Topkapı Palace draws nearly 32,000 visitors for summer night tours

ISTANBUL

Offering rare evening access to the Imperial Harem and Ottoman treasures, the expanded route has fueled a surge in summer visits. (DHA Photo)

Night tours at Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace have attracted nearly 32,000 visitors during the 2026 summer season, with attendance more than tripling from the opening night as the route was expanded to include newly accessible sections of the former Ottoman imperial residence.

Organized by the Presidency of National Palaces, the evening visits were held every Saturday from June 13 to Sept. 19, building on a program first introduced in 2024. A total of 31,870 people took part in the 15-night season, with an average of 2,125 visitors per tour.

The season opened with 855 visitors on June 13, while the highest turnout was recorded on Sept. 12, when 2,798 people visited the palace — 3.3 times the opening-night figure.

The 2026 route combined the palace’s courtyards, the Imperial Harem, the Sacred Relics Department, Treasury exhibition and terraces with sections recently opened to visitors. Several areas were included in the night route for the first time, including the Black Eunuchs’ Quarters, the Courtyards of the Imperial Ladies and Concubines, and the Tile Art Gallery along Mabeyn Road.

Within the Imperial Harem, visitors toured the Courtyard of the Black Eunuchs, the Black Eunuchs’ Quarters, the Imperial Hall, Imperial Bath, Murad III’s Privy Chamber, the Mabeyn Courtyard and the Golden Road.

The Enderun Courtyard offered access to the Audience Chamber, Sacred Relics Department, Fatih Pavilion and Treasury exhibition, where visitors could view some of the palace’s best-known treasures, including the Spoonmaker’s Diamond, the Topkapi Dagger and the Golden Throne.

The final part of the route led visitors through the palace’s Fourth Courtyard and terraces. They could walk around the Pool Terrace and take in views of Istanbul from the Iftar Pavilion and the terrace of the Mecidiye Pavilion.

Topkapı Palace served as the principal residence and administrative center of the Ottoman sultans for nearly four centuries, from the 15th century until the mid-19th century.

Built after Sultan Mehmed II’s conquest of Constantinople, the palace grew into a vast complex overlooking the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, reflecting the political and cultural power of the Ottoman Empire.

Today, it is a museum housing imperial treasures, religious relics, manuscripts and architectural spaces that offer insight into the Ottoman court and its centuries-long history.