What to buy in Istanbul
The best buys are things you cannot find at home, or not at the same price: food, textile crafts, ceramics and metalwork. Here are the main ones, with what to know before you pay.
Turkish delight and baklava
Turkish delight (lokum) is the city's best-selling souvenir. It is sold by weight: plain, rose, pistachio, hazelnut or in rolls dusted with coconut. Two historic houses have shops in Eminönü: Ali Muhiddin Hacı Bekir, founded in 1777 and still on Hamidiye Street in Bahçekapı, credited with the modern starch-based lokum; and Hafız Mustafa, founded in 1864, whose historic shop faces Sirkeci station. Both have branches in other districts.
Taste before buying, ask the price per kilo before anything is weighed and choose sealed boxes for the journey. Baklava travels too, in the airtight boxes the pastry shops offer. Karaköy Güllüoğlu, which opened Istanbul's first baklava shop in 1949, is featured in our guide to Galata and Karaköy.
Spices, tea and Turkish coffee
The Spice Bazaar is the classic place for spices: pul biber chilli flakes, sumac, isot (Urfa black pepper), köfte spice mixes. Have your purchases vacuum-packed, as most shops offer. Beware of cheap "saffron", often safflower, and of "love tea" or "Ottoman tea", flavoured blends aimed at tourists.
The tea Turks actually drink is a black tea grown around Rize, on the Black Sea coast, sold loose in supermarkets and grocery shops; the state brand Çaykur is the most common. For Turkish coffee, Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi has been roasting and grinding since 1871 on Tahmis Street, at the western exit of the Spice Bazaar; add a cezve, the small long-handled pot used to brew it.
Ceramics and decorated objects
Plates, bowls, tiles and vases decorated with tulips, carnations and arabesques echo the patterns of Iznik tiles, which you can see in mosques such as the Rüstem Pasha Mosque. Quality varies enormously: a hand-painted piece shows slight irregularities in the brushwork and a neatly finished underside, while a printed transfer decoration has perfectly regular outlines. Hand-painted pieces cost considerably more; compare several shops before deciding. Wrap them in your clothes, in your cabin bag if possible.
Textiles: peştemal, scarves and kilims
The peştemal, a flat-woven cotton hammam towel, is light, dries fast and doubles as a sarong or tablecloth: it is one of the most practical souvenirs. If you plan to visit a hammam, our guide to the best hammams in Istanbul explains what it is used for there. You will also find scarves, embroidered tablecloths and kilims, flat-woven rugs that are lighter and cheaper than knotted carpets and easy to fold into a suitcase.
Carpets
A hand-knotted carpet is a major purchase that needs preparation. Turn it over: on a hand-knotted carpet the knots are visible on the back and slightly irregular, whereas a machine-made carpet has a perfectly uniform back. Ask about the material (wool, silk, cotton), the region of origin, the age and the knot density, and have everything written on the invoice. To see truly fine carpets before buying one, the collection of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, on the Hippodrome, is the best school.
Shops often offer home delivery. Never pay for a carpet you are not taking with you unless you know the shop: it is one of the scams described in our guide to scams and safety in Istanbul. For an old carpet, also read the customs section below.
Lamps, copper, glass and small items
Coloured glass mosaic lamps, hammered copperware, tulip-shaped tea glasses and the nazar boncuk, the blue eye meant to ward off the evil eye, are the most common small souvenirs. For tableware, Paşabahçe, the leading Turkish glass brand, sells at fixed prices in its shops, including one in the Atatürk Cultural Centre (AKM) on Taksim Square.
Jewellery and gold
Gold is sold by weight at the day's rate, plus a charge for workmanship: that charge is what you negotiate. The jewellers of the Grand Bazaar are concentrated along Kalpakçılarbaşı Street. Insist on an invoice stating the weight and the purity of the gold.
Where to shop: bazaars, markets and districts
The Grand Bazaar
The Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı) has some 3,600 shops: jewellery, carpets, ceramics, lamps, leather, textiles. It opens Monday to Saturday, 08:30 to 19:00, and is closed on Sunday. Go early in the morning on a weekday and take time to compare. Right next door, between the Fesçiler Gate and the Beyazıt Mosque, the book bazaar (Sahaflar Çarşısı) sells old and new books, prints and maps.
The Spice Bazaar and Eminönü
The Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) is open every day: spices, Turkish delight, dried fruit, teas. The surrounding streets, busier with locals, add cheese, olives, kitchenware and the coffee and confectionery houses mentioned above. Between the two bazaars, the sloping streets of Mahmutpaşa are the realm of wholesale trade and cheap textiles.
The Arasta Bazaar in Sultanahmet
Behind the Blue Mosque, the Arasta Bazaar lines up some eighty shops selling carpets, ceramics, textiles and souvenirs in a restored 17th-century covered street, calmer than the Grand Bazaar. It is handy if you are staying in the area; see our guide to Sultanahmet.
Antiques and flea markets: Çukurcuma and Feriköy
In Beyoğlu, south of İstiklal Avenue, the streets of Çukurcuma are full of antique dealers: metalwork, glassware, calligraphy, furniture, old photographs. The district is also home to the Museum of Innocence. On Sundays, the Feriköy antique market in Bomonti (Şişli) gathers more than 400 stalls from 09:00 to 18:00: records, watches, jewellery, everyday objects from the past.
Kadıköy, on the Asian side
The Kadıköy market, behind the ferry piers, is a working neighbourhood market open every day: delicatessens, cheese, olives, coffee, Turkish delight, at more local prices than in the historic bazaars. The big weekly market, the Salı Pazarı, is held in Hasanpaşa: food on Tuesday, textiles and accessories on Friday. Everything is covered in our guide to Kadıköy.
Fashion and shopping centres
For fashion and brands, İstiklal Avenue is lined with clothing chains and old arcades, and Nişantaşı concentrates luxury boutiques and Turkish designers. Among the large shopping centres, Zorlu Center, within walking distance of the Zincirlikuyu metrobus stop, is open daily from 10:00 to 22:00. Prices are fixed, cards are accepted everywhere and tax-free refunds are often available.
Summary table: what to buy and where
| Souvenir | Where to buy it | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Turkish delight | Hacı Bekir, Hafız Mustafa, Spice Bazaar | Taste, price per kilo, sealed box |
| Spices | Spice Bazaar, Kadıköy market | Vacuum-packed; beware of fake saffron |
| Tea and Turkish coffee | Supermarkets, Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi | Loose Rize tea; freshly ground coffee |
| Ceramics | Grand Bazaar, Arasta Bazaar | Hand-painted or transfer: look at the brushwork |
| Peştemal, kilims | Grand Bazaar, Arasta Bazaar | Light and easy to carry |
| Hand-knotted carpet | Grand Bazaar, Arasta Bazaar | Detailed invoice; certificate if old |
| Gold jewellery | Grand Bazaar (Kalpakçılarbaşı) | Weight and purity on the invoice |
| Antiques, flea market finds | Çukurcuma, Feriköy (Sunday) | No old object without an export document |
| Fashion | İstiklal, Nişantaşı, Zorlu Center | Fixed prices; ask for tax-free |
Opening hours and rules found in October 2026.
Haggling and paying
Haggling is normal in the bazaars and souvenir shops, much less so elsewhere: you do not negotiate in supermarkets, chain stores or shops with marked prices. Ask the price in two or three shops, make a clearly lower counter-offer and move closer calmly; do not start negotiating if you do not intend to buy. Pay in Turkish lira, not euros, and refuse conversion into your own currency on the card terminal. Payment methods and tipping are covered in detail in our guide to money, payment and tipping in Istanbul.
Tax-free refunds
Visitors who do not live in Turkey can reclaim Turkish VAT (KDV) on purchases made in shops displaying the Tax Free logo:
- The threshold is 1,000 TL of purchases on a single invoice, in a single shop (threshold found in October 2026).
- Show your passport when you buy: the shop issues a tax-free invoice in your name.
- The goods must leave Turkey within three months of purchase.
- At the airport, have the invoice stamped by customs before check-in if the item goes in the hold, or after passport control if it is in your cabin bag; keep the item unused and accessible, as you may be asked to show it.
- Refunds are paid at the operators' counters (Global Blue, Planet), at Istanbul Airport and at Sabiha Gökçen.
VAT is 10% on clothing, shoes and leather, and 20% on most other goods (jewellery, cosmetics, electronics, decorative items). Once the operator's commission is deducted, the net refund is lower than the VAT rate.
Customs: old carpets, antiques and food
When leaving Turkey, the law forbids the export of cultural property: old objects, coins, icons, period ceramics or carpets. For a carpet or an object that looks old, ask the seller for a document certifying, after assessment by a museum, that it is not protected cultural property, and keep the invoice. Without these papers, the object can be seized at the airport and its owner prosecuted. Reputable dealers in Çukurcuma or the Grand Bazaar know the procedure.
When arriving in France (and elsewhere in the European Union), a traveller aged 15 or over arriving by air may bring in goods worth up to €430 in total without paying tax (€150 for under-15s). Above that, the goods must be declared and VAT and customs duties paid; an expensive carpet quickly exceeds this limit. Tobacco (200 cigarettes) and alcohol (1 litre of spirits, 4 litres of wine, 16 litres of beer) allowances come on top of this. Meat and dairy products, such as sucuk, pastırma or cheese, may not be brought into the European Union. Counterfeits, the cheap branded bags and watches, are seized by customs and can lead to a fine.
One last practical point: honey, olive oil and rose water are subject to the 100 ml liquids limit in the cabin; put them in your hold luggage, well wrapped.
Further reading
Before you go shopping, reread our guide to money, payment and tipping in Istanbul and the pitfalls listed in scams and safety in Istanbul. To combine shopping and sightseeing, the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar follow on from each other in the itinerary Istanbul in 2 days, and the guide to Kadıköy takes you to the Asian side, where the markets are less touristy. To fit your purchases into your spending, see our budget for a trip to Istanbul.
