The Süleymaniye Mosque crowns Istanbul's Third Hill and is, for almost everyone who knows it, the finest Ottoman building in the city. Mimar Sinan built it between 1550 and 1557 for Suleiman the Magnificent, when the empire was at the height of its power, and it shows: it's enormous and full of light, yet so calm that you can hear your footsteps echo.
It gets fewer visitors than the Blue Mosque because it sits a little way from Sultanahmet, and that is precisely its advantage. This is where Mimar Sinan's mature style is at its clearest. Entry is free, and it's one of my favourite visits in Istanbul.
A little history
Suleiman, the sultan who took the Ottomans to the gates of Vienna, asked his chief architect for a whole complex, a külliye: the mosque, four madrasas, a hospital, a medical school, a hostel for travellers, a soup kitchen for the poor, a hammam and shops. All of it still stands around the mosque, much of it now put to other uses, such as the library and the restaurants.
Mimar Sinan, who worked for three sultans and designed hundreds of buildings, had himself buried in a small tomb at an outer corner of the complex. Suleiman and his wife Hürrem Sultan, known in the West as Roxelana, lie in the garden behind the qibla wall, the wall that faces Mecca. The mosque has survived earthquakes and fires, and was thoroughly restored between 2007 and 2010.
What to see at the Süleymaniye Mosque
The interior and the dome
The dome rises more than 50 metres, and the half-domes that extend it open up the prayer hall with no columns getting in the way. The windows around the base of the dome flood the space with light. The decoration is restrained: a few Iznik tiles around the mihrab, calligraphy by Ahmed Karahisari, and plenty of bare marble and stone. It's the opposite of the Blue Mosque, which is exactly why it's worth seeing both.
Mimar Sinan's clever details
The acoustics were worked out with hollow jars set into the dome. Soot from the oil lamps was drawn into a room above the entrance and used to make ink for the calligraphers. And ostrich eggs hung among the lamps, it's said, to keep spiders away. These are the details every group I bring here loves.
The tombs of Suleiman and Hürrem
In the garden behind the mosque stand two octagonal tombs lined inside with Iznik tiles. Suleiman's also holds other sultans; Hürrem's, the smaller of the two, is decorated with some of the finest ceramic panels in the city. They're free to visit, but go in quietly: people come here to pray.
The terrace over the Golden Horn
From the outer courtyard on the north side, the view opens over the Golden Horn, the Galata Bridge, the Galata Tower and, in the distance, the Bosphorus. It's one of the free viewpoints I recommend most, especially in the late afternoon.
Tips for your visit
Allow 45 minutes. As in every mosque, you go in with your shoes off and your shoulders and knees covered; women also cover their hair. The mosque closes to tourists during prayers, for about half an hour each time, and for longer at midday on Fridays.
- Go mid-morning or mid-afternoon and pair it with the Spice Bazaar, which is just downhill.
- Eat in the neighbourhood: the stewed-bean restaurants (kuru fasulye) on the street opposite have been feeding students and visitors for decades.
- The walk up from Eminönü is steep. With small children, or if hills aren't for you, take a taxi, or the tram to Beyazıt, and walk down.
Tickets and prices
Entry is free at the time of writing (2026), and that includes the tombs. On my tours there's nothing for you to arrange: your guide times the visit so that it falls outside prayer times.
Where it is and how to get there
It stands on the hill of Istanbul University, between the Grand Bazaar and the Golden Horn. From the Beyazıt tram stop it's a ten-minute walk through the old booksellers' bazaar; from Eminönü, fifteen minutes uphill.
How we visit it on my tours
It's a fixed stop on the Sacred Istanbul day tour, which explores the city's mosques, churches and synagogues and breaks for lunch at the bean restaurants next door. If you'd like the background, my history of Istanbul covers Suleiman's century, and the best mosques in Istanbul gives you others to compare it with.
If you'd like me to fit it into a trip at your own pace, message me through plan your tailor-made trip.