Madison Hotel in Istanbul

Madison Hotel is a deluxe 4-star property located in the lively area of Taksim in Istanbul. Its great location is ideal for travelers who want to have easy access to cultural, entertainment, historical and business centers around Istanbul.

We stayed in Madison Hotel for 2 nights only. It was a short break to fully enjoy Istanbul. In 2002, the hotel was not yet fully refurbished and it looked slightly dimmer and smaller as compared now. Madison Hotel has now been renovated to look more modern and bigger. 

All photo credits: www.madison.com.tr

The room accommodation price starts from Euro 112 per night.

This hotel offers modern-design rooms from double, twin, junior suite and single bedroom.  Rooms have the basic amenities like the mini bar, hair dryer, private bath, satellite TV channels, safe box, telephone, air conditioning, modern designed furniture and free wi-fi access.

So if you are planning to have a short vacation from the hustle and bustle of your daily life, head to Istanbul and enjoy the richness of Turkey's Asian and European history, arts and culture.

Istanbul - The City in Two Continents

Photo credit: copyright www.riatravelbug.blogspot.com

Istanbul is a beautiful city in Turkey. It lies on the Bosphorus Strait and stretches on both the European (Thrace) and Asian (Anatolia) side of this strait. It is the only city in the world that lies in two continents.

We visited Istanbul in October 2002. It was actually our first European trip. We applied directly at the Turkish Consulate in Dubai at The World Trade Center. The visa application was not a tedious process unlike the Schengen and US visa we have applied for in the past. We went in the morning to submit our documents and the interviewer only asked us one question. I forgot what the staff asked but I vividly recall what he said next. He told us to collect our passports the next day. That was it. We were given a week-long visa validity to enter Turkey.

We only stayed for 3 days and 2 nights and booked our accommodation in Madison Hotel in Istanbul. It is a 4-star property located in Taksim area close to Taksim Square, Topkapi Palace and other tourist attractions.

I got a good deal on the hotel because of my travel agent status then. My husband and I flew to Istanbul via Singapore Airlines (and I loved their service! The flight attendants made us feel very special even if we were in economy class) during the airline's promotional travel deals. Since I was an assigned staff in the Singapore Airlines counter, our ticketing head office left a message to the tour operators in Istanbul to give me and my husband a free return airport transfer. The airline fare was also a steal because I only paid around US$160 for both of us and that was Dubai-Istanbul-Dubai! Talk about the perks of being a travel agent!

I'll talk about the hotel and other places of interest on my other blog post later on. Meanwhile, here are some of the few photos we had in Istanbul. Unfortunately, we only had few snaps because our very unreliable digital camera had to malfunction during our trip.

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

My hubby posing in Taksim Square near the tram track