Experience in Istanbul, Turkey by Uğur

What is it like to live in Istanbul? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

Living in Istanbul is like a paradise if you are living in the right place of Istanbul :)
First of all, if you are coming from a small city prepare yourself to live in a city that contains 13 millions of local! people. In the winter the population increases because of the students who comes from outside of the city.

What is the student lifestyle like in Istanbul?

If you are a student in Istanbul and you have money after your departure from the city you really gonna miss it.

How much does it cost to live in Istanbul?

It depends on your standards of course, Istanbul is a big city, you can find anything you want, anytime you want. Most of the time it is expensive, but for the students who is coming from EU it won't be such a big problem because of the currency difference. Nova days 1€ is equal to 2.7₺ . For example a pack of davidoff is 10₺ which equals 3.8€.

About the rooms in Istanbul, if a dorm is possible for you fight for it, otherwise a room in a city center is about 200€ in an old building( without bills ).

Is it difficult to find accommodation in Istanbul? Is there any advice you can give?

Find an accommodation is easy, but finding a cheap and good one is hard. www.hurriyetemlak.com is the best option for looking online.

What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

You can find any kind of food in Istanbul , from Thai to Italian. But finding pork meat is hard. And I recommend kebab , which is delicious , Iskender kebab for example.

What places would you recommend visiting in Istanbul?

For the people who likes to visit historical places there's lots of good places in Istanbul.
For the poleople who is coming from Europe the Dolmabahce palace won't be a big surprise, they will see the signs of the Versailles palace. But in the other hand the Topkapi palace is worth to visit. And galata tower, Maiden's Tower, blue mosque in sultanahmet, beyoglu, besiktas, kadikoy and uskudar.

Is it good to eat out in Istanbul? Can you tell us your favourite spots?

It's fabulous :) midpoint in Istiklal street, Malta kosku in besiktas, moda iskelesi in kadikoy.

Is the nightlife good in Istanbul? Where is good to go?

It's fabulous , especially istiklal street.