Travellers in search of time-honoured hospitality – the type that might well beguile them into believing that they are just a little more special or important than anyone else in the room – will strike gold at The Peninsula Istanbul. A Byzantine citadel and incarnation of a brand-wide commitment to curation over rapid expansion, this urban resort along the sapphire ribbon of the Bosphorus is pure, polished ambition.
The neighbourhood of Karaköy, with its nautical ties and narrow streets where silk and spices were once traded within the confines of what was then a walled settlement, would look unrecognisable to the Genoese merchants and colonists of yesteryear, were they to sail down the Bosphorus and dock on its European shore today. Galataport, the waterfront revitalisation initiative behind the transformation, is now home to high-end retail, the city’s most exciting contemporary art museum in years, Istanbul Modern, and at least one suspiciously slick baklava shop.
Within this newly blossoming microcosm, the 2023-opened Peninsula Istanbul takes the crown as the largest-scale hospitality development. Spanning four buildings, of which three are protected landmarks dating back to the first half of the 20th century, and a quarter kilometre of land along the silver vein of Istanbul, the hotel sits in a location almost too good to be true: In a city where competing brands snapped up pockets of real estate years ago (with some having compromised to enter the market), Peninsula patiently waited its turn, and moved in just as a site became available that would afford its guests unrivalled views over Sultanahmet, while placing them a mere stroll away from the area’s magnificent mosques and markets.
Our welcome was as smooth as you’d expect, with our luggage disappearing behind the champagne walls of the reception area, in what was once the country’s first modern ferry terminal when it opened in the 1940s, and has been reinvented as a classic Peninsula lobby, a heigh-ceiling temple to afternoon tea – a brand staple – served amidst Art Deco chic courtesy of Turkish interiors maestra Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu. It’s not often that we feel tempted to explore a space before we make our way to our room, but here, thanks to an haut monde crowd (and some serious people-watching), this was just the case. You might not make much of it, but with luxury hotels increasingly building trust on the veneer of discretion, in turn relinquishing a social scene, we welcomed this air of excitement in the space.
Somewhere between polished lacquer doors and Tai Ping rugs, elegant artworks and ever-changing creative collaborations add a sense of lightheartedness (that said, the installation on display at the time of our stay was a little too ‘Dubai mall’ for us). Approaching the glass-fronted back of the room, we noticed gulls flying over a 25-metre, azure outdoor pool lined with cabanas and the Abelia Pool Bar, all bathed in the warm light of the late afternoon. Meanwhile, the lobby shone with its very own glow, as small lights appeared on tables, and Turkish coffee was poured between the kind of flower arrangements you know require a dedicated budget on a spreadsheet somewhere.
There are 138 guest rooms and 39 suites across the four buildings of The Peninsula Istanbul, all behind doors fit for a bank vault, which is hardly coincidental given the considerable investment that’s clearly gone into creating some of the most luxurious guest accommodations in town. Our 76 sqm (818 sqft) Grand Deluxe Bosphorus Room featured floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over one of the world’s most timeless waterways, alongside a king-size bed, a generous, golden-toed writing desk and an armchair with – de rigueur for the destination – an ottoman, all neatly framed by high-gloss, curved walls and kilim-inspired carpets.
The Peninsula brand is known for being generous with amenities, and we were not disappointed. There’s a noticeable focus on integrating technology that speaks to the company’s roots and strong following in tech-loving Asia, from LED touch screen wall panels displaying weather forecasts to three in-room iPads, wireless charging, a mix of wall sockets, and even a cleverly concealed printer should you need to slip into work mode (desk drawers reveal a smorgasbord of bespoke stationery so thoughtful, we nearly did, but ultimately came to our senses).
There’s also the much-loved valet box, of course, a brand signature allowing staff to provide in-room dining or return freshly polished shoes to one’s room without ever disturbing guests’ privacy. That said, we adored the immersive welcome and personal touch of a member of the team bringing Turkish tea to our lodgings and ceremonially pouring it into tulip-shaped ‘Ince belli’ glasses on the day of our arrival. A lovely gesture, that.
Our bathroom, too, was a head-turner. Adjacent to a fully-fledged and softly lit dressing room where again each drawer revealed another little nice-to-have, including airport-security-fit plastic bags and a Peninsula-branded UV nail dryer (take notes, hotel companies), the space was clad in Marmara marble, featuring twin vanities, a divine rainfall shower and a bathtub with the brand’s exclusive toiletries alongside a large, recessed and golden-framed TV. One night, just as we’d run a bath and tuned in to BBC News World Service, we suddenly remembered the Spa button, another Peninsula classic, which turns off the bathroom TV, dims the lights and activates speakers that pour near-transcendental music out into the space. So much for catching up on the day’s affairs.
If there’s one thing we didn’t love about our room, it was the standardised welcome amenity that failed to suit our dietary requirements, foreshadowing a less-than-stellar dining experience at the hotel’s Gallada restaurant. But first, the positives: The venue is a stunner, with ‘Peninsula green’ walls, a retractable ceiling resembling folded sails, and outdoor seating overlooking the whisper of the Bosphorus below. And boy, is it lively. As we sat down for dinner, we were handed a vegan menu that the team informed us had been made especially for us. Having never been offered the main menu, and noticing a lack of dedicated, plant-based proteins, we wondered whether the light assortment of salads and vegetables on ours was simply a collection of redacted dishes from it.
This turned out to be exactly the case (although our waiter had assured us it wasn’t), with the main dish we’d eyed occurring on the main menu as a mere side to a whole lobster. That, to us, was too much of a compromise and, asking for an alternative option, we eventually settled for a biryani dish from the downstairs Lobby restaurant, excluding us from actually experiencing Gallada. Some fifteen minutes had passed when another waiter pointed out to us that the dish couldn’t be made vegan-friendly after all: “You don’t like yoghurt, correct?”, he asked, trivialising our dietary choices to a mere preference of tastes we ‘liked’. With so much gone wrong and now dealing with four waiters all telling us different things, we eventually gave up, ordering whatever the kitchen would be able to prepare for us. An hour had passed since the moment we sat down by the time a single appetiser arrived (this, too, came from the Lobby restaurant, and “took longer to bring upstairs”, we were enlightened), and then, everything was served at once – including dishes we’d never ordered.
Four salads later, we tried our luck again when the time came for dessert, asking for something more imaginative than the “sliced fruits” listed on our vegan menu. We frankly felt uncomfortable at this point, for the team endeavoured hard to turn things around, but a lack of flexibility paired with a one-size-fits-all approach meant their hands, at no fault of their own, were clearly tied. In the end, we settled for a dish from the Lobby restaurant once more, which our waiter, unfamiliar with it bar a short description courtesy of the downstairs team, described to us as “something with caramel”. While we’ll never find out what exactly we had for dessert that night, we can’t say it wasn’t delicious. And who are we to dismiss small wins?
Unconvinced by a gastronomic offering that we didn’t doubt for a second had all the capacity to create indulgent dishes to make diners with dietary requirements feel included, yet seemed to choose not to, we headed for the Topside Bar to pour a margarita on the somewhat sobering (no pun intended) night we’d had. This was admittedly excellent, and we adored the bateau-like, wood-panelled interiors that brought the maritime history of the Marmara Sea to life in the chicest imaginable way, with backlit corner booths, watery blue cushions and vintage seafaring prints on the walls. Gorgeous.
For all things rest and relaxation, guests have the show-stopping Peninsula Istanbul Spa at their disposal. A 1,675 sqm (18,030 sqft) subterranean sanctuary, bordered by a wide corridor at whose ends two sculptures on tiled plinths presumably flood the space with calming energy, its size speaks of the hotel’s all-encompassing wellness offering. At the facilities’ centre, a 25-metre tessellated indoor pool with speakers below the surface (emitting underwater music we never knew we needed, yet have since come to scan hotel websites for) is a highlight.
Elsewhere in the spa, eight private treatment rooms sit alongside a sumptuous sauna complex, a Turkish hammam and a state-of-the-art fitness centre. Every minutest detail has been considered on the service front, too: Not once did our feet touch the changing room floor without a towel being laid down for a fluffier feel, and even the correctly sized slippers a member of the team handed us after a single look at our feet were of the reflexology kind. So seamless and rehearsed is the experience, even the most spoiled of guests would struggle to find a flaw (and wouldn’t we know?).
The Peninsula Istanbul has achieved something that hints at a quality rather more remarkable than the wealth of its many conveniences and lustrous design features. There’s a sense here that this isn’t just a hotel, but an impeccably well-thought-out expression of the ‘Peninsula way’ of doing things. An export of sorts, of a kind of hospitality that cuts no corners in upholding service standards many would regard as second-to-none. Did we long for a more dietary-inclusive and flexible gastronomic offering that, given the hotel charges some of the highest room rates in town, should be a given? Absolutely. But disregarding this one area, if we ranked our favourite urban resorts by how palpable their sheer drive for excellence was, this one would still come out somewhere very near the top. And that’s no small feat.
Photography courtesy of The Peninsula Hotels
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While you’re OutThere
Nothing could be more glamorous than a sunset cruise on the Bosphorus aboard the hotel’s very own PEN 1, a 16-metre mahogany motor yacht waiting for guests at a private boat dock. With other tourists squeezed onto larger (and decidedly less attractive) vessels all along the strait, our voyage on the iconic waterway felt all the more special, making it another perk to a stay at The Peninsula Istanbul. Ship ahoy!
