The Pera Palas Hotel in Istanbul

Once considered The hotel to stay at in Istanbul, the guest list in the late 19th - early 20th century included Mata Hari, Kemal Atatürk, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Ernest Hemingway and Agatha Christie, to name a few. This was a luxurious hotel in Turkey in the old days, but today, it is closed for renovations. Last time I checked, the Pera Palace Hotel is not going to open until late 2009.


Constructed in 1892 for guests arriving on the Orient Express – that glamorous train ride from Paris to Constantinople (the former name of Istanbul). The rooms that once housed Atatürk and Agatha Christie were kept as museum rooms. So in reviewing this once luxurious hotel in Istanbul, I would have to talk about the past days when the hotel was not closed for renovations.


The location of the hotel in Beyoglu is good, not far Eminonu, Tepebasi and Taksim Square. There are sea views and historical views of the city streets from its rooms. There were a total of 144 rooms in the hotel, six suites, two junior suites and each room had the usual amenities to please its guests. Its atmosphere, the last time I was in the hotel was a faded elegance, the décor being an example of orientalist décor of fin-de-siècle Constantinople.


Once a luxury hotel in Turkey, curiosity seekers, travelers definitely not on a budget will have to wait until late 2009 to see the results of the historical renovations.