Ankara vs Istanbul

Turkey · Middle East

Ankara

is Kavaklıdere
Turkey · Middle East

Istanbul

is Yeldeğirmeni

Kavaklıdere is the capital's after-work district: embassy staff at pavement tables on Tunalı Hilmi by afternoon, then two blocks of bars on Bestekar and Tunus once the ministries close. It is orderly and grown-up, and the meyhane fasıl sets end at a reasonable hour. Yeldeğirmeni is rougher and more improvised, five-story murals on old railway housing and galleries that open in empty buildings without anyone announcing it. You reach it by ferry across the Bosphorus, which changes the rhythm of a day. Choose Ankara if you want to sit with a glass of Turkish wine and watch a city that rarely performs for visitors. Choose Istanbul if you want walls, water and the chance of stumbling into something unplanned.

The Brooklyn of

Ankara is Kavaklıdere.

Kavaklıdere is where Ankara goes to sit down. Tuesday afternoon, Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi fills with embassy staff, students and civil servants moving between patisseries and pavement tables, while families watch the swans at Kuğulu Park. Saturday night moves one street over to Bestekar Caddesi and Tunus Caddesi, two dozen bars in two blocks, fasıl music coming out of the meyhanes. Turkey's first private winery opened here in 1929.

Kuğulu Park was laid out in 1958 on the poplar-and-stream land that named the district, and the swans on its pond were gifts from Vienna.
The Brooklyn of

Istanbul is Yeldeğirmeni.

Yeldeğirmeni sits on the Asian side of Istanbul, tucked behind Kadıköy's ferry terminal. Former railway workers' housing now wears five-story murals by international artists. Third-wave roasters share narrow streets with repair shops and grandmother-run corner stores. It's the kind of neighborhood where an abandoned building becomes a gallery overnight and nobody bothers writing a press release.

Mural Istanbul has been painting Yeldeğirmeni's apartment blocks since 2012, which is why the facades here outnumber the galleries.
The numbers

At a glance.

Ankara Istanbul
Region Middle East Middle East
Country Turkey Turkey
Neighborhood Kavaklıdere Yeldeğirmeni
Currency TRY TRY
Language Turkish Turkish
Cost level $$ Moderate $ Inexpensive
Best months May and September May to June and September to early October
Local time - UTC+3
Plug EU plug EU plug
Emergency 112 112
Vibe overlap

What they share, and what they don't.

Both

Coffee cultureLive musicWalkable

Ankara only

Laid-backNightlifeNatural wine

Istanbul only

Street artWaterfrontMarkets
The verdict

It depends on the weekend.

Ankara Unhurried evenings: pavement tables, Turkish wine, fasıl in the meyhanes, and a nightlife strip you can walk end to end without a plan.

Istanbul Street art and improvisation: murals on every block, ferries at your back, and galleries that appear before anyone thinks to promote them.

Read Ankara in full → Read Istanbul in full →
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