Beyond Hagia Sophia: A guide to Istanbul’s other incredible mosques

Hefty entrance fees and restricted access at city's most famous house of worship is encouraging travellers to turn their attention elsewhere

Hagia Sophia may be Istanbul's most famous mosque, but it's far from the city's only site worth seeing. Unsplash

Istanbul's Hagia Sophia is a world-renowned attraction, and rightly so. Incredibly beautiful and filled with dazzling chandeliers, the former church-turned-mosque is also a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Entry to tourists used to be free, with access open for travellers to explore both its ground and first floors. But since January, non-Turkish visitors can only access Hagia Sophia’s upper floor after paying a €25 fee and waiting in long lines.

While the marvel is worth the cost and the long wait to get inside, travellers prioritising saving time and money might want to visit some of the city's other memorable mosques instead, each of which has free entry and barely any winding queues.

Sultanahmet Mosque

Standing opposite Hagia Sophia in central Istanbul is an even more commanding mosque. The 400-year-old Sultanahmet, or Blue Mosque, cannot match the deep, intricate history of Hagia Sophia, which is about 1,500 years old.

But it is larger and more visually striking than its neighbour, and also offers free entry to tourists outside of prayer times. Six lofty minarets ring this colossal mosque, which is topped by a 43-metre-tall dome and a cluster of glimmering semi-domes.

Its nickname was inspired by the ocean hues splashed across its interior. This photogenic prayer hall is colourfully illuminated by more than 200 stained-glass windows, delicately woven carpets, and about 20,000 ceramic tiles featuring geometric and floral motifs.

Up to 10,000 worshippers can be accommodated within this hall and the mosque’s sprawling courtyard. During daily prayer times, when visitors aren’t permitted to enter, throngs of tourists gather in the adjoining, green expanse of Sultanahmet Park to picnic and take photos in front of the mosque’s grand facade.

Nuruosmaniye Mosque

Like an entire neighbourhood wedged under one gigantic roof, Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar covers about 60 streets, hosts more than 4,000 businesses, is about 600 years old and attracts millions of tourists per year. Yet it doesn’t overshadow the adjacent Nuruosmaniye Mosque.

Rather, it funnels many foreign visitors into this sublime 18th-century complex, which is so impressive that it’s on the tentative list for Unesco World Heritage status. Behind its lofty stone fortifications is not just an Ottoman-era mosque, but also a library, tombs, soup kitchen, madrassa, and sebil fountain.

Visitors to its prayer hall can peer up and see, etched into its dome, a verse from the Quran that reads: “God is the light of the Heavens and the Earth.” This is tied to the name Nuruosmaniye, which means Light of Osman. That design feature was added during the mosque’s six-year construction, which began during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I in 1749.

Suleymaniye Mosque

The entire city of Istanbul seems to unfurl at the foot of Suleymaniye Mosque. There are few finer views of this metropolis than from the verdant garden of Suleymaniye, which is perched on top of a hill, providing vistas across the historic Fatih district and the Bosphorus Strait, to the more modern, northern half of Istanbul.

Yet Suleymaniye manages to compete with this outlook thanks to the grandeur of its design by Sinan, the revered chief architect of Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent, who commissioned this mosque in the 1550s.

Sinan used Hagia Sophia as a loose template for his masterwork. Almost 4,000 labourers and craftsmen toiled to create this mosque, which is crowned by a 53-metre dome and spiked by four minarets. Suleiman himself rests here inside an opulent tomb, which is a pilgrimage site for Turkish people.

Yeni Cami Mosque

Sitting below Suleymaniye, on the southern bank of the Bosphorus, is the similarly splendid Yeni Cami. Few of Istanbul’s mosques receive as many visitors as Yeni Cami, which owns a tourist-soaked spot, sandwiched between the city’s famous Galata Bridge and its teeming Egyptian Bazaar.

Also known as the New Mosque, its entrance is among the most photographed sites in Istanbul. From just inside the mosque’s main gate, visitors stare up at the pleasing symmetry of its dome-laden roof and skyscraping minarets. Commissioned in the 1590s, Yeni Cami wasn’t completed until 1665 due to a series of complications and mishaps. This wait was worthwhile, though, as it resulted in a memorable design, the highlight of which is an array of more than 20 domes.

Firuz Agha Mosque

Tourists who walk between Hagia Sofia and the Grand Bazaar will likely pass the graceful Firuz Agha mosque. This Islamic house of worship was built in the 15th century on Divan Yolu Street, the main thoroughfare connecting those two aforementioned tourist magnets.

Firaz Agha is far smaller than Istanbul's other mosques listed in this story. Size is irrelevant in this case, however, as it cuts a sublime figure, with its single minaret standing above a central dome and three smaller domes, each of which correspond to a handsome arch beneath. Adding to its appeal is the adjoining Mehmet Akif Ersoy Park, a leafy space decorated by a fountain and statues.