Spice Bazaar Istanbul: History, How To Visit And What To Buy

The Spice Bazaar in Eminonu is the second great covered market of Istanbul, after the Grand Bazaar, and honestly it is my favourite of the two. It is smaller, you can actually finish it in half an hour to an hour, and the whole place smells like saffron, dried mint and roasting coffee the second you walk in. Entry is free, it sits right next to the New Mosque, and it has been doing exactly one job since 1664: selling Istanbul its spices, sweets and small treasures. Here is the history, how to get there, the current opening hours, and what is genuinely worth buying.

This corner of the Fatih district is the old heart of the city, so the bazaar makes a perfect anchor for a day that also takes in Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia and Gulhane Park, all within a short walk or one tram stop.

History of the Spice Bazaar

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sitomon/5586161466/in/photostream/, Mısır Çarşısı 2009, CC BY-SA 2.0

Markets have always been the engine of this city, and the Spice Bazaar was built to be exactly that. Some sources say a Byzantine market once stood on the same ground. The bazaar you see today was commissioned by Turhan Hatice Sultan, the powerful mother of Sultan Mehmed IV, as part of the New Mosque complex (the Yeni Camii) that anchors the square. Construction began around 1660, then the Great Fire of that same year set the work back.

The market was finished in 1664 under the supervision of the architect Mustafa Aga, working from a design by the court architect Koca Kasim Aga, who did not live to see it open. People first called it the “New Bazaar” or the “Valide Bazaar”, meaning the queen mother’s bazaar. The name that stuck, though, is Mısır Çarşısı, the “Egyptian Bazaar”, because the revenues that paid for it flowed in from the Ottoman province of Egypt. The clever part is that this was never just a shopping arcade. The rent from its shops was endowed to fund the upkeep of the mosque next door, so the bazaar and the mosque have been financially tied together for over 350 years.

It is an L-shaped building with six gates, and it has survived a rough history of fires along the way. Istanbul Municipality ran a major restoration between 1940 and 1943, and the place has been patched, cleaned and restored several times since. Today it holds roughly 85 shops and remains one of the most visited spots in the entire city.

Are the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar the same?

No, they are two completely different markets, and people mix them up constantly. Both are covered Ottoman bazaars and they sit within a 10 to 15 minute walk of each other, which is exactly why the confusion happens.

The difference is scale and focus. The Grand Bazaar is a sprawling maze of more than 4,000 shops selling jewellery, carpets, leather, lamps and ceramics, and you can genuinely get lost in it for hours. The Spice Bazaar has around 85 shops, it is laid out along two main covered lanes, and it is mostly about food: spices, sweets, tea, coffee, nuts and dried fruit. My honest advice is to do both in one go. Start at the Grand Bazaar, walk downhill through the back streets to Eminonu, and finish at the Spice Bazaar with your shopping bags full of edible souvenirs. If you want the full picture, our roundup of the best bazaars in Istanbul maps out the rest.

Is the Spice Bazaar worth visiting?

Yes, easily, and it is one of the few major attractions in Istanbul that costs nothing to enter. Even if you buy nothing, walking through is a small sensory event. The vaulted ceilings, the pyramids of coloured spice, the vendors calling out and handing you cubes of Turkish delight to taste, it all adds up to one of the more atmospheric half hours you will spend in the old city.

A word of warning so you go in with the right expectations. This is a tourist market, prices are higher than at a neighbourhood shop, and the hard sell is real. Vendors will wave you in, offer free tastes, and quote you a number that has room in it. That is part of the theatre, not a scam, but treat the first price as an opening bid. If you want spices for everyday cooking at local prices, the produce market just outside the bazaar’s Hasırcılar Caddesi side, where actual İstanbullus shop, is cheaper. Come into the bazaar itself for the experience, the quality lokum, the gifts and the photos, and you will not be disappointed.

How do I get to the Spice Bazaar?

The Spice Bazaar sits in Eminonu, on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, and it is one of the easiest landmarks in the city to reach. The simplest way is the T1 tram (the Bağcılar to Kabataş line): get off at the Eminönü stop and the bazaar is a two minute walk, right beside the New Mosque. Our full guide to getting around Istanbul covers fares and the Istanbulkart you will want for the tram and ferries.

If you are coming from the Asian side, take the ferry to Eminönü. Stepping off the boat with the New Mosque and the bazaar straight ahead is, frankly, one of the best arrivals in the city. Plenty of buses also terminate at Eminönü. Because everything funnels through this square, you really should not have trouble finding it.

About the hours, since this trips people up. The Spice Bazaar is open every day, and at the time of writing it runs roughly 9:00 to 19:30. Unlike the Grand Bazaar, it does not close on Sundays, which makes it a reliable Sunday plan. The main thing to know is that it shuts completely for the two big religious holidays, Ramazan Bayramı (Eid al-Fitr) and Kurban Bayramı (Eid al-Adha), for several days each, so check the dates if you are travelling around then. Mornings are calmer and better for photos, while late afternoons get genuinely packed.

What to buy at the Egyptian Bazaar

This is where the bazaar earns its name. Spices first: saffron, sumac, the smoky chilli flakes from Urfa and Maraş, dried mint, pul biber, and pre-mixed blends for köfte and chicken. Buy small amounts of the expensive ones (saffron especially), check that what you are sold is the real thing, and smell before you commit.

The sweets are the other headline. Turkish delight, or lokum, comes in dozens of varieties here, and the good shops let you taste before you buy. My picks are the double-roasted pistachio lokum and the pomegranate with whole nuts, but try the rose and the chocolate-covered ones too. You will also find boxes of baklava, halva, and Turkish coffee ground fresh while you wait. If you want to learn how it is brewed before you cart a bag home, our guide to Turkish coffee in Istanbul is a good primer.

Beyond food, the stalls sell loose herbal and apple teas, dried fruit and nuts by the kilo, olive-oil soaps, dried-rose and pomegranate teas, ceramics, evil-eye charms and a few textiles. It is one of the best single stops for edible gifts in the city, and it pairs well with our wider list of souvenirs to bring back from Istanbul. One last tip: a real treat hides upstairs. Pandeli, the historic tiled restaurant above the bazaar’s main gate, has been serving Ottoman classics under turquoise İznik tiles for around a century, and the views over the square are worth the climb even just for a glance.

Other attractions around the area

This square is the historic centre of the city, and arguably still its busiest crossroads, so you are surrounded by things to see. The New Mosque (Yeni Camii) is right at the bazaar’s door and free to enter outside prayer times, with its own splendid tiled interior. Walk uphill from here and you reach the magnificent Suleymaniye Mosque, Sinan’s masterpiece, with some of the best terrace views over the Golden Horn in the whole city.

Cross the Galata Bridge (a fine spot to watch the anglers and grab a fish sandwich) and you can carry on to the Galata Tower for a panorama of the old peninsula you just walked. Add in the palaces, parks and museums a few minutes east, and the Spice Bazaar becomes the fragrant, easy middle of a very full day in old Istanbul.