All About Istanbul
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Let your self experience a great city where the Continents meet.

Latest News

New openings in 2023-2024

The Byzantine cistern (Yerebatan), Blue Mosque, Maiden's Tower (Kizkulesi), Treasury at Topkapi Palace, Anatolian Fortress, and Upper Galleries at Hagia Sophia re-opened after restorations.

Entrance fees in 2024

As of 1st of March 2024, many State museums will charge in Euros, or its equivalent in Turkish Liras.

Museum Pass

You can buy the "Museum Pass" for foreigners which is valid for 5 days in various museums of Istanbul.

Museums open 7 days

Many State museums in Istanbul operate 7 days a week, except Topkapi Palace.


More News

What time is it in Istanbul?

Since October 2016 the actual standard time zone in Turkey is UTC/GMT +3 hours. The Turkish government announced that they will not be observing DST anymore, putting an end to adjusting the clocks every spring and fall seasons to best-utilize daylight. Until 30th October 2016 Turkey was on UTC/GMT +2, known as Eastern European Time (EET).

All provinces in Turkey, including Istanbul, are within the same time zone therefore the clock in Turkey is always the same throughout the country. The actual time in Istanbul (and in Turkey, of course) is:

Abbreviations:

GMT: The GMT stands for "Greenwhich Mean Time". Greenwich is the place from where all time zones are measured. GMT is sometimes called Greenwich Meridian Time because it is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The Greenwich Meridian (Prime Meridian or Longitude Zero degrees as Longitude 0° 0' 0") marks the starting point of every time zone in the World. The GMT is the average time that the Earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon, it's the basis of every world time zone.

UTC: The UTC stands for "Universal Time Coordinated". It is known as the "atomic time" which lately has replaced the GMT becoming the international time standard. The UTC is equivalent to mean solar time at the prime meridian (0° longitude), formerly expressed in GMT. It is also equivalent to Zulu Time. UTC is calculated at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in France.

Zulu Time: The Zulu is used especially by the military and aviation and marks precision time like the GMT or UTC.

DST: The DST stands for "Daylight Saving Time", known also as "summer time". It is the aggreement of energy saving by advancing clocks so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less, forwarding one hour at the start of Spring and are adjusted backward in Autumn. Turkey was one of the countries that applied DST like many others in the northern hemisphere (such as Europe, Russia, USA, Canada). Until 2016 Turkey followed Eastern European Summer Time (EEST), but as of October 2016 the daylight saving time is no longer observed thus the country will remain permanently on UTC+3 and not return to UTC+2 anymore.

Local time in Istanbul and other cities

Hope to see you soon in Istanbul.



See also