the Olympics. If we were not concerned about cost I would stay at the King George or Grand Bretagne.

[john2003]

We stayed at the Hotel Nena a couple of years ago. They were very good with the pick up from the port and the location was great.

[conan]

You do not indicate what kind of hotel you prefer. You do not indicate how long you need the hotels for, what your minimum requirements are or what your budget is. Each of these has a bearing on recommendations. If you prefer the sanitized chain hotels and are willing to pay their prices by all means go for it. Most are in the Taksim neighbourhood across the Golden Horn from Sultanahmet and closer to the cruise terminal. I concur with the cool cruiser who recommends staying in the Sultanahmet neighbourhood. The popular sites are close at hand, easily walkable in 10 minutes from one extreme to the other. If you want the sanitized chain hotel in this neighbourhood, there's the Four Seasons which in its first life was a prison. Other hotels which have more of the ambience of the neighbourhood include Hotel Valide Sultan (hotelvalidesultan dot com) 100 yards from the Topkapi Palace gate and the Hagia Sophia back door. The Hotel Daphne is near the Blue Mosque which is at the opposite end of the Hippodrome from the Topkapi Palace. Hotel Yesil Ev (hotelyesilev dot com) faces the open area known as the hippodrome. and the Hotel Dersaadet (hoteldersaadet dot com). There's also Hotel Zoe, and Angel's Home. These are all small, intimate, locally owned/managed hotels each with their own character. Most offer airport or cruise terminal pickup if you stay more than 2 nights. Most offer a discount for cash. Hotels in this neighbourhood have their dining rooms on the top floor. Most hotels include breakfast. In Turkey, if you want milk with your cold cereal, ask for it otherwise use yoghurt. Note well that room sizes are not North American ~ they're much smaller, but functional. We chose the Valide Sultan because of it's location near Topkapi, it's price and the offer of transfer. It had been gutted and rebuilt so we were confident in its plumbing and wiring. Friends on the same trip used the Daphne and loved it. Another couple found the Nena noisy but otherwise loved the location. Each to their own preference.

In Athens we used the King George because of its location on Constitution Square on the edge of the Plaka and because it was not as pricey as the Grand Bretagne next door.

 

If you need a guide in Istanbul ~ there are lots of reasons why this is a good idea ~ Levent Solamaz (levantsolmaz dot com), The Kagans, Nejat Incedogan (********** at yahoo dot com) and Anna Karagaac are good bets. Levant and Nejat are very popular and are booked early. They were booked in early February for our itinerary the following October. We were guided by Nejat in Kusadasi/Ephesus but we used Anna as a guide in Istanbul and couldn't be more satisfied. The women in the group appreciated having a female guide in this male-dominated culture. Having done our research using guidebooks and what have you, she was still able to make suggestions of sites to see that we missed - like the archaeological museum downhill from the Hagia Sophia, and taking a ride on the Bosphorus using the ferry service instead of a tour boat. She had a separate price structure for the days when we needed a van from the days when we didn't. Need more info? contact me at conanlibrarian5 at gmail dot com.

 

Happy sails,

Conan

[Palmetto Lady]

We stated at the Sirkeci Konak which I highly recommend. The service was wonderful. Our TA's contact in Istanbul recommended that we upgrade to the larger room which we did. Breakfast was included. You can walk to the Topkapi Palace, the Museum and the Blue Mosque. We took the tram to the Grand Bazaar. Do not confuse this hotel with the Sari Konak which is of a lesser quality.

[wripro]

I respectfully disagree that the Four Seasons Sultanahmet is a sanitized hotel. It is, imo, one of the few completely organic Four Seasons in the chain which reflects the city it is in, like the one in Florence or the Georges V in Paris. Yes, it is expensive and whether it's worth it is an individual decision.

[ClaudiaF]

Our favourite hotel in Athens is the King George Palace Hotel right next door to the Grande Bretagne on the square in the heart of Athens.

 

We have been to Athens five times, the last visit was in November where we stayed at the Intercontinental. We would not return to that hotel again as it is out of the way in a not very select area. We had a huge room (a suite) but it didn't make up for the position of the hotel.

 

We stayed at the King George Palace in 2008 and it is a beautiful boutique hotel with a wonderful breakfast room that overlooks the Acropolis.

 

We have also stayed at the Grande Bretagne three times, but the prices there are now becoming exhorbitant.

 

Jennie

 

Another vote for the King George..what a great hotel.

[YoPhilly]

At much agonizing, we decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency in Istanbul - mostly because of the great deal we got. All in all, though, we were very, very happy with our choice. Accomodations were wonderfully spacious, with a great view of the Bosphorus. Using the public trams, we reached the Sultanahmet area in just twenty minutes. Plus, we had the lively night scene of Taksim at our doorstep.

[popogranny43]

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has booked hotels on their own for Athens and Istanbul rather than take the pre-and-post cruise packages. If you liked a hotel for its location, cleanliness, etc. please let me know.

 

Celal Sultan Hotel:

Good value, location...small quaint rooms, good breakfast We were there 2008 for 4 days post cruise from Oceania Insignia. They will pick up at the port and drive you to the airport when you are ready to depart for home. Very quick in responding to your request by e-mail. We also recommend -Great private tour guides Lale and her husband Kagan ...lalekosagan@yahoo.com They have a company with other guides for Turkey. We had Lale for 3 days in Istanbul and Kagan in Ephesus. :) Our neighbors and friends have used them over the past 3 years.

[A331320]

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has booked hotels on their own for Athens and Istanbul rather than take the pre-and-post cruise packages. If you liked a hotel for its location, cleanliness, etc. please let me know.

 

My wife and I stayed in the Conrad Hilton in Istanbul. We were at the concierge level and it was superb. Also stayed in Hilton's in Athens, Rome, and Munich but Istanbul was by far the best. :)