The Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı), also called the Egyptian Bazaar, is Istanbul's second great covered market after the Grand Bazaar. It was built from 1660 in Eminönü, on the shore of the Golden Horn, as part of the New Mosque (Yeni Cami) complex: the shop rents paid for the upkeep of the mosque. Its name comes from the revenues of the Ottoman province of Egypt that funded its construction. Its two L-shaped vaulted halls bring together about 85 shops selling spices, Turkish delight, teas, dried fruit and souvenirs. Entry is free and the bazaar opens every day, Sundays included.
Highlights
The vaulted halls
The two main aisles meet at a right angle under vaults with arches striped in light and dark stone. The shops' matching wooden signboards give the bazaar a tidier look than the Grand Bazaar. You can walk all the way round in half an hour, longer if you stop to taste.
The spices
Pul biber chilli flakes, sumac, isot (Urfa black pepper), cumin, köfte spice mixes and flower teas are piled up in pyramids. Ask to smell and taste before you buy, and have your purchases vacuum-packed for the journey: most shops offer this. Beware of very cheap "saffron": it is often safflower, nothing like real saffron.
Turkish delight and dried fruit
Lokum is sold by weight, plain, rose-flavoured, with pistachios or rolled into spirals. Pistachios, figs, dried apricots, Black Sea hazelnuts and pestil (dried fruit leather) complete the range. Taste before you choose and ask the price per kilo before anything is weighed.
The streets around the bazaar
Outside, the neighbouring streets form an open-air market used more by locals: cheese, olives, cured meats, kitchenware. On Tahmis street, by the west exit, the Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi coffee house has been roasting and grinding Turkish coffee since 1871: the queue at its counter is part of the scenery.
The plant market
Along the bazaar's outer wall, on the New Mosque side, stalls sell seeds, bulbs, plants and gardening supplies. The Rüstem Pasha Mosque and its Iznik tiles are a five-minute walk to the west.
The New Mosque
On Eminönü square, the mosque completed in 1665 forms a single complex with the bazaar, commissioned by Sultana Turhan Hatice. Like all mosques, it can only be visited outside prayer times, with shoulders and knees covered and a headscarf for women.
Infos pratiques
Tips
Prices are shown per kilo in most shops: have small amounts weighed, 100 or 250 g, and compare before buying. Haggling is less common than at the Grand Bazaar, but a discount is still possible on large purchases. Bank cards are widely accepted; pay in Turkish lira rather than euros (situation in October 2026). "Love tea" or "Ottoman tea" are flavoured blends made for tourists, not the black tea Turks drink.
How to get there
Rüstem Paşa, Erzak Ambarı Sokak No:92, 34116 Fatih, Istanbul (Eminönü). Tram T1, Eminönü stop, a two-minute walk. The ferries from the Eminönü piers (to Kadıköy, Üsküdar and the Bosphorus) are just opposite; Marmaray, Sirkeci station, five minutes away. From Galata and Karaköy, walk across the Galata Bridge, about 15 minutes. The Grand Bazaar is a 15-minute walk uphill through the shopping streets of Mahmutpaşa.
Opening hours
Nearby
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