I want to commend Kadir/Selcuk and their extrermely cordial staff (Bahtiyar, Yasin, Remzi, Aysun) for making our stay very enjoyable. We spent a week and found that this location was perfect, only about 5-10 minutes walk (slight uphill) to the blue mosque, Ayasofia, Hippodrome, metro station, etc. The hotel is very clean and tidy, and the beds were totally comfortable. Breakfast items were plenty with good coffee, tea, juices, breads, eggs, fruits, cereals, and plenty of water bottles etc. The outside food court is fantastic. There are many restaurants around where you can either dine or get a take out and eat in your room. We had rides airport-hotel-airport and the driver was friendly and on time. We really miss the friendly GardenHouse staff and highly recommend this hotel to anyone without any reservation.

Use www.gardenhouseistanbul.com to make reservation directly.

Nusrat & Zillur Rahim & family - College Station, Texas, USA.

We were in Croatia when we wanted to try something different - Istanbul seemed to fit the bill. We booked Garden House via Venere.com for a last minute price of 99 euro per night. When we arrived, we took a taxi to the hotel for 26 euro - already we were impressed with the prices in Istanbul.

The Garden Hotel is well known for its warm welcome from the front staff, inclusive of directions and recommendations (in english) and choice of cocktail to start you off. Location is awesome, 10 minute walk to the Blue Mosque and St. Sophia. A 5 minute walk and you will end up at the ocean near the fish market (I wouldn't recommend you be there at night). The hotel offers a daily newspaper in many languages and free internet.

Tucked in the middle of a neighbourhood, we were lucky to be provided the 2 best rooms on the 4th floor. They were very roomy, appointed well with lots of windows, mini bar and coffee machine. One room faced the garden which became quite noisy when the prayers resinated from the mosques at 4 in the morning. The other room faced the neighbourhood road where families could be seen enjoying life. Lots of fun listening to the venders walking up the streets calling for rubbish disposal, for sale of watermelons or propane.

The breakfast (included) is very good however, good luck getting any cooked eggs. The restaurant staff have very little english and they don't really seem like they want to make any eggs for you. One staff member, a woman, just simply ignores you - oh well, the beauties of a different culture. We were actually entertained by this and ended up talking to the front reception person who asked the staff to cook some eggs. The rest of the breakfast includes very good coffee, buns, meats, cheese and juice. Very nice to have breakfast included.

A 2 minute walk to many amenities - liquor store, restaurants, farmers market on some days, and a great leather store called Trust Leather. We were so impressed with 2 jackets we had made for us, we bought 3 more. Trust Leather is just around the corner from the hotel and has is attached to a scarf & turkish delight store. The owner speaks excellent english and is very strong about what type of jacket fits what type of body shape - he did not lead us astray.

Never leave the hotel or restaurant without a few crumbs for the neighbourhood cats - they are everywhere.

We highly recommend the Garden House - its safe and comfortable and has all the cultural attraction you want when visiting a place like Istanbul. Stay away from any tours, Istanbul can be easily walked and enjoyed.

Selected this hotel at random for a stopover on our long retreat from a Turkish holiday.

Having previously "done" Istanbul, we just needed comfortable lodgings and a base for a quick sortie to bars/restaurants and the Garden House fitted the bill.

We needed a triple room and that is what we got - not a double with a dodgy camp bed shoehorned in. Comfy beds with proper duvets followed by a top class breakfast set us up nicely for our trip back to Ireland.

We will be back in Istanbul and we will be back at the Garden House.

Lovely little hotel, great stay thanks to Selguk, Bilo and all the professional ,helpful staff. Maria Teresa Milan Italy