Timeless Türkiye

Layers of history make modern İstanbul a fascinating event destination.

People have been meeting in İstanbul for at least 8,500 years. We know because they left tracks. In 2004, while excavating the city’s metro, archaeologists found tombs, artifacts, 37 shipwrecks and also hundreds of preserved footprints apparently made during a large gathering. MICE is nothing new here.

Few cities are layered with history in quite the same way as İstanbul. Visitors will most dramatically encounter these layers in the neighborhood of Fatih, on the European side of the city. This is where those ancient footprints were discovered and where the domes and minarets of the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapı Palace stand in lasting tribute to Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire.

Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet lies in the heart of the old city, offering 65 guestrooms in a Neoclassical villa. Despite its modest size, the hotel boasts a range of event facilities, including a boardroom for business meetings and the refined Sedef Room, which can be configured as a theater, classroom, conference room or banquet venue. Most spectacular of all is Süreyya Teras Lounge, a rooftop venue with breathtaking views of the adjacent Hagia Sophia. This terrace proves ideal for small events or dedicated group activities such as a cocktail-making class. The hotel can also arrange after-hours VIP visits to Hagia Sofia.

The chain’s other hotel in the city, Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus, occupies a prime location on the shore of the Bosporus Strait, the busy waterway that links the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and separates

BY RICHARD NEWTON

Europe from Asia. Occupying a 19th-century palace, the hotel features 170 rooms and an abundance of MICE options. Besides the indoor function rooms, the outdoor Atik Pasha Terrace can host up to 700 guests and provides panoramic views of the Bosporus. Special activities include group bookings for the traditional hammam spa and private yacht trips departing from the hotel’s wharf.

İstanbul, of course, boasts a number of purpose-built venues. The largest is CNR Expo, a vast exhibition space located beside Ataturk International Airport, İstanbul’s main passenger gateway until 2019, when all commercial and cargo traffic transferred to the new Istanbul Airport, 22 miles away on the shore of the Black Sea. The old airport (now coded ISL) remains open to private jets and general aviation. CNR Expo has eight exhibition halls, which can be hired separately or as one, with a total area of about 1.7 million square feet, making it the largest venue in Türkiye.

The Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center is a flexible venue located within walking distance of central Taksim Square. Besides a main auditorium with capacity for up to 1,900 people, the venue also offers smaller meeting rooms and boardrooms. The celebrated Borsa Restaurant, located in the building, provides great views of the city and Bosporus.

The Haliç Congress Center was formerly a slaughterhouse, but don’t let that put you off. It’s scenically positioned beside the Golden Horn, the storied waterway that splits European İstanbul in two. Although not centrally located, the venue is easily accessible by ferry or taxi (seven minutes from downtown). This versatile cluster of buildings, some built in the Neoclassical style in the 1920s, includes auditoriums, banquet halls and smaller meeting rooms.

İstanbul has always moved with the times. As a modern MICE destination, it can compete with any city in the world, but nowhere else can match it for heritage. Today’s MICE visitors follow a tradition that stretches back thousands of years.

Unique Venues

Although İstanbul famously straddles two continents, most visitors only ever experience the European side, where the headline attractions are located. Though the Asian side may be observed across the Bosporus, it tends to be overlooked as a destination in its own right. That’s a pity, because this part of İstanbul has much to offer.

You can cross to Asia by ferry, by bridge or by tunnel (the least satisfying mode, offering no view). The most interesting Asian district is Kadıköy, directly opposite Fatih with its exotic skyline. The tightly packed neighborhood includes street art, buskers, a bustling market and eateries.

To the north of Kadıköy, on a hillside above the Bosporus, stands Adile Sultan Palace, named after the most famous female poet of the Ottoman era. For many decades it was a girls’ school, but after a fire in 1986 it was restored to its former glory and became a prestigious venue. Primarily popular for weddings, the palace also offers an ideal location for meetings, conferences and seminars. adilesultan.com