Aprilis Hotel - Special Category

Breakfast was good. More meat needed

Nothing

The breakfast, although not too diverse, was delicious and had what you needed to get a good start in the morning before going sightseeing or shopping. The beds were comfortable and the rooms are very clean. Staff at the reception are great and very helpful - they can book various boat tours on the Bosphorus for you. They can arrange airport transfers as well. The rooftop restaurant is a good addition to the place. The hotel is very well situated near great restaurants, souvenir shops, supermarkets, and the main attractions, all basically within walking distance - Sultanahmet Square, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, and Hagia Sophia. It is also not far from the Istanbul Old Bazaar. However, if you're coming by car, arm yourself with a lot of patience, as the area has a lot of traffic jams during the day. There are two options for parking - 1 is the parking of Aprilis Deluxe Hotel (same ownership and situated about 4 minutes walking distance), which is 20 euros per day; or 2- a parking which is right next to Aprilis Hotel, but it's 30 euros per day.

Just a suggestion - breakfast served on the rooftop could be an excellent addition, as currently it is served on floor -1, and not on the rooftop as many would believe. Maybe this can be taken into consideration by hotel management in the future. Seeing the rooftop restaurant, I also believed that breakfast would be served there.

The stuff was very nice - this is about everybody - reception, bar, breakfast room, cleaning ladies. Nice additional facilities - small fitness rooms, Turkish bath, massage, sauna Very nice rooftop bar - especially at night when it is finally less hot and you glass of classic cocktail, gin&tonic or beer, with a view on the sea and city and voices of muezzins calling from far for the night prayer... Breakfast very nice - also for vegetarian - my wife is vegetarian and was very happy there with food Perfect location - 10 minutes walk from from Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, 5 minutes walk from Grand Bazaar, 5 minutes walk to a very nice restaurant and bar quarter (but also very good restaurants on the same street), 2 minutes walk to tram no 1 which would take you in few minutes to the Bosporus ferries (both the public transport ones to the Asian side - Kadikoy market/pubs/restaurant district and also big ferries for night cruises).

Room were a little small. But still all the other benefits outweigh this.

The location was fantastic.

The beds were very thin and not comfortable.