Verseca Hotel

Great location Conveniently located - just a 5 minute (uphill) walk to the Grand Bazaar precinct with lots of restaurants and the tram. The room was small but cosy and well appointed. The hosts were friendly. Perfect for the price if you are not planning to spend much time in your room.

Beautiful and spotlessly clean room, great aircon, and sweet and helpful staff. But the best part was the rooftop overlooking the Sea of Marmara. The view is spectacular, and having breakfast there every morning while sipping Turkish tea was the highlight of our stay. The T1 tram station is a short walk away, and the Sultanahmet area is also walkable from here. The connectivity is great, but the area is part of the shoemaking district, so not the cleanest/best part of Istanbul. Seemed sketchy at night. The hotel is on a steep road, taxis drop you at the bottom, and the tram station is also uphill. We appreciated the workout, but those with young kids or mobility issues might not. Unexpected bonus: because the area is away from the touristy centre, food in the nearby restaurants is very affordable!

Below grade and low quality hotel. They advertise and sell rooms as ‘air conditioned’ but they set their ACs only to fan mode. It was very uncomfortable sleeping at night with 25 degrees centigrade outside temperature and closed suffocating room. We checked in at 23:00 and were told the ACs will only work in fan mode and asked to vacate immediately if that wasn’t convenient or comfortable to us. Very unprofessional and insulting experience indeed.