The winning waterfront location
Istanbul has its share of grand, gorgeous palace hotels, dripping with crystal chandeliers and bedecked with inlaid marble. So it’s refreshing to find that the Mandarin Oriental Bosphorus—for all of its understated opulence—is not one of them.
Rather, the architects at Singapore’s HBA Architecture and interior experts at New York’s Tihany Design took inspiration from a more humble sort of Ottoman housing, the traditional yali houses that line the shores of the Bosphorus river. That makes sense because its setting at the water’s edge—making it one of just a handful in the city that have that kind of access—is one of its main selling points.
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Not only is the river beautiful and one of the most fascinating in the world, with Europe on one side and Asia on the other, but also it’s convenient. The hotel’s pier makes it easy to get downstream to the historic city center, upstream to the fashionable Bebek neighborhood and across to the bohemian Asian side. It’s a sexier way to travel, sure, but it’s also often faster than Istanbul’s traffic-clogged streets.
A guest room
That riverfront location—in a central spot with views of both bridges—is one reason the hotel has been popular ever since it opened in late 2021. Marketing and public relations director Sabri Yetişen told me that it’s the best-performing hotel in the group (a distinction previously held by the Mandarin Oriental Bodrum) and the most successful opening in the brand’s history.
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Popular doesn’t equal crowded or busy. Yetişen told me that the property—a former parking lot that required seven years of negotiations to get the green light for hotel development—has a footprint that’s big enough for 300 rooms. Instead, it has 77 rooms and 23 suites, most with balconies or terraces, the better to enjoy that view. (Eighty percent of the accommodations overlook the river.)
Design details emphasize the relationship with the water. Rooms have polished wood and rounded corners reminiscent of being on a yacht, which is not unlike the feeling you get when you open the curtains (via a push-button panel beside the bed, of course) and take in a view that’s predominantly water.
The gardens
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A closer inspection reveals more details. The lighting and wood design were executed by a French company that usually works only for private palaces. A geometric tulip motif runs throughout, a nod to the 18th-century Tulip Era of the Ottoman Empire. The hallway carpets—usually a drab but busy, stain-concealing affair—have a tasteful, blue and gray pattern that calls to mind the river and its banks.
The minibars—actually not that mini; more like armoires—are wallpapered with a design that’s used in royal regalia, and the “tree of life” pattern on some of the walls of the suites was inspired by the royal family.
Beyond the pleasing visuals and comfortable features of the rooms, the hotel ticks all the Mandarin Oriental boxes—an enormous spa with natural light, snap-to-it concierge service, stylish event spaces (including one meeting room that looks like a train car on the Orient Express) and destination restaurants.
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Novikov
They call it an urban resort, and with good reason. Even with its central location, it’s a quiet oasis, flanked by public parks, waterfront walkways and a protected forest. It has multiple waterfront swimming pools. It’s also within walking distance of some of the city’s top restaurants and nightlife in the exclusive Kuruçeşme neighborhood.
Within a few months, the hotel will have four big-deal dining experiences—a lot for a smallish hotel with only 100 rooms and suites—including the first Turkish outpost of the trendy London-born, Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant Hakkasan, and a waterside fish restaurant in the style of a typical Turkish tavern.
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For now, the main restaurants are Olea, which serves an extensive Italian menu—the burrata is a standout—and Novikov, another London brand that has gained special popularity in Moscow and St. Petersburg for its mashup of Mediterranean and pan-Asian food. At the Istanbul outpost, a tasting menu can include spicy edamame, baby calamari, more burrata, sashimi, California rolls and miso black cod.
It can be a lot. But in a city that prides itself on being the crossroads of the world, where Europe and Asia meet and where people from all over have historically passed through on their way somewhere else, it makes a kind of perfect sense.
