How To Visit A Mosque in Istanbul

I love visiting churches, mosques, and synagogues when I travel, but sometimes places of worship can be a little intimidating– especially for religions that aren’t your own.

Istanbul’s mosques are its most famous and most visible religious places, and many of the most beautiful are within walking distance of Sultanahmet—they are easy to get to, and very easy to visit!

Here are some things to know about visiting Istanbul’s mosques:

– It’s free to enter all of Istanbul’s mosques. Some people I’ve met are surprised by this, since the Hagia Sofia is definitely not free. But the Hagia Sofia is no longer a functional place of worship—it’s a museum, and charges a museum entry fee. The Blue Mosque across the way and all the rest of the mosques in the city are free and open to the public.

– You can enter at any time during the day, except during prayer times. When the mosques are actively being used, you need to wait. The Blue Mosque lists the specific times it’s open in its courtyard; the rest of the mosques don’t, so it’s worth looking up the times if you are on a tight schedule. Otherwise, I recommend just waiting in the courtyard for prayer time to end—watching everyone leave and enter the mosque and perform their ablutions is interesting in itself. The call-to-prayer happens five times a day, and it is one of the most exquisite and slightly eerie sensations in this city. Hearing it echoing in the mosque courtyard and throughout the city is quite the experience.

– Women need to cover their legs, shoulders, and heads. Different mosques enforce this in different ways. I wore a dress that was slightly longer than my knees and a short sleeve shirt. In the Sehzade Mosque, I needed to cover the rest of my legs and arms, as well as my head. In Rustem Pasha, Suleymaniye Mosque, and The New Mosque, my dress length and short sleeves were sufficient.

– Scarves to cover up are provided. While I recommend wearing a longer skirt or pants for the sake of comfort, don’t worry if you show up in shorts—the mosques will hand out long scarves and pieces of material that you can use to cover yourself.

– You can’t wear your shoes in the mosque. Usually plastic bags are provided to carry your shoes. If you’re visiting a lot of mosques, it might be easier to wear shoes that you can take off and put back on easily.

– It’s perfectly fine to take pictures in the mosque. The buildings are beautiful, inside and out. Take pictures, please!