Istanbul Old City Topkapi Porta Romanos Hotel Ottoman Heritage

Nice hotel, comfortable rooms. Great location, close to tramway so you can easily get to the tourist spots and attractions. Adequate breakfast spread. Reception staff were very friendly and accommodating. Would definitely recommend a stay at this hotel.

We stayed as a family of four (two adults, two children) at Porta Romanos Hotel for seven nights in December 2024. Pre-arrival communication with the hotel was excellent via WhatsApp. We arranged return taxi transfers (airport-hotel-airport) through them, which were smooth and reasonably priced. Check-in was straightforward, and the front desk team were friendly and welcoming. While completing the paperwork, we were offered tea and water, which was a nice touch. Our room was on the top (6th) floor. The hotel has a single elevator, which is very small—barely fitting the four of us with a single bag. With luggage, we had to take two trips. At peak times, such as breakfast, expect congestion. There are stairs, but they lack handrails. The room was clean and well laid out, but it wasn’t spotless. It had all the basic amenities, though more storage space would have been useful, especially for a room accommodating up to five people. The beds were okay at best, with poor-quality pillows that didn’t offer much support. However, the air-conditioning worked well, allowing us to both cool and heat the room as needed. The bathroom was well-prepared, but there was some discolouration on the ceiling, and the shower had a slightly broken window that wouldn’t close properly, letting in noise from the busy street outside. Housekeeping staff were excellent—friendly and thorough. Breakfast (served on the first floor) was disappointing. The selection was the same every day and quite basic. By the end of our stay, some items seemed stale. The spread included salads, cold options, basic bread choices, and a few hot items—boiled eggs, sausages, and chicken nuggets. Additional egg options (scrambled, fried, and omelette) were available at an extra cost. The Turkish tea was poor, and while the coffee machine also offered hot chocolate, the quality was just okay. The ground-floor restaurant is functional and well-heated, but it didn’t seem very popular during our stay—possibly due to the low season. Each time we passed through, it appeared to be more of a social space for the owner/management and their friends, who were often sitting around smoking. We had dessert there twice, and service was slow—shisha took 15-20 minutes to arrive despite only two other patrons, and it wasn’t great, with coals not being refreshed. Our food orders also took a long time, with several menu items unavailable. Language barriers with the restaurant team made things more challenging. The hotel is situated on a busy street with an ambulance station nearby, leading to heavy traffic from early morning until late evening. With our room window not fully closing, we had a fair amount of street noise. On the plus side, Pazartekke metro station is just a five-minute walk away, making it easy to get around Istanbul. The metro is by far the best way to travel, and it takes around 15-20 minutes to reach the Grand Bazaar and Blue Mosque area. For the budget, the hotel is well-located, and the st