Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey

The Four Seasons Istanbul at Sultanahmet is the only luxury hotel in the city that’s a stone’s throw from Turkey’s most iconic monuments, namely the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Haghia Sophia. Built back in the early 1900s as a neo-classical prison, only its canary-yellow, turreted façade survived the luxury hotel chain’s dramatic refurbishment a decade ago which swapped convicts for well-heeled culture-vultures.

But the building’s quirky heritage has not been forgotten as salvaged tiles, pillars and window shutters line the walls beside original artwork by Turkish painter Timur Kerim Incedayi which hark back to Istanbul’s Ottoman and Byzantine heyday.

The facilities

The luxury hotel’s hub is a verdant courtyard where its hexagonal, fine-dining restaurant Seasons serves regional Turkish dishes on a series of sunny terraces. The wisteria-clad pergola of the Winter Garden restaurant has a more casual dining menu also available on the luxury hotel’s two roof terraces that look out over the Bosphorus and the Haghia Sophia church.

Instead of a bar, the Four Seasons Istanbul has a far more intimate alternative - two, grand, antique-filled salons called the Piano Room and the Blue Room. Guests at the luxury hotel retreat to them in the evening for music recitals, coffees, cognacs and the obligatory Turkish delight.

The rooms

All the luxury hotel’s 65 rooms are furnished in a lavish, classical style and have marble bathrooms with deep tubs and separate showers. High ceilings, large windows and original antiques are hallmarks of the more expensive Four Seasons rooms. The two Presidential Suites have living rooms with open fires and plenty of space for receptions and dinners plus their own private roof terraces boasting spectacular views over the Bosphorus.

Coming up

The Four Seasons Istanbul is set to almost double in size in 2010. Once archaeological excavations next door are complete, the luxury hotel plans to add an extension with 55 more rooms, a new spa with a traditional hamam and a third terrace for up to 250 diners.