Beylerbeyi Palace

Beylerbeyi Palace is the summer palace Sultan Abdülaziz built on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus between 1863 and 1865, after the wooden palace of Mahmud II on the same site burned down. It was used above all to receive foreign royalty: Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary and Empress Eugénie of France were both received here in 1869. Abdülhamid II spent the last six years of his life here after he was deposed and died in the palace in 1918.

It is run by the National Palaces Administration, like Dolmabahçe across the water and Topkapı, and it is the Administration's visiting rules that apply.

The two sea kiosks on the waterfront, the Yellow Kiosk and the Marble Kiosk around the large pool on the upper terraces, and the Stable Kiosk built for the sultan's horses are all closed to visitors, according to the Administration. What is open inside is the main building, with its Mâbeyn (the sultan's official side) and its Harem.

This matters because many visitors arrive having seen the palace from a Bosphorus boat, and what they remember is the sea kiosks. Say at the start that the group will see them from outside only, and use the Selamlık sea kiosk as an outdoor stop rather than promising its interior.

The main building has three floors including the basement, with 24 rooms and 6 halls. The Administration's rules say the visit follows the route it sets, that visitors may not leave that route unless they have to, and that photographs and video are not allowed indoors. Loud narration indoors without a headset system is not allowed either.

Put those together and the order of the day is clear: the context, the stories and the meeting point belong in the garden before you go in. Indoors, keep to what is in front of the group. The Egyptian matting on the floors, the Hereke carpets and the Baccarat chandeliers are things to point at, not to lecture about.

Beylerbeyi Palace is run by the National Palaces Administration, and its visiting rules make a headset system mandatory once a group with a licensed guide is larger than eight people. The same rules say guides may not narrate loudly indoors without one, and a visitor who ignores the rules can be asked to leave by the staff. This is a written rule, not a courtesy, and it is the same rule as at Topkapı: see the Topkapı headset rule page.

The rules do not name a type of system. If you plan to use anything other than the familiar rented sets, a phone-based system like ours included, confirm with the palace administration that it is accepted before the day.

Beylerbeyi is the southernmost of three National Palaces sites on the Asian shore. Küçüksu Pavilion is about 4.5 km to the north in a straight line, and Beykoz Mecidiye Pavilion about 11 km. Dolmabahçe is 3.3 km away, but on the European shore: the water between them is the reason the two are rarely done on foot in one morning.

The first Bosphorus bridge comes ashore at Beylerbeyi and passes over the palace grounds, so a coach coming from the European side crosses directly above where it will drop the group. Beylerbeyi also has a ferry pier about 450 m north of the palace. Whether a scheduled boat suits your timing is a question for the operator's timetable, not for this page.