Living in Cihangir, Istanbul

Cihangir is the bohemian heart of Beyoğlu, a hilltop neighbourhood on Istanbul's European side that tumbles down the slope between Taksim Square at the top and the water at Kabataş below. It takes its name - and its landmark mosque - from Şehzade Cihangir, a son of Suleiman the Magnificent who died young; the heartbroken sultan had the imperial architect Mimar Sinan build a mosque overlooking the Bosphorus in his memory, first completed around 1559. Once an unfashionable, run-down quarter, Cihangir became cheap enough in the late 20th century to draw students, artists, writers and intellectuals - among them the Nobel laureate novelist Orhan Pamuk - and over the following decades it turned into one of the most sought-after addresses in the centre. Today it's a dense web of steep cobbled streets and stairways, café terraces, antique shops and the famous street cats, with the antiques district of Çukurcuma folding into it on the lower side. Many visitors reach for comparisons to SoHo or Montmartre to describe the mix of creative energy and easy charm.

Who lives here

A creative, cosmopolitan and international mix. Cihangir has been a stomping ground for artists, writers, actors and intellectuals since the 1970s, and that character still defines it. Over the last two decades it has also become one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Istanbul for expats and, more recently, digital nomads - drawn by the cafés, the walkability and the European feel - though it remains primarily a Turkish neighbourhood rather than a foreign enclave. Long-settled Istanbul residents live alongside this newer creative-and-international crowd, and the area is broadly secular and open-minded. It is genuinely one of the priciest central neighbourhoods to live in, so demand for rooms is strong and the best ones go quickly.

What it's like during the day

Calm, café-driven and steeply walkable. The neighbourhood's social anchor is the cluster of cafés around the Firuzağa Mosque and Firuzağa Kahvesi, the old corner coffee house where people sit on stools with a glass of çay and watch the street go by. The streets are narrow, winding and often stepped, lined with leafy terraces, bakeries, bookshops and small boutiques, and the celebrated Cihangir cats are everywhere - perched on ledges, asleep on canopies, fed by café owners and residents (the 2016 documentary Kedi was largely filmed in and around the neighbourhood). The single best free view in the area is from the terrace and courtyard of the Cihangir Mosque (Cihangir Camii), which looks out over the Bosphorus toward the Asian shore - a classic golden-hour spot. Just downhill, Çukurcuma is Istanbul's antiques quarter, a maze of shops and galleries that also holds Orhan Pamuk's Museum of Innocence.

What it's like in the evening

Sociable and easy-going rather than raucous. Cihangir's own evenings revolve around its café-bars and small restaurants, where the creative crowd lingers late over drinks and conversation - the mood is more relaxed and grown-up than the full-tilt nightlife a few minutes away. And that nightlife is right on the doorstep: the bars, clubs and music venues of Taksim and the side streets off İstiklal Avenue are a short walk up the hill, so you can have a quiet local night or plunge into one of the busiest going-out districts in the city, then walk home. As across Istanbul, things run well past midnight.

Getting around

Cihangir's strength is that it sits just below Taksim, one of the main transport hubs of the European side, so most of the city is within easy reach on foot or one short ride. From Taksim the M2 metro runs north under the city and south toward the Golden Horn and the historic peninsula, and the F1 funicular drops down to Kabataş on the shore, where you can pick up the T1 tram along the water and the city ferries (vapur) across the Bosphorus to the Asian side. The classic walk into the neighbourhood is down Sıraselviler Caddesi from Taksim Square. The trade-off is the hill itself: the streets are steep and stepped, so daily life involves a lot of climbing, and there's no metro station inside the neighbourhood - you walk up to Taksim or down to Kabataş.

Eating and shopping

A dense, stylish and varied scene. Cihangir is known above all for its cafés and breakfast spots - the long, lazy Turkish kahvaltı brunch is something of a neighbourhood institution - alongside small restaurants, third-wave coffee shops and café-bars. The Çukurcuma antiques district is the standout for browsing: antique shops, vintage stores, galleries and design boutiques fill its backstreets. Day to day, bakkal corner shops and the usual Turkish supermarket chains cover groceries, and the full food markets and shopping of Beyoğlu and İstiklal are a short walk uphill.

When NOT to pick it

If you want cheap, or flat, look elsewhere. Cihangir is one of the most desirable central neighbourhoods, and rents sit clearly above the Beyoğlu average - the views and the café life come at a premium. The terrain is genuinely steep, with stairways and sloping streets that are hard work with shopping or luggage and tiring if you're not used to hills. Buildings are often older, sometimes without lifts, and the proximity to Taksim and İstiklal means the upper edges of the neighbourhood catch crowd and traffic noise, especially at weekends. Cihangir is at its best for people who want a creative, walkable, café-centred base in the very centre of the European side - with the Bosphorus in view and the whole of Beyoğlu on the doorstep - and who don't mind paying more, and climbing more, for it.