Best Western Antea Palace

The location of the hotel is very close to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia making it very convenient. The atmosphere was very relaxed and organised with staff such as Gúven and Sinan being on hand to assist with the doors and any queries. Onur helped us with any tourist destinations we wanted to visit and gave us an idea of what we wanted to do. You can book the bosphorous boat trips through the hotel. They serve breakfast too with an array of foods and with staff on hand to clean up after us. They have a lovely cleaner, Semra, who also cleans up the rooms and looks after them.

Situated in a quaint area, overlooking a lovely green park, Antea Palace Hotel and Spa, employs lovely, polite and attentive staff who are very welcoming. Dressed formerly and always pleasant, they responded to every query promptly. With a smooth lift and excellent air conditioning, I found the hotel to be calm, lovely and cool. Breakfast was very nice, Turkish style, with lots of variety including many salads, cheeses, fresh bread, fruit and sometimes hot, savoury spicy, saucy vegetables to accompany the various beaten egg dishes. Coffee was of good quality. The pictures of the hotel do not do it justice in my opinion. Delighting in its welcoming, cool atmosphere, I was calmed by the peaceful classical music played in the large, opulent breakfast room. So tranquil and peacful. Front desk staff are very informative. Outside the hotel, to the left, on the FLAT GROUND AREAS, there are a selection of restaurants to choose from within a couple of minutes. Outside to the left and to the first left again, is a cobbled street with a gentle incline to a delightful ice cream shop and restaurant, literally walkable in 5 mins. A supermarket and avenue of little shops and more restaurants are just around the corner from these. Istanbul is very HOT and HILLY and due to my age of 69 years and current health conditions, I found it difficult to walk much further than the above area during the day time. Evenings however posed far less of a problem. The swimming pool at the hotel was very WELCOMING, CLEAN AND REFRESHING, EVEN THOUGH NOT LARGE, I ENJOYED THE POOL VERY MUCH. There are comfortable chairs to sit on in between dips in the pool. You can cool down in this pool and though small, I enjoyed wading about. It was PLEASANT and COOLING. Taxis are reasonable and because of the HEAT, we took a taxi up to the BLUE MOSQUE, which was UPHILL in a very historical area of great interest. Thank God for trees, as it is very hot in this area, though there are plenty of restaurants to cool down in. Yes, I would return to Antea Palace Hotel and Spa. I would recommend a trip from Galata Port area over to the ASIAN SIDE. It only cost 60 TL, less than a pound. You cross The Bosphorus in a lovely wide boat at low cost. A lovely day out and a huge market to return to after the ferry back in the cooler evening to Galata Port. Equip yourself to cope with very hot weather and be prepared to need to stop frequently for refreshments, especially if you are not in the best of health. The hotel is lovely and cool to return to, but does not serve evening meals, though there are lots of restaurants very close by.

We had an excellent stay at this hotel. A special thanks to Onur at the reception for his exceptional hospitality. He was very attentive, kind, and always willing to help. He answered all of our questions with patience and a smile. His professionalism and genuine kindness truly made a difference to our stay. We highly recommend this hotel!