Dolmabahçe Palace

Dolmabahçe Palace was built for Sultan Abdülmecid (reigned 1839-1861) in place of the old Beşiktaş waterfront palace, which had become impractical. From 1856 six sultans and the last caliph lived here. Atatürk stayed in the palace for about four years in all between 1927 and 1938 and died here; it served the presidency until 1949 and opened in 1984 as a museum palace with its original furnishings.

The main building is a single block of 285 rooms and 44 halls, in three parts: the Selamlık (Mabeyn-i Hümâyûn), where the business of state was done; the Harem, the private quarters of the sultan and his family; and between them the Ceremonial Hall (Muayede Salonu), kept for bayram greetings and state ceremonies. The palace is run by the National Palaces Administration, not by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and it is the Administration's visiting rules that apply here.

Topkapı is a sequence of courtyards; Dolmabahçe is one building. Measured on OpenStreetMap footprints, the Selamlık, the Ceremonial Hall and the Harem together run about 320 m along the shore, and the Crown Prince's Apartment, which holds the Painting Museum, takes the line to about 380 m.

The visiting rules say the visit follows the route the Administration sets, and that visitors may not leave it unless they have to. In practice the palace decides the order of the rooms and where the group stops. What stays with you is where the talking happens. Give the long introduction in the garden, before the Selamlık, because indoors the rules limit narration.

Three National Palaces sites stand on the same strip of shore, and the order that saves walking is the order the palace route already follows. The visit runs Selamlık first, then the Harem, which leaves the group at the Beşiktaş end of the building. The Painting Museum, in the Crown Prince's Apartment, stands about 100 m beyond the Harem (measured on OpenStreetMap), and the Palace Collections Museum about 200 m further towards Beşiktaş as the crow flies.

The visiting rules list one Dolmabahçe ticket for the Selamlık, the Harem and the Painting Museum together, so the second stop costs a group time, not another ticket. Decide before the Selamlık whether it is in the programme, so that the time you give the group for the palace already includes it.

For a longer programme, the rules also list combined tickets pairing Dolmabahçe with other National Palaces sites. They are valid for 30 days from purchase and each site can be visited once within that period.

The National Palaces visiting rules make a headset system mandatory once a group with a licensed guide is larger than eight people, and they do not allow guides to narrate loudly indoors without one. The same rules govern Topkapı and the Painting Museum at the far end of this building. Staff may remove visitors who do not follow the visiting rules from the site. This is a written rule, not a courtesy.

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. The article texts and every site the rule covers are on our National Palaces headset rule page.

Where a palace offers its own audio guide, the rules make it free with any ticket and unavailable to MüzeKart holders. In a mixed group, agree before the first room who is listening to whom.

The palace accepts the MüzeKart, the card Turkish citizens use, everywhere except the Selamlık. A card holder who wants the whole visit needs a ticket for the Selamlık, and that is easier to settle at the ticket office than at the Selamlık door.

Foreign guests carrying the Museum Pass Istanbul need palace tickets too. The pass covers thirteen museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Dolmabahçe is not one of them. The palace sells one ticket for the Selamlık, the Harem and the Painting Museum together.

How the cards divide across a mixed group at Ministry sites is on our museum cards page.

The visiting rules close Topkapı on Tuesdays and the other palaces, Dolmabahçe included, on Mondays. The weekly closing days never coincide, so a programme with both palaces can always put one of them on the other's closed day. Public holidays change the pattern: the Administration lists Dolmabahçe as closed on New Year's Day and on the first day of both Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı.

10 November works the other way. The palace opens even when the date falls on a Monday, entry is free for all visitors, and the route is a commemoration route set for that day rather than the usual one.

• The Administration's page (September 2026) lists the ticket office as open from 09:00 to 17:00. The rules let the Administration set hours by season.
• Large backpacks, suitcases and umbrellas go to the cloakroom; food, drink and pushchairs are not allowed indoors (visiting rules, article 7).
• The Painting Museum fills part of the Crown Prince's Apartment at the Beşiktaş end of the palace. It opened in 2014 and shows 553 works.
• The Administration lists the Dolmabahçe Clock Museum as closed for restoration.