The Grand Hotel de Londres (Grand London Hotel, Büyük Londra Oteli), is one of Istanbul's two remaining late 19th-century European-style hotels in the Tepebaşıdistrict (map).
Built by the Glavani family in 1892, it was designed, like its more famous neighbor the Pera Palace Hotel, to host Europeans arriving in Ottoman Constantinople by ship and Orient Express train.
The 54-room Grand London is an authentic period piece, having undergone much less restoration than the far more expensive Pera Palace. It is a bit the worse for wear, with knocked-up woodwork, frayed furniture and creaky floors, but friendly, still serviceable and quite cheap for this area. If you're looking for unchanged Victorian Ottomania at a moderate price, this is it.
The location is not bad: a few minutes' stroll from İstiklal Caddesi, the British Consulate-General and Galatasarayand Tünel squares. Taxis along the broad avenue called Tarlabaşı Bulvari provide fairly fast transport to Sultanahmet and Taksim Square; or walk to Taksim in about 15 minutes.
Click here for room rates and availability.
Büyük Londra Oteli (Grand Hotel de Londres)
Meşrutiyet Caddesi No. 117
Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey
—by Tom Brosnahan
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